LUKE Middlewick has been appointed as Dorchester Town's opposition and player scout.

Having previously been involved at Southampton, AFC Bournemouth, and most recently at Yeovil Town, he has also worked alongside Magpies' boss Callum Brooks at New Milton Town, Hamworthy United and Poole Town, where his roles included under-21 manager, first-team coach and head of player recruitment.

On the latest addition to his backroom staff, Brooks said: “I’ve worked with Luke across several clubs, and for a young man he’s extremely switched on and knowledgeable, and I wanted that relationship to continue because he’s really valuable in certain areas.

“He’s been working behind the scenes for a little while now, often watching the opposition and providing very detailed match reports and also identifying targets that we might want to look to sign in the future and also following up targets that have been identified elsewhere.”

“As we’re trying to make the club more professional these are the areas where we need people in place and can cover more bases.

"The whole idea is trying to provide our group of players that we put on the pitch every Saturday afternoon with the best possible support around them so they can deliver the goods we need.

“Having Luke on board in an official capacity is something he deserves for the work he’s put in and it’s something that going to benefit the football club, so I’m delighted to have him on board.”

Speaking at the Clayson Stadium, Middlewick said: “I’ve known Cal a long time and we speak a lot.

"He said he needed a bit of help in certain areas, and would like to try and work around looking at opposition so we can try and get a little bit of a foothold in what we’re expecting to see.

“I’ve done a couple of games this season and looking at it as a whole I think it could be helpful for the club moving forwards and that’s the key thing really – it’s important for us to try being as positive as we can with loads of different things.

“It’s also getting a foothold on the players in the area, whether that be younger players or new players coming into the local area, and just looking generally at what we can get in terms of percentages to try and get those nil-nils turned into one-nils, because that might be the difference between having a good season and maybe not such as positive one.”