PHIL Simkin has urged the Magpies to ensure that the Avenue Stadium remains a fortress ahead of their first home match of the new Blue Square Bet South season.

Dorchester welcome Eastleigh to the county town venue this evening (7.45pm), with both sides looking to bounce back from respective opening-day defeats.

Magpies’ boss Ashley Vickers was left “dumbfounded” following his side’s 2-1 reversal at Bromley, while the Spitfires went down by the same scoreline at home to Bishop’s Stortford.

However, boasting an impressive home record in the second half of last term, which saw only Chelmsford City record victory at the Avenue, assistant-manager Simkin is hopeful that the Magpies can get off the mark tonight.

Vickers’ right-hand man said: “We want to put on a show and play as well as we did on Saturday, but obviously with a bit more luck going our way this time.

“Only Chelmsford managed to beat us at home in the second half of last season so we’ll be looking to make the Avenue our fortress once again.

“If we can produce the same kind of home form and do better on our travels then we can really climb the table.

“The important thing is getting that first point on the board. It’s disappointing that we didn’t do it on Saturday, especially as we missed a late penalty.

“However, it takes a lot of guts to take penalties. Ryan Hill stepped up but the keeper guessed right.

“Sometimes it’s easy to take a defeat when you’ve been well beaten but like Ash said, I’ve never seen such a one-sided game away from home.

“The simple fact is that we didn’t get a second goal when we were in front.

“The game’s gone so we will just try and put it right tonight.

“Eastleigh were also beaten at the weekend and I’m sure they weren’t expecting to lose.

“We’ve got a comprehensive report from that game and I’m sure that if we play like we did on Saturday then we can get a result.

“Whatever happens, our supporters will know that the players will be going all out.”

Dorchester welcome back Dave Allen for tonight’s clash after a one-match ban, picked up while playing for former club Bashley in the latter stages of last season, ruled him out of Saturday’s trip to Hayes Lane.

Simkin added: “Dave had a one-match suspension from last season which carried over to Saturday, so he’ll be back in the squad tonight.

“Other than that I doubt there will be any more changes as we want to carry on from Saturday.”

Magpies (from): Coward, R Hill, Critchell, Jermyn, Walker, K Hill, Crittenden, Gleeson, Moss, Groves, Devlin, Evans, Martin, Frampton, Coutts, Allen, Douglas.