PLAYER-MANAGER Roy O’Brien is sad to see former club Weymouth suffer relegation but is excited by the prospect of facing his old employers next season.

O’Brien, whose wife has just given birth to a baby boy, helped the Terras achieve promotion to the Blue Square Premier three years ago before rejoining Dorchester as a player in the summer of 2007.

Now in charge of the county town outfit, O’Brien is looking forward to two local derbies and the bumper crowds they should bring.

He said: “Games against Weymouth are the ones you want to play in. We should get between 2,500 and maybe 4,000 here and it’ll be brilliant.

“I’m an ex-Weymouth player and I’m devastated to see them go down because I have an affiliation with them.

“But them coming down is going to make things interesting and there’ll be a buzz, hopefully sparking more interest.

“People will want to see who finishes above who and that will hopefully bring people through the gates.”

This season may have drawn to a close, culminating in a relegation-saving victory over Bromley last Saturday, but O’Brien remains hard at work trying to put together a squad for next term.

He added: “Myself, Ash and the chairman will sit down and thrash out what players are required and how we want to push on next season. The players can have a little jolly up for the summer now but we have to work. That’s part and parcel of the job but myself and Ash are loving it.

“You look around at what this club has and it has everything for it to push on. Mine and Ash’s aim is to do that and not be nearer the bottom of the table.”