Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Runaway leaders Chesterfield come to town this Saturday in front of the TNT Sports cameras. They need just a few more wins to guarantee promotion.
We will hope to bounceback with some sort of result to keep within arm's reach of safety. I don't expect too much difference in terms of player availability as Marc mentioned Briggs and Bowerman were still at least a week or so away. Muitt returned to the bench last weekend so we can probably expect him to see some action this time from him. Tony Craig misses the game through suspension.
Predictions:
Dorking 1-3 Chesterfield (J.Taylor)
2,789 att.
Possible Lineup:
Male
Francomb Cook Hollis B.Taylor
McManus Pybus Blair
Carter J.Taylor
Prior
Subs: Fuller, Gallagher, Moore, Muitt, Rutherford
I can see Marc going with a 4-5-1 of sorts for this one as I don't he will want a back 3 defending man for man against Chesterfield. I doubt Muitt starts but he may do instead of McManus if considered fit enough. I can see Cook coming in for Craig but also wouln't surprise me if Gallagher plays there instead.
You would hope Marc would go for four at the back too, to keep the score down as long as possible, but still see Chesterfield winning this one
Dorking (1) 1 Chesterfield (1)3 Carter
2,801 (950 Spirites)
Mood is surprisingly humble on Chesterfield's forum for their own predictions with mainly 1 goal margins predicted and concerns raised about their own ability to defend
@georges That's interesting. Makes me think perhaps a more attacking line up might be better - but then again we're back to being caught out on the break, yet again.
Chesterfield have conceded the same amount of goals as Kidderminster this season!
Chesterfield have conceded the same amount of goals as Kidderminster this season!
Yes, but they have scored nearly three times as many! They have scored 86 in the league this season (us 39) and conceded 44 (us 57) so think still need to set up defensive, as Chesterfield score an average of 2.45 per game!
@crawleysth It's our toughest defensive challenge since Wrexham, for sure. But while being as realistic as possible, Chesterfield are conceding 1.45 a game since New Year too and we've come close whenever we play them. If we can get a result this would be a massive morale boost. Hopefully the team can be fully focused on defence for Saturday with a back 4 and take any chance we get.
There is a definite chance of a result here. Chesterfield are so far clear of the pack that their motivation must be in question. At 23 points with 11 games left, they are already promoted.
What do they need from their last 11 games to go up? They only need 1 win and a draw looking at it.
Therefore, if we can start well and defend well this could be a massive upset.
As Marc said back before the home game we played against them last season - "this doesn't tick a lot of boxes for them"
This is one of those games where our pitch will be a big help to us and the early KO for an away game after having already played an away game earlier in the week will also not help them. A midweek rest will have hopefully done us a bit of good.
As others have said, the pressure on them winning the league will be off now, especially after picking up a crucial win against Barnet midweek. Will they feel a bit of pressure being in front of the cameras and being expected to look like champions though?
I like your thinking Tom, all good points!
Hopefully Marc gives us a huge dose of positivity on his lunchtime weekly update too, I know he has a lot on his shoulders but hge has to ability to massively ease the worries and lift the mood
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
The tone looks like a lot of frustration amongst Chesterfield fans about the scheduling. They hoped for a promotion win being televised but instead have a long distance 12:30pm kick off following a midweek game, however a lot of goodwill towards our club for hospitality shown last season. Should be a good atmosphere. Won't happen because of injury but I would've liked to see a Will Grigg vs Matt Briggs!
@georges Yeah would love to see Briggs back to his best. Having started following only in early 2022, I've never really seen what he can do live, but watching series 2 of BoA back, he is seriously impressive, and brings that pace we're missing.
@adeb I've been watching S2 as well, been priced out of this season! I feel for Matt Briggs a lot, without trying to exaggerate too much it felt like he could change the game whenever he had the ball and the defenders up to National League South level really struggled to handle him. We had a proper midfield back then as well with Fogden, Oldaker etc and more of the lads who had been a big part of our winning mentality. Just made me laugh that we've got a "Briggy's on fire" chant but got the Will Grigg, who originally inspired it, in action against us tomorrow!
