SHAUN Brooks' admission that he will resign if he cannot help the Magpies achieve promotion back to the Blue Square South is a bold but honest statement.

The club's director of football has seen the Magpies drop down a tier in the non-League pyramid but it would be fair to say that he has not had a whole season in which to be judged on.

Brooks' unfortunate illness, which saw assistant-manager Paul Compton take charge in a part-time role for three months of the campaign, should not be held against him and it is fair to say that following his return at the beginning of March the county town side enjoyed an improvement in their previously disastrous form.

Next season will provide a better opportunity to assess Brooks' credentials now that he is beginning to fine tune a squad.

In the season just gone, the Magpies used 38 different players over the course of 50 games but once they began to field a more settled side, over the last few weeks of the campaign, they did see better results.

Keeping hold of Mark Jermyn and Patrece Liburd for next season is excellent news while the likes of Jake Smeaton and Ivan Forbes, who have also signed on, have gradually improved since their arrival last summer.

Jon Docker's skill and creativity will be missed but having struggled to compete in the Blue Square South it could be argued that his talent would have been even more quashed in the league below.

It's important that deals for James Rowe and Roy O'Brien are secured. Jones Awuah may not have been prolific for Dorchester but he was playing in a struggling side with little assistance in the final third, so it could be worth seeing how he fares next season as long as the club can bring in a suitable strike partner.

Life in the BGB Southern Premier Division is not going to be easy and the Magpies could be forced to accept a season of mid-table obscurity but if Brooks can bring in the right personnel then who knows what can be achieved?

He obviously, and passionately, believes he can win promotion with the club at the first time of asking.

If his players can share in such belief and confidence, something that appeared severely lacking at times last season, then they will be heading in a more positive direction because sometimes believing is half the battle.

o o o DORCHESTER and Weymouth got off to good starts in the opening round of their Dorset Funeral Plan Premier League campaigns.

The county town side made light work of Blandford while the Seasiders fended off the challenge of Wimborne Wayfarers.

One win this early in the season doesn't count for a lot, as the two town's football teams will testify, but both put on such dominant displays that it would be hard to envisage neither side challenging in the top half of the table.