Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
A break from league action as we face Eastbourne in the FA Trophy. They currently sit in 3rd place in the league with 3 wins from their last 5 although they did lose 3-0 away at Chippenham last time out on Saturday.
Hard to tell what kind of team Marc will go for but you would expect it would be a good opportunity to rest some of the more highly used players this season (Muitt, Craig, etc) and get some minutes in those than need them (Briggs, B.Taylor, Francomb, etc). I assume Josh Brooking will be available despite his red card at Slough as it takes 7 days for the suspension to kick in.
Not sure if Randall will be available for this but I imagine he will be otherwise there was not much point in Ebbsfleet loaning him out to us for this period.
Predictions:
Dorking 0-0 Eastbourne Borough (Eastbourne win on pens)
1,152 att.
Foulkes
Brooking Francomb Milsom
Briggs Gallagher Williams B.Taylor
Carter Young
Alexandrou
Subs: Camp, Craig, Norville-Williams, Myles, Randall, Rutherford, Rawlins
(Could also give one of Gallagher or Young a much needed rest and start Rutherford, Myles, Rawlins, etc instead)
@dorking-eagle play offs still very much on if we can get some consistency .. the league is very compacted … but agree it is so disappointing to have no cup runs from a financial and excitement point of view… onwards and upwards #Wanderers 🐔 ⚽️ 💪
‘We’re the red and white army’ 🐔 ⚽️
@dorking-eagle Totally. Seems a nice guy, and can make some decent saves, but he doesn't command the area - very quiet too. We need a shouty, confident keeper, imo.
@dorking-eagle Agreed. The club gets so many things absolutely right - and our support is a different class.
But you can't always control those results.
We will get there. And it'll likely be fun. Enjoy the ride all.
Indeed Ade. Thank goodness we have Marc steering this ship by the way.
He will be utterly fuming at how we have gone out the competition today.
As we all are (unless we'd have drawn Horsham next of course)
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
I'm still bloody livid!
Cheer me up at Wembley tomorrow England!
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
@dorking-eagle tomorrow is another day .. that’s why we love the footy ⚽️
#ComeOnWanderers
#ComeOnEngland
(doesn’t mean I’m not fuming too though btw)
‘We’re the red and white army’ 🐔 ⚽️
Amen friend! 👍
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Yeah disappointing day, average game, low crowd. I did think they shaded it over 90mins.
Don’t think Harrison went the right way once on the pens and JPs was just awful against a keeper like that .
Ah well, onto Enfield next week
Indeed Ade. Thank goodness we have Marc steering this ship by the way.
He will be utterly fuming at how we have gone out the competition today.
As we all are (unless we'd have drawn Horsham next of course)
There are obviously advantages of cup runs (money, exciting for fans, different teams) but there are disadvantages too.
Horsham have again done well in three cup runs although now out of FA Cup. They now have to play 2 times a week until the New Year. Last year and this year their league form has suffered due to so many games.
Although it would great for Dorking to win a cup game or two, with the injuries this squad could not cope playing twice a week and would struggle to be anywhere near the playoffs.
Not too fussed about being knocked out of the competition as there isn't much money in it unless you get to the very late stages anyway. A fun away trip next round (Forest Green, etc) would have been fun but oh well, a weekend off in December is probably a good thing for us and means we can focus on the league the rest of the season.
What concerns me is the performance; we looked well off it and comfortably second best on the pitch. In fact, we have looked well off it on the plastic pitches all season. We look a completely different team on grass compared to the artificial pitches.
Agree with others that Foulkes probably isn't quite good enough for us and doesn't really fit type of keeper we require. Something isn't right defensively this season and I think he is probably one of the biggest reasons for that.
That being said, our injury list is big and we probably win that game with the likes of Josh Taylor, Dan Pybus, Murphy, McShane, etc. We also have to consider that we had a midweek game whereas they had a whole week off.
Looking ahead, we have a very winnable and important period coming up! We should reallly be targeting wins against Enfield, Truro, Hemel, Chippenham and Chesham.
P.S. Not that it matters as we never get penalties but please don't let JP take them...
Agree with others that Foulkes probably isn't quite good enough for us and doesn't really fit type of keeper we require. Something isn't right defensively this season and I think he is probably one of the biggest reasons for that.
For me, he's not commanding enough - both physically and vocally. i think we need more of a 'shouter' - and ideally a bigger keeper.
What concerns me is the performance; we looked well off it and comfortably second best on the pitch. In fact, we have looked well off it on the plastic pitches all season. We look a completely different team on grass compared to the artificial pitches.
Yep - beat me to it. I was about to do this on a separate thread but the performances at Chelmsford and Farnborough (for instance) were worlds apart. Not sure why this is tho - do we have more playmakers? Are we playing out more this season? We just seem quicker too on grass.
Good thing is the games coming up at Chippenham and Chesham will be grass. Not so good at Hemel, and all the home matches!
The other thing that puzzles me is the second half drop off - especially at home. Used to be the other way round.
And finally, re the penalties, that's another thing - we simply do not get given them. We have seen numerous pens given against us (some proven afterwards via BOA to be wrong decisions) - and I do think that refs (most likely subconsciously) don't like awarding them to us and tend to give the opposition the benefit of any doubt. It might be the BOA / Marc factor, who knows?
Boreham Wood away would have awaited us so maybe not the worst result in the end.
Horsham got Torquay away so really could have been worse for us!
Side note - has anyone seen an official attendance from the game on Saturday yet?
