RELEGATION is not worth “thinking about” according to assistant-manager Ashley Vickers ahead of tomorrow’s crucial clash with Bromley (3pm).

The Magpies welcome Bromley to the Jewson Stadium knowing that victory will guarantee Blue Square South safety.

Anything less will only be sufficient if Thurrock, two points behind Dorchester but with a better goal difference, fail to beat Bath City at home.

The county town side will be severely depleted tomorrow with the absence of suspended trio Nick Crittenden, Mitchell Nicholson and skipper Kevin Hill, but Vickers is in a positive frame of mind.

He said: “It’s a massive game for us but we’re going into it with a positive attitude. We’ve got to win to be on the safe side and hopefully the lads’ form of late will finally pay off.

“We’ve looked a lot more solid lately, we’ve been threatening the opposition goal a lot but are still struggling to get goals.

“We’ve got some suspensions and we are missing some influential players but I’m confident that those coming in will do a good job and get the result we need to keep us in the league.

“Braintree did us no favours on Tuesday night when they lost to Thurrock so we can’t rely on Bath City to help us out tomorrow.

“We want to stay up off our own backs and we’ll be putting our bodies on the line to make sure of that.”

At the mention of the dreaded ‘r’ word, Vickers responded: “It would be awful and it doesn’t bear thinking about. If it happens then obviously we’d have to deal with it but we need to keep thinking positively.”

Despite losing three key players to suspension, and player-boss Roy O’Brien to injury, the Magpies hope to welcome back defender Gary Bowles.

Vickers added: “Gary’s been looking good in training and he’s desperate to play. I went to see the Under-18s against Weymouth on Monday and they should’ve won on the night. I was extremely proud of how they played and some are pushing to be on the bench tomorrow for what is the biggest game of the season.”