With games over the Bank Holiday weekend against two of the best sides I saw us play last season, namely Chesham at home on Saturday and Poole away on Bank Holiday Monday, I’d have snapped your hand off for two points ahead of those. After a pretty demoralising 2-0 defeat against ten-man Chesham on Saturday, I was expecting very little other than a hammering at Poole, but fuck me did we turn up as a team and left with a fully deserved first three points of the season.
Everything we did well at Poole, we had done badly against Chesham 48 hours earlier. Saturday was a hard watch as we struggled to get any fluency versus what I thought was a pretty poor visiting side compared to what I’d seen last season. However, Chesham’s bang average was far better than ours, and even after the visitors had a man sent off as Olaf drew a daft reaction from one of their players following a bit of afters from a 50/50, we barely had a chance of note. In fact, I can only recall one effort on target from the lively Jamie Hosking who came on, although I should add that we were denied what seemed a pretty clear cut penalty when Lewis Waterfield was clattered by a defender who seemed to have no interest in watching the ball, let alone playing it. When Chesham got their second deep into added time after we’d pushed forward, it was predictable and probably a fair reflection of the game, and left me wondering why I’d left the sanctuary of the cricket club where I would have at least seen a home win and had a decent pint.
Fast forward to Monday and my initial plans of a possible few beers on Poole Quay had changed to the more sedate option of a later lift with El Generale, largely due to the fact it felt of a bit of a fool’s errand. Luke joined us in the car and as we headed towards Poole, there was scant optimism with a point being the most positive outcome any of us could see, and a possible thumping loss not out of the question. We’d looked dangerous and scored five goals across the previous two away fixtures I’d seen in a 3-2 loss at Merthyr, and a 6-3 defeat at Walton, having been 3-2 up at halftime, but the Chesham loss had dampened my faith in the attacking threat a bit.
The first obstacle of the day was managing to not only find a space to park the car, but work out how to pay for said parking space. Watching Steve try to use the Just Park app on his phone was like seeing a chimpanzee try to ride a bike, but he got there in the end. On our stroll towards the ground we awaited the team news and to see what threat we carried, and attacking intent was shown by Brian Churchill as he confronted a Dorch fan and alleged internet troll during the warmup. News of a more normal variety was soon to follow as the team was announced and we showed two changes from Chesham with Olaf and Harvey Bertrand coming in for Benjani Jnr and Louie Slough respectively, and Ollie Haste was a welcome sight on the bench after his injury saw him miss a few games. The usual guesses at formation came soon after with wingbacks being what most of us anticipated – it turns out we were all wrong as a back four is what we actually got.
As we entered a busy Tatnam, a ground that must by now be doing Poole fans’ heads in due to how inadequate it is compared to their ambition and ability on the field, Deadly was one of the first familiar faces I saw. After a quick chat about all things cricket, he informed me of how his officiating career had hit a new low at the weekend. No, not because he was unfavourably compared to the emergency official that got pulled from the crowd at Fratton Park recently who was on the opposite line to him, but because he had booked a fan. How has this happened, you ask? Well, a bloke in a full Charlton tracksuit came down from the stand, to the Charlton bench and wandered to the edge of and outside the technical area. Cracking down on infringements such as trespass outside the area and having more than one person at the edge of said area, a yellow was the punishment that fourth official Deadly dished out. It was only when they asked who he was that it was established that no one on the Charlton bench knew either. It was just a mush in a tracksuit. Back to his seat the fan went after his brief few seconds on the coaching staff, and given Charlton sacked their manager post match, the bloke is probably in the running to takeover.
Moving around to see Dev and David Ward to hear the amusing story of the warm up square up, we assumed residence just to the right of the away bench. It looked a healthy crowd (turning out to be a very healthy 967) and one that wasn’t segregated this time around after last year’s fixtures were. I’m glad it wasn’t segregated, largely due to the fact they aren’t rivals by any real metric other than the fact we’re in the same league. If Poole genuinely can’t stand us, good for them. I and nearly all other Dorch fans could not care less about Poole as a rival and see them with equal contempt as I do nearly every other side in this Godforsaken league. They’re not even in a DT postcode.
As we started off kicking towards the clubhouse, we seemed to settle quicker than we had against Chesham with Harvey Bertrand providing a threat down the right side. A back four of new man Alfie Saunders at right back, Jordi Foot and Jack Wright in the middle and Jordan Barnett on the left side was how we looked to set up, but that had to change before the ten minute mark as Wright appeared to pull his hamstring. On came Ieuan Turner to replace him, making what must be one of his first senior appearances, as the average age of the back four became even lower. Ieuan is only 18 but fills the void left by Kieran Douglas of very tall and fair haired central defender, and he couldn’t have had a tougher first assignment against the prolific Tony Lee, one of the league’s most predatory strikers with the record to match. Barnett aged 23, Foot, 19, Turner, 18 and Saunders, 21, could have been facing an afternoon of serious toil.
The change didn’t seem to bother us too much as we had some good possession – a header from Shaq going wide was as close as we got to goal but the signs were encouraging. Poole still posed a serious threat though and looked to make the most of set pieces with pressure put on Lloyd Thomas in the Magpies’ goal. A couple of confident claims from Thomas saw that tactic put on the backburner, but Poole were still seeing a lot of the ball, and we were lucky to keep the score at 0-0 when Lee should really have at least hit the target as he pounced on the first sign of vulnerability from Turner. Ieuan’s missed header didn’t matter though as Lee prodded the ball over. Both sides had further sights of goal with headers from set plays, but 0-0 at halftime suited us down to the ground and was a fair reflection of what had been a half of lots of possession for either side at times, but no end product.
The second half started much the same as the first had ended, although Olaf will know he should have done better with a headed chance after some great work from Bertrand down the right. Bertrand was at it again soon after as he once again did his man on the outside and his ball just evaded Shaq’s touch and the keeper was able to gather. Poole had started to look a bit disjointed and this was evidenced in a couple of ways. Several overhit crosses were met with groans as they sailed over or into Lloyd’s grasp. There was a bit of finger wagging amongst the Poole players and some verbals, and it all came to a head in a very obvious fashion when another attack broke down.
“Get that fucking cunt off the pitch” is a shout that isn’t unusual at a football ground; what made this different was that this was one of Poole’s own players bellowing this at their own bench from the centre circle and talking about their own player, Tony Lee. Lee’s response of “don’t give away the fucking ball then, you cunt”, or words to that effect, were shouted back from the edge of the Dorch penalty area. A full blown shouted slagging match, mid game, with the two players involved being about 60 yards away from each other. It really was lovely to see, and trust me, everyone saw it. Tommy Killick’s response was to take “that fucking cunt off the pitch”, with Lee taking this well and heading straight for the changing room as he was replaced by the wonderfully named Destiny Ojo.
There was a worry for us as Bertrand had to be replaced by Ollie Haste, with Harvey seeming in real pain as he went down with no one around him. We hope he’s okay and he was there at the end so hopefully it was a precaution rather than anything serious. Jake Graziano had also come off for Lewis Waterfield, who I thought had a decent game, but it was the Poole sub in Ojo who made the difference, although not how he’d have hoped. Ojo lost possession to Ngalo, and the latter’s through ball found Shaq who showed great composure to dump the Poole keeper on his arse, round him and slot into the empty net to give us the lead. The Dorch fans behind the goal, those of us on the side and the players went absolutely fucking mental. Huge goal and we all knew it. It was a very tight call for offside, but it looked like Spetch, I think, had just about played Shaq on as he was slow to step out. Either way, it counted and VAR is a way off for the Southern League. 1-0 Dorch, now it was about keeping it that way.
Alfie Santos and Toby Holmes had already come on for Poole, and their two unused subs were Wes Fogden and Harry Hutchinson, showing just how much quality in depth they possess, but this hadn’t sparked the onslaught that the home side had hoped for. As we headed into injury time and Poole looked even more desperate, Shaq broke free and was through on goal until he was fouled by last man Harvey Wright. It looked just outside the box, so it was a red for Wright – had it been inside it would likely have been a penalty and yellow card, but them’s the breaks.
It made zero difference to us as Jordan Benett stepped up to curl the freekick beyond Butler in the home goal.Further jubilation behind the goal ensued and someone had the foresight to film it. It was a hell of a strike and it was fortunate that Butler in the Poole goal seems unable to extend his arms beyond 90 degrees. Had he been able to do so, he might have saved it having appeared to have made up the necessary ground. 2-0 and only a couple of minutes injury time to play…surely we could see this out?
Well, yes, but sadly not without a scare as the clean sheet we’d have all loved wasn’t to be. A Poole corner was only partially cleared, and Will Spetch’s header back in found the far corner to leave us with an awkward couple of minutes to see out and stopped the otherwise assured Lloyd Thomas getting his first clean sheet of the season. And see them out we did with no further alarms as we secured a much needed three points.
The celebrations from the players and the fans showed just how much it meant to stop the rot and get a win on the board after what has been a very difficult start. There were some huge performances out there, none bigger than the two at the heart of the defence from Jordi Foot and Ieuan Turner. Jordi we know plenty about but this was, for my money, his best performance in a Dorchester shirt. He was in the new situation of being the senior partner of the defensive pairing and he thrived, winning almost everything and helping his junior partner through what was a proper baptism of fire against a side who are used to scoring a lot of goals. Lee and Holmes are two of the most prolific strikers at this level – you’d have backed Lee in particular to exploit any opportunity against a potentially vulnerable, young opponent. But Ieuan didn’t look out of place at all as he overcame a couple of nervous moments early on to put in a very composed performance. A very encouraging first proper appearance.
Alfie Saunders at right back put in another good performance building on what was a solid outing against Chesham. Not afraid of putting his foot in and with a decent weapon of a long throw, he’s impressed me in his two games so far. And Barnett on the left side showed his quality from dead ball situations as well as making sure his defensive duties weren’t forgotten. Ahead of them, the midfield and forwards really showed up, Shaq and Ngalo in particular showing the form we know they’re capable of. Shaq is on five league goals for the season already and with Olaf now back fit, there are goals in this side and players to worry any opposition. It was our best all around performance by a country mile and although not a game we dominated, the central midfield three of Waterfield, Ngalo and the relentless Alex Moyse, who definitely got the first goal at Walton,certainly helped us get control that we never really relinquished in the second half. An fantastic performance and the result we deserved.
As enjoyable as the win was and the celebrations that followed, this can’t just be the exception to the rule. If we now go on to lose the next two, go out of the FA Cup at Plymouth (no, not that Plymouth) and kick start Swindon’s season, this result really does mean fuck all. But I don’t think that’s lost on any of the players or management after a tough start, and they’re as entitled to enjoy the result as we are. As Glenn said when he spoke quickly to El Gen at fulltime, “it doesn’t make up for Walton, but enjoy your beer.” I doubt anyone will get caught up thinking it’ll be easy from here on in.
Our drive home was a swift and pleasant one and it was off back home for something to eat for me, off to bombard the Vic for some of the others as they had a one way conversation with a keg of Thatchers, all whilst sat in what appeared to be the comfort of someone’s living room. In 1988.Not sure when the next game I’ll be able to get to will be, but that’s a decent one to see if it’s the last for the time being. Up the Magpies, if I can’t get to a game sooner, I’ll see you all at the open top bus parade down Trinity Street in May. SV
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