Duncan Gardner shares his Facts of the Match ahead of our survival decider against Dover Athletic.
Game day no.46 and a massive sense of deja uv this weekend as the Terras head off to Dover…for the last day of the season…for the second year in a row!
Only fate knows what the future holds for both teams until 5pm on Saturday but the permutations allow for a third year in a row facing each other on the final day next season in the National League South, the Southern Premier division or both teams could be in different leagues next term!
Obviously we will be hoping it’s not all Dover after the match and we can improve on our rather poor W4 D3 L10 record against this phoenix club formed in 1983. Despite this, 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.
Looking back, our very first meeting with the current club was an FA Trophy defeat in 1990 and our last tussle was at the Bob Lucas in the league in September when two late goals by Brundle and then Wanadio ensured all the points sailed from the Jurassic cliffs to the white cliffs. Unlucky perhaps but the previous campaign in the Conference National last term saw a draw for the Terras in front of the BT Sport cameras, a Dover thunderbolt by Arthur cancelled out by Josh McQuoid just before the interval but on our next meeting there was merely pride to play for as both sides had already been relegated. Kicking off the scoring was Goodship with an early penalty and although the strike was nullified 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 5th minute of stoppage time.
The stellar list of known players who have turned out for both teams today (including new & old Dover) is very short Narada Bernard, Patrick Brennan, Sam Cutler, Simon Evans, Mick Gadsby, Omar Mussa, Fred “Bassie” Parker, Ahkeem Rose, Ryan Sandford.
Each set of fans will obviously be well aware of two more recent players in Rose and Mussa. Debuting in the same 2020/21 season for the visitors, Rose made his first Weymouth appearance coming on for Mussa.
