Before Saturday’s game, there was no plan whatsoever to do a blog on the afternoon’s festivities against Basingstoke. At about a quarter to five with us 2-1 down, I was already preparing to erase any trace of the game from my memory. However, come six o’clock, it felt like there had to be some sort of summary as we somehow emerged victorious, snatching an improbable 3-2 win from the jaws of a self-inflicted defeat. It might not be a major turning point in the season, but it certainly was a win that summed up the atmosphere around the club, one that is totally unrecognisable from just one year ago.
After the slight disappointment that was Poole away, the rapid turnaround of having a game on Thursday and then one on Saturday gave us the ideal chance to put that behind us. And there was plenty to put behind us from Poole both on and off the pitch, with the players and staff keen to get back to winning ways, and the fans just quite glad to have modern convenience such as working floodlights and more than two toilets to use.
The Boxing Day game was an excellent turnout, with one fan even travelling on foot back to Ferndown from Poole in a Herculean effort and nothing to do with the fact he was absolutely battered and his phone had died. The 300 odd in the away end was phenomenal, and I’ve no doubt it makes a hell of a difference to the players. The 1-1 draw had left us still in the playoffs, and with games coming thick and fast in the festive period, there was a good chance for us to solidify our position there, or see the gap narrowed from the chasing pack to us even further.
As the other half and I trotted down to the Avenue, we weren’t alone as a good steady stream of people were filing in that general direction, so we were either in for a bumper crowd or the Currys sale was fucking having it. We were a few down on the crowd as El Gen, JW and a few others had been laid low with a virus. Turns out that passing a bottle of cherry flavoured Polish vodka around the bar on Boxing Day wasn’t a great idea as El Gen’s ailment had managed to claim at least three others as a result of bottleneck transmission. The number of bacterial cultures on that bottle must have combined to make something more lethal than anthrax by kickoff, so a few were laid low with the Southern League Lurgy.
Judging by the queue at the turnstile, there was a good crowd in already, and the girlfriend and I trotted over to the railway side to have a chat with David and Dev Ward. All things Poole, puppies and Pardoe were discussed, and we cast an eye over the starting lineup to see what, if any, changes Tommy had made. There were two changes to the starting XI as Matt Buse and Luke Roberts came in for Wes Fogden and Shaq, and Hastey was back on the bench after he was given his Christmas off by the FA. The other half was mortified that Dev didn’t bring along his new dog with him, but despite this set back, she joined me as we headed round to the open end that we’d be attacking first half. We were also joined by Joe Prior who, rumour has it, was trying to flog an old fridge and a bent Heras fencing panel he’d found kerbside in Poole.
Numbers were good behind the goal and we started the game in pretty good fashion, both Pards and JD looking lively down our righthand side. Our good start really should have been rewarded after ten minutes as some excellent work from the ever-impressive Pardoe gave Olaf a shooting chance. Olaf’s shot was well saved but the rebound fell invitingly for Hutch who looked certain to score, however he couldn’t convert as he spooned his effort over the bar with the goal gaping. It was an unfortunate miss, but Hutch has been in very good form since his return from loan at Winchester, I’m sure he’ll get and take more goalscoring opportunities between now and the end of the season. Will Spetch saw his effort from just outside the area go past the far post, and yes, I have typed that correctly, but Basingstoke did offer a threat of their own even if Gez wasn’t meaningfully tested. But with just over half an hour played we would take a deserved lead, and it was from a Basingstoke attack that we did so.
A cross into the box following a freekick for the visitors was well claimed by Benfield, and his quick, accurate ball up field found Olaf. Despite his attempt on goal being blocked, he got back the loose ball, and whipped in an excellent ball that was met by a diving header from TikTok star and carb hater, Luke Pardoe, for his fourth of an excellent season. It was no more than we deserved and the quality of the header and the cross were superb, Olaf’s cross really putting it on a silver platter, or even a chopping board as Pards seems to prefer.
π₯ | πππΌπ
— Dorchester Town FC (@DorchTownFC) December 29, 2024
βοΈ The delivery from @gerardbenfield1
π °οΈ The cross from @Olaf_Koz9
π€© The diving header from @luke_pardoe
Our superb opening goal yesterday at The Avenue! π₯#WeAreDorch β«οΈβͺοΈ pic.twitter.com/Hp9Pmw40L9
The goal seemed to upset the away bench who seemed very angry about something, potentially the ref not booking Ieuan Turner minutes before. But the odd thing was that the staff on the bench all looked very small, and in their massive bench coats, they looked like gnomes. Maybe they were just really far away, but it was a bizarre scene with the ref eventually booking someone from what looked like a scene in a very angry front garden.
How far away are they? pic.twitter.com/7PrQAg3K7E
— Max and Paddy Quotes (@maxandpaddyline) September 7, 2018
Halftime came soon after with no real events of note taking place, and we ambled round towards the railway side to assume residence there with David and Dev. We were all more than happy with how the first 45 had gone, and we all expected more of the same in the second half. The first ten minutes followed a similar pattern to the 45 that preceded it as we had a couple of good set pieces that came to nothing, but the next five saw us point a gun at our own feet and blast a bullet into each foot as we turned a 1-0 winning margin to being 2-1 down.
We’d had good success on the attack with balls over the top into wide areas, as demonstrated by the opening goal, but it was a short goal kick that was our undoing for the equaliser. Gez played the ball short to JD from a goal kick, and for once, JD’s snake hips let him down as he was dispossessed inside the area. Liam Ferdinand saw his prodded effort hit the face of the post leaving Luis Le Paih left with the simple task of putting the ball in the empty net. 1-1 from absolutely nothing, and it was about to get worse. No more than five minutes later and a Basingstoke attack saw them work the ball to their right-hand side, and the resulting low cross was hammered into the net by the unfortunate JD for a quite spectacular own goal. With what was to happen in the next half an hour or so, it mattered not. And with hindsight, it was a hell of a fucking finish. But at the time, it was a bit of a sickener.
Changes soon followed as Shaq, Daws and Fogden were all introduced in place of Roberts, Buse and Hutch, and we upped the tempo and looked more threatening almost immediately. Away keeper Simon Grant had to be alert to keep out Shaq after the latter had been played in down the right, and a succession of corners came to nothing with the exception of Spetch flattening Grant in a collision that I’d have not wanted to be on the wrong end of. Gez had to be alert to tip an effort around the post as the game almost slipped completely away. And by the time Wayne Robinson and Hastey had been introduced in the 84th minute, some had already decided they’d seen enough and made tracks towards KFC to beat the post-match rush.
Those that left were definitely in the minority though as a busy bypass end kept the decibel level up and got behind the team. The noise rose as an appeal for a penalty was turned down, and Grant’s timewasting didn’t exactly make him popular with those behind the goal, although of course if it were Gez doing this, we’d be lapping it up. But just as it seemed that time was going to beat us, we won a penalty. From my vantage point on the railway side, it looked like Grant had clumsily gone into the back of Shaq and given away a needless foul. From the footage filmed in the main stand, it looks like Grant pushed Shaq in the back, and from a vlog filmed from the bypass end, it looks like Grant pushes Shaq as well. Funnily enough, from 80 yards away, the Basingstoke garden ornaments saw no foul, and Grant denies any contact. Stange how opinions can vary!
One person who didn’t give a flying fuck about who did what was Olaf, and he showed no nerves whatsoever as he blasted his penalty straight down the middle for his 14th league goal of the season and to restore parity at 2-2. A couple of those who had left early had returned after hearing the roar, and with five minutes of injury time to play, there was potentially time for something else dramatic to happen. Former Magpie Jonny Efedje came on for the visitors, and much to the chagrin of the travelling fans, Basingstoke elected to try and timewaste when they won a corner rather than try to claim a winner. If playing for the draw was the plan, it backfired and in the most spectacular of fashions.
A long punt upfield from JD that was no doubt more in hope than expectation won us a throw in right in front of the Bovril. The throw was taken quickly and went straight back to JD who was about 35 yards out on the right. His snake hips didn’t let him down this time as he ran at and wriggled away from three opposition defenders as he worked his way to the byline and floated in an inviting cross to the near post. It was a cross that evidently Grant thought he had covered, but what he didn’t account for was Wayne Robinson flying in like a man who had been shot out of a cannon. Wayne’s deft header had just enough on it to creep past Grant and send the bypass end absolutely fucking mental, as well as most of our bench.
Grant looked like a keeper on FIFA who had glitched at the wrong time, a Basingstoke defender got into a shouting match with one of the under 11 youth teams who reveled in his misfortune, and Luke Richards was left to curse his bargain bucket that he left the game early to get as he missed the most remarkable comeback in years. The final whistle sounded shortly after and the players and fans celebrated a most unlikely win, a win that nicely sums up this current squad and how we’ve been a side over the past twelve months; high on both effort and quality, never giving up, and winning games we’d have previously folded in.
The only game that sticks out as being even remotely similar in ‘recent’ memory was a win over Sutton in 2006 when a Groover winner saw us turn a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 injury time win. To our friends at Gandermonium if you read this, sorry for bringing this up!
This may not have had the goals that game had, but it had all the endeavour and drama, and it was the perfect final game of a year that has only seen us lose seven games. That stat is staggering when compared with just about every other year in the league, even more so when you consider we lost our opening game of this calendar year with probably our worst performance of the lot in a 4-2 horror show against Hungerford. Huge credit to Tommy, Glenn and Woodsy for the work they’ve done and to the squad for maintaining the level of performance they have. It has unquestionably been the best football we’ve seen in several years; long may it continue.
Next up is the New Year’s Day clash with Winchester, a side we somewhat laboured to 0-0 with earlier in the season, and they’ll be buoyed by their recent results on the road, and hopefully it’ll be another good crowd after the 756 we had in for the Basingstoke game. They’ll come with some familiar faces in the squad, hopefully Callum Buckley and Kieran Douglas are less effective in this game. And ex-Poole keeper Luke Cairney will be hoping to play if he can tear himself away from his quite entertaining Twitter beef with Poole striker, Rafa Ramos. Ramos is not the only Southern League striker with connections to Poole to have made an impression on social media recently, but the less said about that the better.
Happy New Year to all, for those who might be tempted to leave early tomorrow, KFC shuts at 2200 so there is plenty of time to get your chicken fix without missing the last few minutes. SV.
