Match Preview: Weymouth v Dover – Saturday 24th September – 15:00
Bobby Wilkinson takes charge of his first home game in charge of Weymouth, as Dover Athletic visit the Bob Lucas Stadium this afternoon.
THE TERRAS
It was all smiles at full time following a deserved victory over Winchester City in the FA Cup last time out, with Harry Kyprianou, Brad Ash and Ahkeem Rose all netting in a 3-1 win. The club and its fans will be optimistic that this can be a springboard for better results in the league. Bobby Wilkinson praised the team’s defensive efforts and their ability to follow the gameplan in a short space of time on the training field. Having had a week’s preparation, the Terras come into this league fixture knowing that this afternoon is vital in order to restore hope amongst the fans that the team can progress forward and up the table in the upcoming games. With a new man at the helm, there will undoubtedly be confidence within the squad that, this afternoon, Weymouth can pick up their first three points of the season.
Click here to read Bobby Wilkinson’s pre match thoughts
LAST SIX
WINCHESTER CITY 1-3 WEYMOUTH (FA CUP 2QR)
BATH CITY 2-1 WEYMOUTH
WEYMOUTH 0-0 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD TOWN
HUNGERFORD TOWN 1-1 WEYMOUTH
WEYMOUTH 0-2 OXFORD CITY
CHELMSFORD CITY 3-1 WEYMOUTH
Weymouth currently sit 24th in the league with 2 points from 8 games
THE WHITES
Dover Athletic, similarly to Weymouth, come into this game in relatively poor form in the league. In all competitions, Andy Hessenthaler’s side are currently on a run of four straight defeats, with their last victory coming against Hemel Hempstead at Crabble, where the Whites recorded a thumping 4-0 victory. Dover’s other victory in the league came against Hungerford Town, where they came away 1-0 winners. Dover will be looking to improve defensively, as the Whites come into this game having conceded 11 goals in their last 4 games in all competitions. A team very much looking to settle in this division, Dover are in a period of adjustment having lost several key players in the summer including attacking midfielder Koby Arthur, centre back Danny Collinge and midfielder TJ Bramble. Dover will be looking to end their poor run of form at the Bob Lucas Stadium and attempt to lift themselves away from danger.
Player To Watch: Alfie Pavey
26 year old forward Pavey arrived from Maidstone in the summer and has scored two goals this season so far for the Whites. With Dover looking to add points on the board, they’ll be looking to Pavey to try and add to his tally this afternoon.
LAST SIX
EBBSFLEET UNITED 2-0 DOVER ATHLETIC (FA CUP 2QR)
DOVER ATHLETIC 1-3 DARTFORD
EASTBOURNE BOROUGH 3-1 DOVER ATHLETIC
EBBSFLEET UNITED 3-0 DOVER ATHLETIC
DOVER ATHLETIC 4-0 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD TOWN
HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE 4-2 DOVER ATHLETIC
Dover currently sit 19th in the league with 7 points from 8 games.
@TerraStatman’s Facts of the Match
P16 W4 D2 L9. Not a good record at all against this phoenix club created in 1983 to replace the former Dover FC. The tale of the tape against the “old” team is a little better with a W9 D5 L8 record in our Southern league days in the 1960’s and 70’s. At least we can boast a stonking two-game-unbeaten run against our visitors today but more on that later!
Our very first meeting with the current team was an FA Trophy defeat in 1990 and our last tussles were in the Conference National last season as we both fell through the relegation trap door. The initial encounter of the campaign was in September in front of the BT Sport cameras when a Dover thunderbolt by Arthur was cancelled out by a Terras goal by McQuoid just before the interval. The second half was an unforgettable affair but Weymouth ended the day 10th, fears of relegation not an issue at that time. However, when the two teams played each other again on the last day of the season there was merely pride to play for as both sides had already been relegated. An early penalty for Weymouth’s Goodship, his 16th spot kick for the club, extending his record, was cancelled out by J. Nelson with a quarter of an hour to go but the luck went to the Dorset team that day as all three points headed west courtesy of a generous penalty scored by Blair in the 5thminute of stoppage time. That was our last league win, some 19 weeks ago!
Looking back over other games, we find a 4th qualifying FA Cup loss in 2019 with a Jake McCarthy consolation goal from a Lionel Ainsworth assist. Additionally we crossed paths 12 times over 6 other league campaigns, all at step 2 of the non-league pyramid and all in the Southern league apart from 2009/10 in the Conference South. We last tasted victory at the Bob Lucas Stadium against the Whites in a 3-0 victory under Steve Claridge in 2004, the player-manager bagging a brace with Paul Buckle grabbing the other goal. We were in the same division as Dover two seasons ago but we never played either game as our away trip was initially postponed in January due to players self-isolating and then again in February due to heavy snowfall. Dover then elected to not play for the rest of the season and the games could therefore not be rearranged.
The stellar list of known players who have turned out for both teams today (including new & old Dover) Narada Bernard, Patrick Brenna, Sam Cutler, Mick Gadsby, Omar Mussa, Fred “Bassie” Parker, Ahkeem Rose.
Interesting to note that two of the players above have links to Jamaica. Narada Bernard (Dover 2004/05 & Weymouth 2005/06-2006/07) and Ahkeem Rose (Dover 2020/21 & Weymouth 2021/22). Narada was born in Bristol, England and chose to play football despite his father playing for Bristol rugby club. Apparently he was named after soul start Bernard Michael Walden and played one game for Jamaica in 2004. Ahkeem Shavon Rose was born in Kingston, Jamaica although he moved to the UK as a youth. Obviously Ahkeem will be very well known to the Dover fans having played for the Dame-Vera-Lynn-based-song-based-outfit recently as will another attacking forward Omar Mussa.
#UpTheTerras
