Weymouth V Dorking Wanderers
National League South, Bob Lucas Stadium, Saturday 11 January, 15.00 GMT
Plenty of football, isn’t there, Terras fans?
After Tuesday’s “disappointing” away loss to Welling United, which increased our gap from safety to 10 points, the need to “get our heads down, work hard and…get the right result” may have never been so crucial for us.
Standing in our way are promotion-hopefuls Dorking Wanderers, who currently sit sixth in the table, just four points off top spot.
Last time we faced Marc White’s side was in September, where goals from Calvin Brooks and Jake Scrimshaw sealed a much-needed victory for us.
If we want to climb out of the dreaded drop zone, another victory against “Wanderers” would be a massive boost for our players…
HOW TO FOLLOW
We are delighted to announce that the ever-brilliant Ben Ashelford will be on commentary this afternoon; click HERE to access his in-game thoughts.
Updates will also be provided across our social media platforms, followed by post-match reaction after the final whistle.
LAST TIME ROUND
Dorking’s form points towards, as Warren told us, a “tough game,” and it’s hard to argue otherwise.
Though when the reverse fixture was played in September, handling this tricky opposition wasn’t part of our problems.
As the two Mark(c)s faced each other, both with a bit of expertise on taking a team up a league or two, we were already facing slightly different end-of-season goals to the Surrey side, despite this only being both sides’ eighth league game of the season
Though their form was somewhat of a mixed bag at that stage, sitting in 10th place with 11 points as they were starting off life back in England’s sixth tier following relegation the previous campaign.
Ours, on the other hand, was anything but, as we were firmly fixed at the foot of the table after losing every league game.
At least we could boast the higher consistency, sort of.
But as we should already know with this division by now, anything can happen, and with the game still up for grabs in the second half, the opportunity for our first points of the season were well and truly seized.
Our quest to victory began when club legend Calvin Brooks “cut into the box” to slide the ball past Wanderers shot-stopper Harrison Foulkes and give us the lead.
Then, with less than 10 minutes of regular time remaining, Jake Scrimshaw sealed us a vital victory by running in front of the defence and sliding the ball underneath the helpless Foulkes.
Understandably, our Mark reflected on the game through the lens of “relief” as we clawed ourselves to victory, a win he stated we had to “suffer” to achieve.
Fast forward to today, we remain bottom, albeit with a few more points, whilst Wanderers, displaying the form of a team who not long ago were amongst the big boys in the fifth tier of English football.
But despite our opponents’ impressive run of form, Warren assures that “we can only worry about ourselves” and have “belief” that we can crawl out of the dreaded drop zone, starting with “the right result” this afternoon.
Though, as recent history shows, our players have shown capability of doing exactly that.
WINNING WANDERERS
When White’s side were beaten by the mighty Terras on their own turf, that result had confined them to their third league loss in eight matches.
The Wanderers boss acknowledged the “frustration” amongst the fanbase, who at that point were seeing their club languishing around the mid-table places.
However, since then the Surrey side have only lost three matches in the league, winning seven, as they have gradually climbed up the table.
Their recent form has been a continued mixed bag, winning five out of their last 10 games.
But if not all of their matches guarantee victories, one thing they do guarantee is goals.
With results such as a 7-1 hammering at Hemel Hempstead’s Vauxhall Road, or their enthralling 4-3 victory at Farnborough’s Cherrywood Road, fans have been spoilt seeing their side’s 24 goals in 10 games, more than any other team in that time frame.
At the forefront of their attacking action has been Alfie Rutherford, whose 12 goals have only been bettered by three other players so far this season.
After spending a month-long loan stint at us last campaign, we don’t need any reminder of what this star striker can do…
