NEW Dorchester Town striker Richard Gillespie revealed his primary motive for joining the Magpies was to seek more match minutes.

Gillespie, 34, affectionately known as ‘Mr Goals’ during his time at former club Poole Town, made his debut in the 6-0 humbling by Farnborough, playing 65 minutes.

Gillespie, who was a known target of former Magpies’ boss Craig Laird in the summer of 2017, has scored eight goals and provided three assists in 19 games this season.

And the veteran marksman had just one major chance to add to that tally against the Yellows, only to see his goalbound header acrobatically clawed away by Boro keeper Liam Beach.

Gillespie, who came off the bench for the Dolphins in a 1-0 loss to Dorchester in early January, told Echosport that the Magpies’ style of football had also been an attraction.

He said: “I’d been thinking about it for a while. It was just one of those where I thought I was doing well at Poole, scoring goals and making goals as well.

“It got to a point where, no matter what I felt I was doing, training hard and playing well when I came on, I just wasn’t getting enough game time.

“I’m 34 now and you get to a point in your career and it’s just about playing football and enjoying it. I said to Tommy (Killick, Poole boss) I might see if there’s anything else out there for me. I’m quite grateful that Dorchester were interested.

“I saw them play against Poole the other week and the way they play in an attacking perspective was very good, so that was a draw for me as well.

“I knew a couple of lads here, so it wasn’t completely unfamiliar. That made it quite easy to make the decision.”

Commenting on the harrowing 6-0 loss to Farnborough, Gillespie felt the result was partially down to the Magpies over-chasing the game when 2-0 behind.

He said: “It’s not your perfect debut losing 6-0. Some of the attacking play was really, really good.

“Some of the balls that were coming in the box, the movement, the creativity. There’s some lads that are great on the ball.

“Going forward, if I had the opportunity to play some more, I think that would be great.

“I had a couple of chances, the keeper pulled off a great save in the second half but you’re under pressure when you’re 2-0 down at home.

“We tried and we probably pushed on too much, which resulted in gaps being opened up at the back. You see it happen and once you start going the wrong way, it’s hard to turn the momentum.”

Gillespie backed the Magpies, who sit in 17th amid a congested bottom half of the Evo-Stik Southern Premier South table, to stay up thanks to the “capable” players in Dorchester’s ranks.

He said: “It’s only when I looked at the table I realised how close it was. There’s eight or 10 teams within five points of each other.

“It’s going to be an interesting second half of the season, but from what I’ve seen I actually think we’ve got a lot of capable lads in this team and we’ll do well. I can’t see us not staying up.”