WORK must be done to halt Dorchester slipping into old habits after conceding, manager Robbie Herrera admitted.

Herrera’s comment comes after the Magpies were beaten 4-1 by lower-league Lymington Town, who play one division beneath the Avenue Stadium side.

Sam Bayston put Dorchester ahead but second-half goals from Freddie Bullard, Toby Bailey, Sam House and Harry McGrath knocked the Magpies out of the Southern League Challenge Cup tie.

Dorchester did make eight changes and fielded six under-23 players across the 90 minutes.

However, Herrera feels Dorchester are showing signs of regressing back to a negative mentality immediately after conceding in games.

The ex-QPR and Fulham left-back is keen to stamp out a problem he felt had been cured.

READ MORE: Lymington Town 4-1 Dorchester Town - match report

He told Echosport: “It took everybody by surprise. We were good first half, played the ball well and got lots of balls in the box with lots of half chances.

“We deservedly went in 1-0 up but to win games of football you’ve got to keep things tight, especially at the start of a half.

“You can’t allow teams to get on top of you, and we did that.

“It’s got to be a mentality thing. It’s creeping in and been at the club for quite a while now. We thought we got rid of it but it seems to have come back in.

“It’s something I’ll need to try and address. Hopefully we can get across that and get it sorted.”

The evening was not a total loss for Herrera though, who feels Dorchester’s youth players gained valuable experience despite being involved in a defeat.

He said: “In fairness to the lads, we had a young squad out – a lot of the 23s playing.

“We had Connor Callow, 16, playing at centre-half for the full 90. Ben Hughes played holding midfielder and we brought on Brinley Doyle, 16, and Ben Symes.

“Ruben Smith came on for the last 15, 20 minutes, so we ended up having six of the under-23s playing, which is great for their development.”