In the same way that you can wait for ages for a bus before two then turn up at the same time, having waited almost three years to see a Dorch win, I’ve now seen two inside the space of about a month. My immediate post night shift return from London to Dorchester was rewarded with another win, and if the 3-2 victory over Hartley Wintney was slightly fortunate, yesterday’s victory over Kings Langley was thoroughly deserved and gave new manager, Glenn Howes, victory in his first home game in charge. It was a pleasant change from home performances over recent years as nice football actually yielded chances and goals, as well as a welcome clean sheet that included both good defending and some luck to boot.
It was a good day for the club, with free entry being offered to serving and former forces personnel, and a very well-done remembrance service done prior to kick off as the club remembers those who died in past conflicts. There are many links with the club and the armed forces, and I’ll spend a couple of paragraphs telling a brief story of one of the club’s more notable names to have served in the armed forces and represented Dorchester in Tommy Rowe.
Tommy Rowe may not be a name familiar to all Dorch fans, but his life story is fascinating and one worth telling. Born in Poole in 1913, Tommy would play for his hometown club at the start of his career in 1933 before joining Portsmouth in the 1934. A central defender, Tommy would break into the first team properly in September of 1937 and would be a key component of the Pompey side who would win the FA Cup in 1939 with a crushing 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley. However, the outbreak of the Second World War would see his top flight footballing career effectively ended, and he first volunteered to join the City of Portsmouth Police, before joining the RAF and training as a bomber pilot.
He flew a staggering 39 successful bombing missions over Germany when piloting Avro Lancaster’s and Halifax’s, as well as rising to the position of Squadron Leader and being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). On his 40th bombing mission Tommy’s aircraft was shot down over Germany and he would spend the last two years of the conflict as a Prisoner of War. When peace returned to Europe Rowe continued to serve with the RAF Volunteer Reserve, finally relinquishing his commission in August 1958. He moved to Ary and played for Ayr United and worked at Butlins in Prestwick, before meeting his soon to be wife and moving back to Dorchester, having been recruited by a Portsmouth Director who knew that Dorchester were looking for a player/manager. He started playing for Dorchester and working for Wrights and Sons – a local wholesale grocery business, and Tommy would be a vital part of the Magpies side who would gain promotion in 1949/50 before his playing days were ended by a serious head injury. He wasn’t finished yet though and he would once again return to the club to manage to side in ’53-54. Tommy would remain local and would live in his Manor Road home until his passing at the age on 92 in in May of 2006. A true hero who never looked upon himself that way at all, Tommy has a seat in the stand in his honour that his family have sponsored as part of the club’s Sponsor a Legend initiative. If ever a man deserved to be honoured at The Avenue, Tommy Rowe is surely one.
Back to the present and the omens for the day ahead were good as I meandered my way into town to meet a few of the regular faces for breakfast. I arrived just as Phil was finishing up his cup of tea, although curiously he has only ordered a pot of hot water and milk. Rather than shell out the £2.70 for a cup of tea, he preferred to bring his own Yorkshire Gold to the Vivo Lounge as he is now “at a stage in my life where I won’t settle for anything less than Yorkshire Gold.” He is man who knows what he likes and likes what he knows. He has even gone as far to tell some outlets that he is allergic to the fabric in some teabags when they are reluctant to provide just the milk and boiling water, and at this point you really have to admire than man’s commitment to a decent brew at a price that isn’t offensive. The taking of several more sachets of sugar than he needed seemed unnecessary, but he given he was in for a penny, he may as have gone in for a pound.
JW would soon arrive and El Generale would join shortly after as conversation would become more football centric, as well as the welcome return of Phil and Steve arguing after one had totally missed the point the other was making. Expensive breakfasts polished off, all things DTFC would become the topic. We would identify a photo sent to me by David Ward as an early season 3-1 win over Banbury in August 2002 (goals from Andrews, Keeler and Shepherd, if you’re asking), work out when JW last saw a Dorch win (4-1 over Basingstoke in March of 2019) and discuss what we need to improve the current squad which amounted to a bit of leadership which we hope Glenn can provide, as well as a couple of improvements in key areas which was a conversation so long, I can’t be arsed to summarise. We were also informed that someone had heard from a reliable source that we have the “fourth biggest budget in the league”, a ‘fact’ so specific it can’t possibly be true given no one will know what other sides budgets are. But as we made our way towards the ground one thing was certain and that is that we were uncertain of how we’d get on.
At the ground, the bar seemed busier than I remember it being on previous visits, and El Gen, JW and I were soon joined by Luke from The Board who once again looked like a man who had successfully navigated a morning at in the dock at the local magistrate court. A look at some old programmes and a natter about the fortunes of the club over the past few seasons left Luke asking the question; “Why are we winning so few games?” Simple, we’re losing too many, was my accurate if not very expansive reply. Berry, who at his time of years morphs into a half man and half puffer jacket hybrid, was able to provide the details of the teams and we showed only one change as Tom Soares dropped to the bench with Billy Lowes replacing him, with Callum Buckley taking on the captain’s armband for the day.
We filtered out onto the terraces in time for The Last Post to be played by Steve Vaughan, before an impeccably observed minutes silence that for a pleasant changed, wasn’t followed by 90 minutes of silence. Breaking from recent tradition and taking up residence behind the goal we were attacking at the Tesco end, we started well with plenty of possession and a couple of early shots on goal. Tom Purrington and Sam Bayston both say efforts comfortably saved with Roberts and Stanley both shooting wide as we pressed early on, but we still had to be alert at the back at set pieces seemed to be the most likely way the visitors would trouble us. JW visited the toilets at the Tesco end and reported back on the club’s ingenious method of ensuring that there isn’t too much a of a smell; a ‘Little Trees’ air freshener pinned to the toilet cistern. That ought to get rid of the stench of 30 years’ worth of piss. In an attempt to avoid any quick throws, at least half a dozen clearances by the Kings Langley number five were deliberately blasted out of the ground in a manner that would have made Andy Harris proud as we pushed for the opening goal, and that goal would come on the 24-minute mark as Kieran Roberts turned into the Pro Evo 6 version of Adriano.
Roberts would not only win but then ran onto his own headed flick on, held off and turned two defenders before blasting a shot that Lango goalkeeper, Lee Axworthy, got a hand on but saw ricochet off his back and roll into the net. Was it an own goal? Technically it probably was, but good luck trying to take that one off Kieran, I think I’d be letting him keep that. A reasonable game of football was breaking out as Kings Langley almost equalised as we first allowed a corner to be taken as we momentarily switched off, Gerald Benfield’s foot keeping us ahead, but we came close to doubling our lead as a Tom Purrington volley flashed just over as we finished the half well.
1-0 up at halftime and so far, so good was the unanimous verdict, and when asked if he’d seen any worse sides than Kings Langley at Dorch this season, Berry’s reply was “only us”. Encouraging. Heading behind the goal at the bypass end, we hoped that we’d be able to build on a good first half and the initial signs were good as Charlie Madden say a shot saved down low by Axworthy, and Kieran Roberts was denied by the same man as he broke free on our left. Alert defending kept our visitors from any real meaningful shot on goal, and the introduction of Tom Soares for Alfie Stanley saw us drop a little deeper than those of us behind the goal would have liked as we felt like we’d seen this blow up in our faces several times over the past few seasons. A further tactical switch came as an injured Madden was replaced by the returning Sam Davidson, and the switch to what appeared to be wing backs made us look far more comfortable.
JW and I spoke of who would take a penalty if we got one given Stanley was now off the pitch as we queued for our food and Bovril respectively. We thought it would be Roberts but we were soon proved to be wrong. Tom Purrington’s burst into the box was clumsily stopped by a combination of two defenders, penalty given and Tom Soares calmly dispatched the spot kick, even seeming to engage in a staring contest with the keeper as Axworthy tried and failed to put him off. 2-0 and we behind the goal we felt worryingly confident that we’d be able to see the game out. We were given a rude jolt of reality as slight fumble from Benfield saw Sam Davidson make a heroic block to keep our lead two clear goals. But in truth, we could have had more with a Purrington effort easily saved, a 50-yard run by Roberts, made all the more impressive by the fact he seemed to be looking directly at the ground, almost saw him score a third, and a Billy Lowes shot was blocked with the keeper stranded. But a 2-0 win was the result and good value we were for it as well. It is rare over the past few seasons we have eased to a victory in such a manner, and Glenn Howes could hardly have asked for more on his first home game in charge. My only minor complaint would have to be that my Bovril was too salty. However, I’m reluctant to point the finger of blame at Glenn for that.
The sight of a once again busy bar post game was encouraging, as was the attendance of 446, which was comprised of almost exclusively home fans. I’m not sure what the take up on the free forces’ tickets were, but those that came will potentially be tempted to return following a win and will hopefully have popped a few quid behind the bar or into the food kiosk. With a home game coming up on Tuesday against Wimborne, there is a decent chance of another decent crowd and hopefully, another win. The post-match chatter was naturally quite positive and I was even able to snare a couple of bits of the KFC that was on offer for the players, Kieran Roberts was awarded a thoroughly deserved man of the match, him and Tom Purrington the stand outs for me. Also notable were Alan Luther was seen rocking a quite stunning set of mutton chops in combination with a flat cap that made him look like a cross between Fred Dibnah and Bob Flemming, and a hand carved piece of wood emblazoned with ‘Dorchester Town FC’ on that was found in the roof space of the old club shop was dated to the 1980/81 season when it was presented to then player/manager, Martin Chivers. How it ended up in the fucking loft with a raft of other pieces of club history is anybody’s guess. A rare successful day all round.
The win and the three points make the bottom of the table look a touch better as there is now a five-point gap between us and the drop zone. And with only three points separating positions 18th to 12th, we are more than capable of looking upwards than over our shoulders if we can continue to play like that. A win against a rock bottom Wimborne side on Tuesday would be more than handy as we look to put together back-to-back wins for the first time since late 2019. Look out for the Matty Holmes interview that we home to have in the programme for that game, the man himself may even be in the crowd. Roll on Tuesday, here’s hoping for a repeat performance, I’ll be there and may even take a page out of Phil’s book and bring my own Bovril granules and just order a cup of boiling water and a stirrer. SV
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