Magpies' pair optimistic about club's future

Feature

DORCHESTER Town midfielders of the present and one, quite possibly, of the long-term future had the security of being put on contracts at the county-town club last week.

Ian Selley penned a deal, which will last him until the end of the season, while the club completed the signing of 16-year-old Jamie Symes from Bridport on a scholarship deal.

Securing Selley should help bring experience and solidarity to the centre midfield of this year's team but the club's hope is that Symes can become a long-term fixture in the first team for years to come.

The youngster, county town born and bred, was barely out of nappies when Selley was winning the European Cup Winners Cup in an Arsenal shirt in 1994 and perhaps could have no better figure in which to learn and develop his trade from.

Symes had the disappointment of being let go from Yeovil Town earlier in his career and was a member of the Magpies' South West Counties Youth League side last term.

Ex-Magpies youth team boss Trevor Senior, who had first seen him at the age of 14 and plunged him into the rigours of a higher standard of youth football, took him to Bridport during the summer and frequently sung his praises during the early part of this season. Not bad for a 16-year-old stepping into senior men's football for the first time.

"The contrast between youth football and senior football was such a big one," said Symes. "It was hard but being at Bridport really worked well for me. I played a lot of football, got some good results and a couple of man of the match awards which was pleasing. To come back to Dorchester, however, was really good.

Coming from the town, playing for your local football team was certainly an ambition for Symes and is something he is getting used to.

"I was really pleased I could sign," he said. "All the players have been brilliant in helping me fit in so far. They have really helped me and made it easy for me to fit in. It will be good to get know everyone here.

"What I have to do is treat this season as a learning year, take one step at a time and see where I can go and what the future is from here."

Meanwhile, Selley has admitted enjoyment of playing in a Dorchester Town shirt is what encouraged him to extend his stay in Dorset at least until the end of the season.

He said: "I was going to retire in the summer. But having got the phone call from Roy (O'Brien, manager), I came down there and have had a good time.

"I had missed the first couple of Saturdays of this season and I realised I was missing playing again and I thought while I can still do it, I would try and give it another go. And it has gone well at the moment."

Selley admits Dorchester need to start winning games soon to avoid getting drawn into a relegation battle. And the central midfielder has warned the quality of football which O'Brien has tried to orchestrate may have to go out of the window.

"I am not sure the management would really care how we pick up the points as long as we get results," said Selley. "The passing and the pretty football may have to be forgotten about. We have to make sure over the next three or four games, a gap does not start opening up between the bottom three, which we are in at the moment and the rest of the division."

And Selley, who has so far shown he can bring a little bit of solidarity and intelligence to the centre of the park, alongside the likes of Mark Jermyn and Jamie Gleeson, feels the rest of the squad in the Jewson Stadium could, in the future, combine to make more of an impression in Blue Square South.

"There is plenty of potential here," he said. "But we are a bit hit and miss here at the moment. Some times we play well and other days we are poor.

"It is just making sure we do not get beat at the moment because once that starts happening, it becomes very much of a slippery slope. Like winning, losing games can become a habit.

"I think helping some of the younger lads is one of the reasons why Roy brought me here in the first place.Having played at a higher level. That is what it is all about the moment, making sure some of the younger players' attitude is right and helping them out.

"When things are going well, the lads like to get the ball down and play it well but when you are down, every game can be a tough game. It is just important we can stick together and when that happens you can get results.

"But I have not get no worries about things at the moment, there is the potential here to go mid table, if not higher."