DORCHESTER skipper Matt Lonnon is to undergo surgery on his troublesome knee injury on Monday.

The tough tackling Magpies midfielder hopes the operation will ensure an injury-free start to pre-season training in July after he was plagued by the knee problem for the last few months of his side's ultimately unsuccessful Dr Martens Eastern Division promotion bid.

Club physio Geoff Dine said Lonnon was booked in at the Winterbourne Hospital, just a stone's throw away from The Avenue Stadium, for keyhole surgery.

"He should only be there as a day patient and with a bit of luck his recovery should be fairly quick," said Dine today.

"Matt complained of pain around his knee several months before the end of the season and I suspected he had nicked his cartilage," he added. "But he managed to see the season through and then a scan confirmed what I had thought.

"We have been fortunate to get him in quite quickly for the operation and he should be ready to begin pre-season with the rest of the lads."

Striker Phil Andrews, who suffered similar knee problems to his skipper during the run-in, will be a second Magpies visitor to the hospital's operating table later this month.

The ex-Brighton and Bashley man was diagnosed with a similar injury when he returned for a second check-up with a specialist and he has now been booked in for the same kind of knee clean-up op on May 29.