Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Let's face it - we are f'king awful at this. Really, really bad.
I've looked at the stats, and this is what I have found:
- We've failed to hold on to a lead (to the full result) 11 times in the league
- This is a total of 21 lost points
- 7 of these 11 games have been at home
- 6 of these 11 games, the lead has been lost in the last 10 minutes
I can't stand it when we try and sit on these slender leads, it feels very negative, and seems to hardly ever work. The tactic seems to be bring off Alfie, leave JP isolated up front on his own, and then pack the midfield a bit more. What seems to actually happen is JP is so isolated up front, that any headers he wins just goes back to the opposition and we are back defending again. Momentum is therefore 100% with the team trailing, and it's just attack against defence for the last part of the game and we are just so fragile as it keeps on happening, so it invariably just happens again.
Last night was the classic version of this. The last 10 mins we barely had the ball, it never stuck up front and as soon as they scored the overly familiar late equaliser, it was just Battle of the Alamo again and it was only ever going to be Maidstone who were going to win it, and luckily we got a point.
I'd love to see us be more positive, and try and get a second goal or whatever to put games to bed, rather than sitting on leads, as it seems that we are very very shit at that. Sure, we'd drop points this way as well, but I think we'd probably win more games than we are currently. 21 points is a lot give up when you are chasing a single promotion spot.
Disclaimer: I only went over the results once, so might be slightly incorrect, but I think the point stands!
Really interesting stats there. And broadly I agree, we're more than good enough to push on and get at least another so I also don't quite get why what appears to be a defensive move. Would love to get Marc's take on this tbh.
Can probably take the Worthing game off that list as we never led and had 10 men for more than half of it. Also worth mentioning that we were losing the Chelmsford game at half time so it also counts as a point gained in that respect.
I agree that subs in games generally make us worse though, especially when we take Alfie off. We don't seem to have a natural replacement on the bench for Rutherford as we don't have anyone that can match his pace and athleticism. I also don't think we have enough wide options as Briggs ends up being our only winger on the bench most games. As a result, we usually change our shape to a 4-5-1 or something similar like last night and ultimately look much worse as a side.
If we look at the game last night in isolation then I think the subs generally make sense though. Rutherford played 90 mins on Saturday so it was unlikely he was going to be able to keep up that pressing intensity for much longer than he did last night. Muitt and Carter had to come off due to cramp/fatigue so we were fairy forced in to bringing on Young and McManus due lack of options. Not sure why Briggs was on the bench if he wasn't fit enough to come on in that scenario though...
I do think we need to start trusting that we won't concede from a set piece if we take Prior off. Marc seems terrified of taking him off in games as he thinks we will immediately concede from a corner. This means we end up having him isolated up top and the ball coming straight back for the last 10-25 mins of matches.
Just to play devil's advocate though, we are one of the only teams who haven't lost a game from a winning position this season so we are obviously doing something right. If Alfie had scored his one-on-one last night and one of the many chances on Saturday had gone in then we would be in a much ore comfortable position.
