AFTER almost three months of waiting, Dorchester Town ret-urn to action with tonight’s visit of Exeter City (7.45pm).

The Magpies have been back in training for 12 days but the recent wet weather has played havoc with their preparations thus far, culminating in the cancellation of Saturday’s friendly with Christchurch.

However, Phil Simkin’s men will finally return to the Avenue Stadium pitch this evening as the League Two Grecians roll into town.

Recent acquisitions Jason Matthews and Ben Watson will don county town colours for the first time while a handful of trialists will also be involved, including ex-Swansea City youth-team defender Frazer Clark and former Exeter trainee full-back Josh Concanen.

Discussing team selection, Simkin said: “I’m not going to have any more than six outfield substitutes because any more than that and it becomes farcical.

“I have no intention of putting out separate teams in each half as nobody gets anything out of the game.

“We will give trialists the chance to impress but you have to put them in amongst the bulk of the side to see how they get on.

“Some people will be involved tonight and others will be involved on Friday against Brighton. We’ve got two cracking games in a week so people will get plenty of football.”

Dorchester may be up against a side two tiers above them in the football pyramid, but their manager insists they will stay loyal to their current style of play.

He added: “The last thing we want to do is change the way we play.

“We will look to get the ball down and pass it, regardless of who we are playing against. You have got to back yourself.

“Players can get a lot of confidence from games like this if you are able to put on a show. No one expects you to win against higher-ranked opponents but it happens.

“No matter what game you play, you always want to win and put in a performance. We will just go into it with the same mentality as always and get the ball down and pass it, and look to get our creative players on the ball.

“We are looking forward to the game and we are looking forward to seeing our friends from Exeter, as well as (ex-Magpie) Tom Nichols – I can’t imagine that he won’t be involved.

“It will be a good run-out for both sides. We have trained really well and Stuart Heath has put on some excellent sessions. All the lads have worked hard but at the end of the day, they want to play games and that time has come.”

Tickets for pre-season friendlies cost £8 for adults, £5 for concessions and £3 for juniors.

Magpies (from): Matthews, Critchell, Jermyn, Walker, Martin, Crittenden. Nicholls, Gleeson, Malsom, Watson, Dovell, Bell, Symes, Concanen, Clark, Gwinnett.