Dorchester Town vs Poole Town – Match Preview

The Dolphins slipped to their third home defeat of the season when they lost to fellow promotion chasing Gloucester City at Tatnam on Saturday. The defeat leaves us in third place in the table but now three points behind second placed Gloucester City who missed out on promotion last year after reaching the play-offs. After the match Joe Lea and Pat Suraci reflected on the two soft goals that brought about this disappointing defeat.

No one will need reminding that next up is the short journey to The Avenue Stadium to face the resurgent Dorchester Town. After spending much of the first half of the season in or around the relegation zone the club opted to bring in current player Wes Fogden as their interim manager from February 5^th. In his time at the helm Fogden has overseen quite a dramatic return to form, taking 13 points from the last six matches. This has moved the magpies up to a more respectable 16^th position in the table. They come into the match on the back of a 2-1 defeat at Chertsey Town on Tuesday evening. Joe parker gave them a half time lead but goals from Garry Abisogun on 58 and 79 minutes gave the home side the points.

The club has moved quickly to boost the squad with some eye-catching recruitment. They have brought in:

                           George Chubinidze      AFC Bournemouth    Loan

                           Daniel Koita                 Tiverton Town            Permanent

                           Monty Marriott               Oxford United           Loan

                           Tommy Whitehead      Eastleigh                   Dual registration

                           Lee Hodson                  AFC Totton                Loan

The lack of goals appears to be the main reason for the difficult first half of the season as only Plymouth Parkway (37), Weymouth (36), and Tiverton Town (30) have scored fewer than the Magpies 40.

The Dolphins won the return fixture at Tatnam on October 14^th with goals from Antonio Diaz (20) and Shaquille Gwengwe (60). In the corresponding fixture last season when the Dolphins were searching for points to remain in this league and the Magpies were riding high on their way to the play-offs, we went down 3-2 to a 77^th minute penalty. The situation is very different this time but as we know in local derbies, form and league positions count for very little.

With just ten matches to go, 4 at home and 6 away, we really are set for a very exciting climax to the season. We remain one of the leagues top scorers with 67 goals from our 32 matches with our prolific marksman Shaquille Gwengwe running away at the top end of the scoring table on 34 league goals.

Ther’s bound to be a packed house at The Avenue for what promises to be a vey exciting encounter between two sides who need the points for very different reasons.

Enjoy the game

Neil Wellington.