DORCHESTER boss Mark Morris launched a summer search for new young soccer talent at the Avenue Stadium with a 'behind-closed-doors' trial involving around 40 players from Football League clubs.

Youngsters who have already been told by league clubs like Southampton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Brighton that they are being released from contracts when the season ends were invited by the Magpies manager to put themselves in the shop window.

"It will give me and a couple of friends who are connected with other league clubs to have a look at a lot of young players who will be searching for new clubs," said Morris, who got the idea for the trial day after discovering just how many youngsters would be seeking new clubs while fixing pre-season friendlies.

"It has taken quite a bit of organising to set up but there has been a good response and I am hopeful that there will be enough players for two full-scale games.

"They will be mainly teenagers and hopefully there might be some there we can follow up on and give a chance to in our pre-season trials in July and August."

Morris said the large numbers of young players whose dream of a career in league soccer had been shattered was a reflection of the financial state of many clubs.

Morris added that his own budget would be around the same as last season with club fundraisers planning a series of events to replace the income the Magpies received last year from their groundshare arrangement with AFC Bournemouth.

He said he was hopeful that he would be able to re-sign out-of-contract players like Matty Holmes, Danny O'Hagan, Andy Harris and Martyn Sullivan providing they were not expecting a big increase in their wages.