Usually, when Christmas comes early, it means something good has happened ahead of time. Well, due to a combination of working shifts and logistics, my Christmas once again literally came early as Sunday December 4th was my designated Christmas Day in Dorchester with my Mum and The Girlfriend. This did mean one anomaly on this out-of-sync festive period; Christmas Eve coincided with Dorch at home to Chesham. What a treat for all involved… Our festive form over the past few seasons has been nothing short of awful, and there is a handy TSOF blog from last season to document this,…

It has been a while since our relegation from the Conference South, and since then we’ve had to go through the non-league fans’ version of the ‘five stages of grief’. First, there was denial. “It won’t be that bad a standard”; “we’ll piss this tinpot league”; “clubs won’t fancy playing us”. Then, there was anger. “What do you mean Dunstable doesn’t have a fucking train station?”; “No, I’m not having that Biggleswade is a real place”; “You can tell this place is a village, there isn’t even a Sutton sticker in the bogs”. Third came bargaining, which was really just…

Watching your team play at Wembley is the pinnacle for many football fans. The sight of the stadium as you step off the tube, the walk down Wembley Way, the walk up the steps to join thousands of your fellow fans, and dreams of seeing your team win a trophy there. Well, we’re fucking nowhere near that, but we did at least stop off at Wembley Park tube on our way to see the Magpies secure yet another heard earned point on the road, as we played out a more interesting than it sounds 0-0 draw at Hendon. Hendon is…

The usual outcome of my Saturdays spent watching football are enjoyable on the whole, with the football between the hours of three and five PM somewhat ruining the day. It is with much delight and surprise that my last two visits to the Avenue have not only been enjoyable days, but also have yielded two wins and some excellent football to boot. This development has left many stunned, with even Bovril regulars having good words to say. It really is a momentous time for all involved as Glenn Howes’ Magpies occupy our highest position that isn’t due to alphabetical order…

Better late than never (well possibly, I’ll leave you to be the judge of that), due to a combination of work and various unforeseen reasons, I am finally getting round to writing this blog nearly a week on from my visit to Merthyr. In what could become an annual tradition after last year’s trip around this time of year, and the Southern League’s desire to send us on some long old midweek away days, I arrived at my mate Sam’s house in Worcester ahead of a trip down the M50 to watch us play a midweek game against our league’s…

“Oh here we go – another defeat on the road. Same old Dorch I see.” Well yes, we were beaten on the road, but losing in 2022-23 so far does not feel like the same old dross we’ve tortured ourselves with for the past 9 years. 8 games in and sitting comfortably in the top half of the league table is an unfamiliar sight for Dorchester fans of recent years, and yesterday at Hanwell Town you could tell as a team we are far superior to the performances we’d served out even last season. More on that later, but for…

The dream is still alive. Not since 1901 has a non-league side won the FA Cup and we are only eleven games from a Wembley final and fulfilling our destiny. Well, maybe. Either way, the difference between this season and previous seasons is like night and day, and although a replay isn’t what either side really wanted, we continued our impressive start to the new season and kept a second consecutive clean sheet in what was a far more watchable game than the 0-0 scoreline suggests. This was a weekend I’d planned on watching Dorch, selfishly hoping we’d get a…

Having used a rare free Saturday to travel to watch us lose to a team that hadn’t won in 11 games, for some bizarre reason I decided a midweek trip to Merthyr Tydfil seemed like a good idea.  A 90 minute drive each way from the Midlands was probably favourable to the trip those who braved it from Dorchester on the coach had to endure but I still questioned my decision at regular intervals on the journey down.  A town/ground I had never been to, and being completely honest, my sole gem of knowledge on the town existed of watching a Ralf Little documentary on Britain’s Toughest…