DORCHESTER Town chairman Scott Symes thanked two Magpies fan groups for their “significant” donations amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Both the Dorchester Town FC Supporters’ Club and the Dorchester Town FC Fans’ Association have made healthy contributions to the Magpies’ budget in March.

Dorchester have not played since Saturday, March 7 and the Clayson Stadium has been closed since mid-March.

While Symes stressed the Magpies could have paid player wages, bills and other costs, the chairman expressed his gratitude for the extra funds raised.

He told Echosport: “They’re good amounts of money, which’ve been generated over the season through some fantastic work that both groups do.

“They are significant enough amounts to give us a platform, certainly for the next few weeks to help us manage that cashflow. We’d have been OK, but this all helps. It gives us a little more room.

“We can pay some future bills that were in the plan, coming in over the next few weeks that may have been difficult to raise cash for at the time.

“The Government have got plans in place to defer certain payments but we don’t carry a lot of debt at Dorchester anyway.

“We have an overdraft and sometimes we dip into it and sometimes we’re in a very healthy place.

“It gives us a little bit of confidence when we communicate to Leigh (Robinson, manager) and the players, that contractually what we pay, we’re OK to do so – that’s a really good place to be at the moment.”