PORTLAND United boss Brendon King expects the Blues to be worked defensively during their second pre-season friendly against Dorchester Town at the Weyline Stadium tonight (7.45pm).

King’s men were let down by Verwood on Saturday, necessitating a switch with Portland’s reserve side, who were facing Misterton.

Portland’s trip to the Perry Street Premier Division side resulted in an 8-0 win, with braces from Lewis Clarke and JJ Read, plus strikes from Gareth Will, Ryan McKechnie, Rich Marshallsay and Louis Hankin.

But King anticipates having far less possession and is instead aiming to use the Dorchester clash as a chance to work on his team’s shape.

He told Echosport: “We had to take the reserves’ fixture, which was a nice little workout. It could’ve been better, but a game’s better than none.

“We wanted to get some minutes into the boys before the Dorchester game.

“We had a lot more of the ball than we probably would on a Saturday, but against Dorchester we can work on our defensive side and shape a little bit more.

“When you play a team a couple of leagues higher you don’t expect to have much possession, but when we’ve got it we’ve got some quality as well and we’ll be looking to play.”

King reported no injuries from the Misterton game, merely “sore feet” from the sun-baked pitch.

Meanwhile, Magpies’ manager Steve Thompson hopes to hand minutes to at least 21 players against the Blues after doing the same in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Saltash United.

He said: “I’ll probably use it in the same way I always like to use the first two games – I don’t want too many playing 90 (minutes).

“Hopefully we’ll have 21 or 22 available and ready to go. On Saturday in the large part it was 60-30, 65-25 and 70-20. You have to try and get game time into the players who you know or feel will start the games.

“It’s nice to be local at Portland and we won’t

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have to travel too far – I’m looking forward to the game. Hopefully we’ll score a few goals as well.”

Thompson also hinted that more new players could be set to join the club.

He said: “I hope by Saturday we can see a few signed on, that’s what we’re looking for.”

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