DORCHESTER Town boss Tom Killick admitted he had been torn over the decision to drop teenage centre-back Ieuan Turner.

Turner, who skippered Dorchester’s under-18s last season, has emerged as one of the Magpies’ brightest young talents in 2023/24.

He made his mark in the 2-1 win at Poole, coming on to replace the injured Jack Wright just seven minutes into the derby with the Dolphins, while Killick was still boss at the Black Gold.

And Turner has since been trusted with further appearances in the Dorchester starting line-up, notably in the 3-2 win over Merthyr.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 0-0 Plymouth Parkway - reaction

Having impressed in that win, Killick made the difficult decision to drop the centre-back for the 0-0 draw against Plymouth Parkway, favouring the fit-again Exeter City loanee Ed James.

Quizzed on the selection dilemma, Killick told Echosport: “I said to Ieuan, it was one of those decisions where I couldn’t really explain it in terms of it wasn’t fair.

“It was unfair, but in the position we’re in I feel we have to be ruthless and I made the call. It’s tough on Ieuan, because he’s been exceptional.

“Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, if you like. Ieuan, to his great credit, has taken it in a really good way.”

Turner did infact play the final 31 minutes following a calf injury to Will Spetch, who was a doubt going into the Parkway match and played through the pain barrier for nearly an hour.

“He’s ended up coming on the pitch and again showed a real maturity,” Killick explained.

“He seems to be, I’m getting to know him, a really dignified and intelligent lad. He understands things.

“I feel he needs to keep going and hopefully from his point of view he can go on to bigger and better things.

“He showed a real maturity and intelligence in terms of understanding the decision and then reacting to it in the right way by coming on and performing in the way that he did.”

Killick then addressed the fitness of “warrior” Spetch.

“Will was struggling a little bit with his calf,” Killick revealed.

“Typical Will, he wanted to play and not many people would’ve started and certainly not many would’ve lasted the time he lasted.

“He’s a real warrior, a bit of a throwback. He’s always prepared to do that. As good as Ieuan was, with all those deliveries, corners, it’s a big miss in terms of our threat.

“If we had had Will, just from an attacking point of view, that would’ve probably just given us that bit more.

“The way the game panned out, with all those balls going into the box, not having Will was a bigger blow than you would’ve thought.

“They weren’t interested in posing a threat, so it was never going to damage us. Certainly, it did damage us with our attacking play.”

Dorchester travel to bottom side Didcot Town on Saturday (3pm).