As the cliché goes, a week is a long time in football. And much had happened at Dorch over the previous seven days prior to Tuesday’s game against Hartley Wintney. Equally, 1,043 days is also a long time and that is how long had elapsed since I last saw Dorch win. December 11th 2018 was my last in-person victory as the Steve Thompson-led Magpies battered a woeful Staines side 6-1, and only Billy Lowes is still at the club from the players that featured that night. Since then, I think I’ve seen two draws and countless losses as our form has nosedived and we’ve been reprieved from relegation by a global pandemic. But if you throw enough darts, you’ll hit the bullseye eventually, and on Tuesday we finally hit the red bit.
Prior to Tuesday, it had been a very Dorchester start to the new season. Cautious optimism met with the crushing reality of results and finding ourselves in and around the drop zone in a hurry. There were differences though this time around, in that the quality in the squad is much higher than previous years, the football much better and on the whole, a far easier team to get behind in terms of effort seemed to all be pulling in the same direction. Ego and lack of commitment have seemingly been a bit of a hallmark of some of the sides we’ve assembled at this level, but those aren’t accusations that can be made against the current crop of players. My sole game this season was the 2-0 defeat at Harrow which felt all too familiar as we looked good in patches but ultimately came up short, even missing a penalty into the bargain this time. Even so, the departure of Robbie Herrera and Kevin Hodges had come as somewhat of a surprise given he had assembled what was a largely new squad, and although Brian Churchill and Craig Robinson had been in charge for our midweek win at Tiverton, there had also been two losses with Saturday’s game at Chesham being a shocker.
I had designs on attending Chesham last weekend with The Roth until a planned closure of the Metroplitan line, mercifully, put paid to that idea. Fred’s replacement bus horror journey which saw an hour and a bit journey take over three hours, all to see a 5-1 capitulation, made me very grateful for the timing of the essential maintenance works being carried out. But having missed that and likely not being home until Christmas, a cheap £22 return via a National Express coach from London Victoria to Dorchester South lured me in as the idea of seeing my family and sneaking in a game was all of a sudden very appealing. So, as I boarded my coach home at 0830 on Tuesday morning and was able to nab the seat with all the legroom, I was unsure of what to expect from the evening’s festivities.
TC had been kind enough to offer a lift, one which I gratefully accepted as the weather was atrocious, and with sturdy Karrimor boots on to avoid getting trench foot, we set off to Fortress Avenue. First impressions weren’t great as we had to double check we weren’t actually playing away or that the game was still on as there appeared to be no bastard there. We knew that a Somerset footballing force were in the county for a fixture against a club they have rarely played over the years, but Wimborne hosting Weston-super-Mare wouldn’t have taken that many floating fans, would it? Either way, we were in the right place, and following a quick chat with AWH, TC and I headed for the shelter of the bar where we found some more familiar faces. Berry, Luke, El Generale and Robbie Lowe were nursing their drinks, and as conversation lurched between the managerial search, non-alcoholic Guinnes (how does it taste so much like the real thing?) as well as serial killers and why they shouldn’t really be sharing a cell in prison, we also found out the team. There was only the one change to the starting XI as Christos Papakonstantinou dropped to the bench with Sam Bayston taking his place, and there was a strong under 23’s presence on the bench given Rudy Plummer and Harry Hodges had departed the club since the Chesham debacle. Quickly slurping the remains of my coffee, it was off out to brave the storm and see what we had to offer on the pitch.
For the first 20 minutes, it wasn’t a lot. AWH made an excellent one-on-one save to keep out an effort from the lively Kingsley Eshun, before another dangerous cross would see an effort go just wide of the post as we struggled to put anything of any note together. A smart dummy from Alfie Stanley would help set up a cross that Sam Bayston would stab just wide as we got a bit of a foothold in the game. Conditions were awful, with wind and rain making it difficult for both sides to play, but we adapted well enough and just before the half hour mark, we took the lead. A well worked short corner routine saw Oakley’s deep cross headed home by Thiago Caze Da Silva for his first goal for the club. Thiago has taken the captain’s armband in the absence of Ash Wells and seems an astute signing, even getting the ultimate praise of being called a “proper shithouse” on Twitter after the Tivvy game.
One up and we started to look a bit more cohesive, and then just as halftime was approaching, we made it 2-0. Decent work down the right led to a selection of piss poor attempts at clearing the ball, and Sam Bayston was perfectly placed to nudge the ball past the somewhat helpless keeper from six yards out. The remaining minutes of the half were seen out without any further drama and being in a winning position at the interval is not something I’ve come across much, if at all, these last few years. I took the chance to have a snoop around the new seats in the stand and hunt down the seat that was sponsored in the name of my late Father, Adrian, and I, that commemorates the achievements of former title-winning skipper Hedley Steele. Hedley is not only a Dorchester legend for his near decade at the club, but he was also a good friend of my Dad’s and I was very pleased to be able to sponsor his seat for both him and Dad. It looks suitably smart with an excellent view, so I was very glad to have tracked it down.
As I headed behind the goal for the second half, we were all aware of the dangers of a 2-0 lead and all knew that the first 15 minutes, and indeed the next goal, would be key. Hartley Wintney started brightly and were somehow denied a goal by a combination of AWH, bodies on the line defending and woeful shooting as we rode our luck in keeping it at 2-0. The pressure continued before something unexpected happened as we grabbed our third goal. An excellent defence splitter of a pass from Charlie Madden found Flavio Tavares, and his first time cross was met by the head and/or face of Sam Bayston, his second of the night and fifth of a profitable season. The quality of the through ball can’t really be overstated and Madden himself looks like a different player to the one who had struggled for form under Leigh Robinson last season, or what we actually played of it.
But this is Dorchester, so things can’t be done in a seemingly straight forward manner. “If it’s anything like Tiverton, we’ll give them a couple of goals now to make it more interesting”, quipped Dev on WhatsApp. Two minutes later and Hartley Wintney pulled one back. A cross from the right evaded both defence and attack and that allowed Sam Argent to head home. 3-1 and all of a sudden, it gets a touch nervy both on the pitch and in the stands. We dropped deeper and given the wind we were kicking into and the rain falling, it got a bit more agricultural in defence and longer balls were banging in attack. Alfie Stanley looks a very good player and four goals already to his name, including a match winning hat trick at Tivvy, backs that up. But he won’t be able to get much out of long balls when up top by himself against two giant centre backs. Just as we looked like we’d taken the sting out of the game, Josh Webb drilled in the visitors’ second and the nerves set in once more.
Thankfully we were able to see the game out from here on with AWH once again making a key save to keep us ahead, clearances landing in the vicinity of the KFC and almost striking the 2137 train from Dorchester South to Weymouth, and after we cleared a contentiously awarded free kick away, the final whistle blew. A vital win that once again gives up a buffer between us and the drop zone as well as seeing us move towards the more congested midtable region. It meant a lot to the players too with much fist pumping and many relieved as well as smiling faces as they applauded the fans at fulltime. It was a game that showcased both the good and the bad of our game, but a win is a win and a much needed one at that. You don’t get any extra points for style and although Hartley Wintney will feel they could/should have got a point from the game, we’ve played far better this season and lost by all accounts, so we’re due one going our way after several injury time issues have seen us drop several points.
After 1,043 days in which Dorch have had four different managerial combinations, America has seen a new President elected, Prince Andrew revealed his in-depth knowledge of the Woking Pizza Express, a global pandemic and ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ (you don’t hear much about that these days, do you), I finally saw a win.My drought is nothing compared to Kinners, who is now on his 4,699th day, but I’ll gladly restart my own clock again. So, where do we go from here and Howes the search for a new manager looking? We currently sit 17th in the table with a four-point gap to the drop zone and are three points off Yate in 13th place, so things could be better, but equally, we have known them much worse. Whoever does come in will be the first manger since Craig Laird took over from Jem who hasn’t inherited a side deep in a relegation battle and/or a squad with little to no confidence, but the right man to take over is key. Despite being in a much better situation off the field, on the field we are still seen as something of a poisoned chalice after years of underachievement, a high turnover of both players and management and dwindling attendances. There were only 181 there on Tuesday, which can be put down to a number of factors from football being on TV that night, awful weather and the fact we got humped 5-1 only 72 hours previously, but that is still down on what we were getting at the same time only a few seasons earlier. There was of course the FA Cup replay over the hill, which two of our number who shall remain nameless attended, but that probably wasn’t a big factor in our crowds. I hope both Kriss and Welchy had a shit night there and got soaked. Also, a respectful nod to former Magpies Andy Robinson, Ben Seymour and Brandon Goodship who all missed from the spot. Top stuff, lads, we taught you well.
On the whole, it was a successful trip back and an excellent result. It also proved the value of a 3G pitch as conditions worsened but remained playable. Havey rain and standing water saw Wimborne’s game called off after 40 minutes with them 3-0 down at home to WSM, much to Weston’s amusement I’m sure, and knowing what the Avenue grass was like towards the end, Tuesday’s game may not have been completed. But it played fine and did so again last night in even worse rain (Deadly refereed in a coat…) for the under 23’s. Quite why football can be played at international level on a 3G but our friends at Gandermonium saw Sutton’s 3G ripped up as the Football League won’t allow it, is beyond me. We host table-topping Farnborough and their gigantic squad next on Saturday on the Avenue carpet and with rumours of further players coming in, hopefully we have our new man at the helm in time for that. In the meantime, Up The Magpies, and keep an eye out for the Matty Holmes interview which should appear next month just in time for the Wimborne game. SV
The Same Old Few 