DORCHESTER Town’s 1-0 win over promotion-hunting Salisbury was an “amazing effort”, according to boss Tom Killick.

Olaf Koszela’s seventh goal of the season proved to be the match-winner, although Dorchester had to ride out heavy pressure in the second half.

Salisbury hit the bar and Jamar Smith’s deflected effort spun wide as the Magpies mixed hearty defending with an element of fortune.

While Killick acknowledged Dorchester were “backs to the wall” in the second period, he also highlighted the Magpies’ dominance in the opening 45 minutes.

He told Echosport: “It was an amazing effort.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 1-0 Salisbury - report

“I’m not going to try and pretend it wasn’t backs to the wall stuff. What people shouldn’t forget is that the first half we were the better side.

“Although second half they improved, as you might expect, we became a bit fatigued and nervous. We got in the mindset of trying to hold on to what we had, which is always dangerous but sometimes difficult to avoid.

“So, the second half was difficult but the first half in particular I thought we were very good.

“In the second half, when we were up against it, we just defended exceptionally.

“Young Ed James and Will Spetch, together with Jack Dickson and Hastey (Ollie Haste) as a back four were absolutely superb in what they did.”

Highlighting the rare clean sheet, Dorchester’s fourth of the season, Killick said: “Another big part of that is our keeper Jameson Horlick.

“Towards the end of games when you’re trying to protect a lead, you’re going to come under siege a little bit with high balls into your box.

“To have a goalkeeper who can come and claim them and catch things cleanly, it takes pressure off you to an unbelievable extent.

“So, as well as the back four, Jameson I felt was very instrumental in getting us over the line in some games where we’ve been under the cosh in the dying embers in particular.”

Dorchester, now up to 12th in the table, travel to Winchester City on Saturday (3pm).