With Christmas getting ever closer, I usually cause my family much irritation when informing them what I want as a present is three points on Boxing Day. I’m usually left very disappointed that my wish is not granted, but I was fortunate enough to be at Swindon on Saturday as we claimed an early three-point gift in what I’d say is the best I’ve seen us play this season.
Given that I’m a shift worker who has the joys of working part of Christmas, the Dorchester part of my festive celebrations happened to coincide with a chance to watch the Magpies (I know, what are the chances), and after a Christmas dinner and fake Christmas Day on the Friday, the Saturday and Swindon away became my fake Boxing Day. It had been a nice few days at home with the usual spots of the Convivial Rabbit, Goldies and The Kings Arms all paid a visit to sample the quality of the ale. All scored highly but the Rabbit and Goldies get extra brownie points for some DTFC touches. Several TSOF stickers adorn the walls at Goldies, although sadly the Gandermonium stickers and the sticker of Frazer Campbell are no longer on the toilet cistern, and the Rabbit has an excellent photo of the old main stand from the original ground prior to the move to the Avenue Stadium.
The old ground was before my time, but I have recently been sent several photos, by a gent called Martin Felton, of the old place which make fascinating viewing when compared to what we have now. Hedley Steele, Pete Morrell, Tony Diaz and Neil Coates all spoke of fond memories of the old ground when I spoke with them on previous occasions, and a couple more editions of ‘The Long Read’ might be in the works. Some of the photos will be added to this piece and they were taken in what I think was February 1989 in a 1-1 draw with Moor Green. The old ground, as most will know, is now occupied by Tesco, but seeing how it used to look and especially how big that bloody slope was gives you a good idea as to why we won a lot of games there. The fact it once had a 5,000+ crowd also seems absolutely ludicrous, but you can imagine that kicking down the hill towards the fans behind the goal won us many a game. The club seemed to lose a bit of a connection to its past in the last few seasons, photos like this do help bring it back. One of the photos also reminded me of the story of my Dad, who played for the reserves many years ago, once hitting a penalty that went so wide of the post it hit the ‘E’ of Peter Aitken Insurance. At least it wasn’t the ‘E’ of Peter.
Back to present day matters and the Swindon trip was my first game since the late loss at Hendon, a game which Tom Killick missed with a prior commitment made when he was between managerial jobs. So, it would be interesting to see how we lined up and how we played. I’d heard mainly good things about performances, and even though results haven’t been ideal, performances had improved. A sharp improvement is needed in results as prior to Saturday’s game we were in the relegation zone. Even with much of the season to play and us having had no real run of fixtures recently with both the weather and our uncanny ability to exit cups at the first available opportunity seeing us have at least five games to rearrange, it would be much nicer to not have to look over our shoulders again having had one whole season away from relegation battles.
After a 10am pitch inspection was passed, the first battle of the day was getting to the Puddletown Bypass as Steve’s satnav took us from The Keep to the Puddletown Bypass by Charminster and the most peculiar array of back roads, adding a very scenic ten minutes to our journey. It was a very rural journey that took a couple hours and past only one sign that I noticed for Swindon itself, proving that the ground was in the arse end of no where and not really in Swindon at all. To be fair, that isn’t a bad thing. Our journey consisted of the exact type of chatter you’d expect from two blokes in their 30s who have watched a lot of truly terrible football over the years, as memorable games for both reasons good and bad were discussed, and we had a hard time deciding who the worst Dorch manager of recent times had been. The answer we agreed upon was Craig Larid with dishonourable mentions to the latter stages of both Graham Kemp and Cal Brooks’ reigns. El Gen’s long-standing annoyance that Kemp wore a Conference South jacket whilst managing us in the Southern League exists to this day. Steve also borrowed three footballing autobiographies from me which I’d recently found in the loft, and if anyone has read one or more of the obscure triad of books by Andy McLaren, Lars Leese and Richard Lee, then I salute you. Steve’s trip to Amsterdam will only be improved as Leese tells tales of Neil Redfern pissing in a Barnsley beer garden.
Our discussion about the coming game centred more on how we just wanted to make sure we didn’t lose rather than must win. Steve said there had been noticeable improvements in the way we played since TK came in, but we were both concerned about the fact that it seemed unlikely both Ed James and Jack Dickson would be involved. We’d both have settled for a draw and as we arrived to see the team news, we still maintained that wouldn’t be an awful result. There was only one change from the previous game, the fog abandoned game against Beaconsfield, as Ed James did indeed miss out through injury, Ieuan Turner replacing him in the centre of defence. The bench was thin to say the least with only Lew, Lou, and Lewis (Waterfield, Slough, and Toms) as our options. This might have been for the best though with the six members of the coaching staff taking up most of the seats anyway. It was a bitterly cold day and Swindon is a ground that offers very little in the way of shelter, so we wisely sheltered in the bar until close to kick-off, Steve nursing his Fanta and me happily annihilating a chilli con carne and rice along with a pint of amber ale. We braved the cold not long after and headed to the covered end that we were attacking with a few of the usual faces as the Kellaways, Rob Hodder and the Goods all assembled nearby.
We were kicking into a pretty sizable wind but started brightly with lots of possession and a very disciplined shape to how we went about it. The defenders of Drew Eccott-Young, Turner, Will Spetch and Ollie Haste weren’t overworked, and we looked dangerous going forward with Will Fletcher, Pedro Borges and Leighton Thomas all having plenty of touches around the Swindon area. That said, the first incident of note was the linesman on the far side having to ask Brian Churchill and Steve Dodge to change their coats as they were the same colour as Swindon’s shirts. The last thing we need in our position is Dodge inadvertently helping catch Olaf offside as part of a high defensive line, but at least there were no Conference South logos to be seen. Play resumed and more suitable bench wear found, we continued to look tidy with Pedro looking particularly lively as well as picking up an incredibly harsh yellow card, and we took what was a deserved lead after 18 minutes.
A Corby Moore free kick from halfway was only partially cleared with Pedro eventually picking up the loose ball. He worked himself a bit of space and put in an excellent cross that Olaf headed across goal for the perfectly positioned Will Fletcher to stab home from six yards. It was no more than we deserved at that point, even if the Swindon announcer gave it as an own goal and seemed mystified as to why Will was claiming it. Swindon almost equalised straight from kick off with a wind assisted shot straight from the restart going narrowly over with Adam Forster back peddling, but the game soon settled back into the pattern that was developing of Swindon trying to play the ball short at the back, us remaining very disciplined and not pressing too high, and then either us pressing and winning the ball, or Swindon just giving it back to us by either a throw in or getting caught in possession. The host’s insistence of playing like this was as baffling as it was stubborn. Swindon had obviously had an upturn in results recently, but this strategy just wasn’t working at all and even with the wind they struggled to get the ball forward or retain it for any length of time. They of course equalised very shortly after we had discussed this.
A pass down the Swindon left side was intercepted by Will Spetch, but a combination of a poor touch and a little push saw the ball get away from him, a through ball and a composed finish followed and suddenly it was 1-1. This felt harsh and, on many occasions, this would have knocked us right out of our stride, but we carried on in the same manner as he had before the equaliser. A shot on the turn by Fletcher tested the palms of the Swindon keeper, and we continued to win back possession as well as picking up a lot of second balls. Fletch almost scored an excellent individual goal as he controlled a loose ball before wriggling past four defenders, only to see his effort at the near post saved as the angle tightened. And it was from the resulting corner that we went back ahead. This time Moore’s delivery was headed goal bound by the unmarked Spetch, and although the Swindon defender did well to head pretty much off the line under pressure from Olaf, his header went straight into Fletch’s knee, with the ball rebounding off him and through the keepers’ legs and into the back of the net. Quite why Spetch, our best header of a ball, was left unmarked is anyone’s guess, but he’s already one of our biggest goal threats with the utter chaos he causes from set pieces.
The halftime whistle sounded shortly after, and our 2-1 lead was one we were good value for. We took shelter in the bar from the wind and braced ourselves for what would no doubt be a cold second half, and the interval musings were all positive. In terms of how we’d played it was the most organised I’d seen us, and going forward we looked threatening from all over the pitch. Leighton and Olaf might not have been playing in their preferred roles, but both had worked bloody hard at keeping us up the pitch once we were up there, with Moore and Ngalo rarely being beaten to the ball. Fletcher and Pedro both caused serious issues for the home defence and with the wind second half, we all felt like there was more in the game for us yet. The only negative of the half was the bizarre booking of Pedro for a most innocuous of fouls when other challenges had gone without even a free kick being awarded, and how he seemed to get frustrated by it, making himself something of a target for the home players. Pedro had been one of our most lively players with his trickery and running causing Swindon a lot of problems, but he had also committed two more fouls that thankfully the ref didn’t produce a second yellow for. The ref had hardly endeared herself to either side with some confusing calls at best, but the worst was yet to come early in the second half.
Five minutes after the restart and with Swindon persisting in playing out from the back, smart pressure from Fletch and a poor pass from the keeper saw him pass the ball straight towards Pedro. As Pedro took a touch and with the goal gaping the defender clipped his heels just outside the area for what was an obvious foul, and what should have been a red card and a free kick. But the whistle never came. Play on was the decision, one which seemed to confuse everyone given that was the one thing it logically couldn’t be. It was either a red for the defender and a free kick for us, or a second yellow for Pedro for a dive. But nothing was given, and it wasn’t any great surprise when Lewis Waterfield replaced Pedro shortly after. As a half of football, there wasn’t much to write about as we were once again very well organised, seemed to win nearly all the 50/50’s and second balls and aside from a Spetch block of a goal bound effort, and a late effort being screwed wide, Swindon never really carried a threat. We could have increased our lead and made things a little less nervy, but some final balls and wayward shots stopped us doing that. Those are minor complaints in what is the most complete performance I’ve seen from us in a little while, and one that obviously meant a lot to the players.
You could make a good case for pretty much every player getting man of the match, with the probable exception of Adam Forster, simply because he had so little to do. Ieuan Turner once again turned in a very good performance following his previous almost 90 minutes at Poole, and he and Spetch rarely lost out in the air all game. I thought both Drew Eccott-Young and Ollie Haste were superb with neither man giving the opposition an inch, and the six in front of them all had good games both going forward and defensively. Moore and Ngalo played exactly as you’d hope and expect them to, and although Leighton and Olaf were probably more defensive minded than they had been in previous games, both worked incredibly hard with and without the ball. Leighton’s physicality ensured the Swindon fullback had a torrid time and his ability to hold off and roll his man down our right hand side was the source of much of our first half success. And Olaf is definitely back to the form of last season, his header leading to the first goal but his industry in the second half causing problems going forward as well as covering Ollie Haste when needed.
Had Pedro not got a yellow and had to be somewhat careful, he’d have probably scored or created another goal such was his success with the ball, and Will Fletcher now has three goals in his last two games (Beaconsfield doesn’t count) and looks a real handful. His goals on Saturday were both from him being in the right place at the right time, but there is a lot to his game. As well as being good in the air and being able to mix it physically, his close control and skill were on show when he nearly scored with a brilliant individual effort before the second goal, and he along with others were very good at pressing a Swindon side who tried but couldn’t seem to master playing out from the back. Having scored what I think was nine in 15 for Hamworthy when there on loan earlier this season, he’ll certainly add more to his tally for us. A very impressive performance.
The other thing that stood out was how well organised and disciplined we were as a side. Everyone knew their jobs both with and without the ball, and the way we pressed Swindon when they were in possession at the back was perfect. It all seemed so organised and structured and a far cry from some of the sides we’ve seen over the last few years. With injured players to come back as well as the suspended Shaq, who took great delight in telling us “the big man is back” at fulltime, we’ll hopefully be back to full strength soon, or at least be able to name five subs. We of course followed this up with a 1-0 loss to Shaftesbury in the Dorset Senior Cup, but given the impending fixture backlog due to the fact we’ve exited every single cup competition at the first hurdle this season, no one really cares. Walton tomorrow is an important one, and I’ll be at the game at Chesham on Christmas Eve Eve for some festive cheer. Or something like that.
El Gen dropped me to the station with only a minor scare on the magic roundabout, and I headed back into London with a celebratory beer, pretty happy with how the previous days had turned out. The remaining games this year are all tough ones with Walton tomorrow being in the playoffs as well as having put six past us earlier in the season, Chesham are top and we’ve got the sum total of fuck all there in recent seasons, and Poole on Boxing Day is made much more interesting given the make up of both sides and benches, even if it isn’t a local derby as Poole is in Hampshire. Ideally we’ll be in a position to look up rather than down come the new year. With a bit of luck there will be a blog from Chesham, but if there isn’t hopefully you all get what you want for Christmas, which I assume is three points on Boxing Day. Steve might have other gift ideas though; I’ve heard good things about Shaun Goater’s autobiography and there were rumours of a signed copy of Steve Howey’s book in the local branch of the BHF. Up The Festive Magpies. SV
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