MARK Morris's disappointment at cup defeat was tempered by a pride in the way his side had acquitted themselves.

"I have nothing but praise for my side because I thought we played very well and although I'm disappointed to be out of the cup, we gave a good account of ourselves and it showed how much we have improved in the past year.

"We have to take the positives out of the game because today there weren't too many negatives other than the result. From an attitude and playing point of view I can't have any complaints and I was proud of my side today.

"A lot of my side are young and they are still learning and today there were some outstanding performances from lads who showed a lot more maturity than they have done in the past. Take Jamie Brown - he wasn't half bad for a lad we picked up for £40 a week from BAT.

Morris said he thought the decisive point in the game came with the early stops by Terras new goalkeeper Francisco Ramos.

"He's pulled at least three good saves out in the first 25 minutes and if we had managed to get our noses in front it would have been a different story," said Morris.

"You have to give them credit because when they went ahead they passed the ball better than they had done at any time in the game. If you look at the gulf between the two sides last year - which I would say was a chasm - we are closing it down slowly and that is all we can do

"It ended up being a good spectacle for the area and albeit the Weymouth fans will go home happy and we are all disappointed, but we have to take loads of positives out of the game.

"We have lost 1-0 to a side who resources-wise are in a different league than ourselves and although our supporters will be disappointed, I hope they will realise we gave it our all and had a right go on the day."

For Magpies Jamie Brown, who was red-carded twice in local derbies last season, the game ended on a happier note with the award of Dorchester's sponsor's man of the match. He said the abuse he received from the Terras fans had actually boosted his performance. "I thrive on it don't I?" he said. "It makes me play a little bit better."

* Dorchester have sold goalkeeper Mark Ormerod to Ryman League Worthing Town for a "nominal" fee.

The former Brighton stopper has been on loan to the Sussex club for the past month after losing his first team place at the Avenue Stadium to Craig Bradshaw.