Our final opponents of last season were The Hawks at Westleigh Park. On that hot April afternoon Ryan Seager bagged a first-half brace in the 2-0 win, only for his team to be denied the final play-off spot by Dorchester’s winner deep into time-added on at Hungerford. Seager, the division’s “Golden Boot” winner (35 league goals), also scored at The Wyatt Homes Stadium in February as his team won 2-1 with 10 men.

Reaching the play-offs will be a minimum aim for Shaun North’s squad for this campaign. A new recruit is Lewis Brown, the young midfielder who played on loan for us from AFCB a couple of seasons ago. Disappointingly for Tuesday evening’s visitors, on Saturday at home The Hawks were downed 2-3 by The Peacocks in their season-opener. An own goal and a penalty gave Taunton a 2-0 lead, Alfy Whittingham pulled one back, Kayne Simpson restored the two-goal lead, before Seager opened his account for the new season deep into time added-on.

Wimborne, too, lost on Saturday, at Basingstoke where a fluke ricochet and a penalty gave the hosts their win. For The Magpies it was a “nearly” game; on another day one or more of their goal attempts would have found the net. We saw in pre-season that Tim’s new recruits have bags of potential and exuberance. They’ll have learnt from Saturday and will want to get a point or three on the league scoreboard in front of the New Cuthbury faithful.

The forecast is for a glorious summer evening, made for watching football at The Wyatt Homes Stadium. Will this be a hot August night for The Magpies or The Hawks?

• There’s reasonable parking at the ground in Ainsley Road BH21 2FU, but if you do decide to travel by car and park on the nearby streets, please do so respectfully to our neighbours.
• The Morebus no.13 runs along Leigh Road from and to The Square in the town centre with stops at the bottom of Parmiter Road, a five-minute stroll from the ground.
• There is a bike park to the left of the players’ entrance.
• A packed printed programme will be on sale.
• Admission: adults £14, concessions £8, U18s £5, U13s £2.
• Weather forecast: clear; 22oC; <5% chance of rain.