Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Our first home game for 4 weeks as we host newly promoted Hornchurch at Meadowbank this Saturday. They currently sit one place below us in the league with 11 points. Hornchurch lost 1-3 at home midweek in an FA Cup reply tie against Leiston that saw it go to extra time as well.
A midweek BCD friendly at Wycombe saw the return of Norville-Williams so you would expect him to be in line to play some minutes this weekend. You would expect the likes of Camp, Kuhl and Moore to still be a few weeks away with McShane and Josh Taylor just behind them. Fuller, Francomb and Murphy missed the last game against Weston but all of them except Francomb were spotted in the training footage from last week. Josh Brooking is available after his red card against Weston was overturned on appeal.
Marc's update tomorrow will i'm sure give a better view on who is available.
Predictions:
Dorking 2-0 Hornchurch (Rutherford, Prior)
1,586 att.
Foulkes
Brooking Craig Milsom
Muitt McManus Pybus Bowerman
Carter
Prior Rutherford
Subs: B.Taylor, Norville-Williams, Briggs, Gallagher, Alexandrou
(If Fuller or Francomb are fit then I can see them being on the bench ahead of Bobby)
Mad that this is the first of four consecutive home league games now. Hopefully get off to a flyer, I’m sure Marc is thinking 12 points from these.
I’m thinking 2-1 home win tomorrow
@gary-munnery There is a midweek away at Tonbridge after the Salisbury game but yeah, we have 4 consecutive Saturdays at Meadowbank!
Definitely agree that we sould be looking at 10-12 points from these next 4 home games to make up for some of the recent defeats and climb that league table.
Dorking (2) 4 Hornchurch (0) 1 (Alexandrou (3), Carter)
1,599 (79 Urchins)
McManus injured so I am guessing we might see Milsom play in midfield and either Bobby or JNW at left of the back 3.
Looking forward to getting down Meadowbank again and hoping for a straightforward 2-0 home win (Prior & Rutherford) and no dramas. To kick off more of the same at home in the next month.
I bumped into one of the players last week who assured me they were working hard on attacking play - so looking forward to seeing how that pans out. If there are enough defenders fit, I would like to see Brooking in midfield to plug the gaps there.
This game feels like a seminal point in this season, win this and we could go on a winning run and be in the top 3 competing for the title.
I predict a 3-1 win here for Dorking
Magnificent prediction there Jackson !!
I am going to leave the forensic appreciation of the finer points to others, but I hugely enjoyed that today. Rutherford AND Prior both on the scoresheet always makes me smile, that's MY Dorking Wanderers
So much positives today.
Why can't more games be like that? Perhaps they can! Onwards and upwards! Masterstroke bringing forward a home game now we can get a winning rhythm going. I am deffo going to try and talk a couple of friends at work into coming along next Saturday!
(did think Foulkes has a mad 10 minutes when he got his feet mixed up, and also when he nearly handled outside the box!!)
PS- attendance? (why is this becoming hard to find?!) Looked 1300+
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Enjoyable game yesterday, loads of positives.
Never really felt under pressure and we looked comfortable,played some nice bits.
Brooking and Pybus had really good games.
Attendance looked to me like the lowest of the season so far but I may be wrong. Hopefully be better next week with the cheaper entry
Attendance 1411
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Agree with Gary - it was the routine victory with no dramas that I was hoping for. Very good control of the game for most of it and of course the two quick goals took much of the heat out of it. Good to see some minutes on the pitch for Jordan, Murphy, Dan G etc. Pybus excellent in a slightly more advanced position than normal and both wingers looked a threat consistently. The forward play is still the main area of concern though. All the goals had an element of fortune about them (keeper error, deflection and defensive mix up), as did the Hornchurch one. Didn't see enough of Theo to form a judgement really - obviously he plays a very different game to Jason so the build up play will have to adjust accordingly. But agree David - always good to see Prior and Rutherford on the same scoresheet. Roll on next week!
Very comfortable in terms of control of the game and possession, bar a silly 10 mins before HT. Have to be honest, chance creation was pretty poor again. As @baggy says, all 3 goals game through some form of good fortune (which we were maybe due a bit tbf) and I don't really recall any chances outside of that. That being said, a slightly more pragmatic style was expected with the absence of Josh Taylor, Aaron Kuhl, etc and a double pivot of Pybus and Gallagher.
Ultimately getting a relatively comfortable 3 points was all that mattered to set ourselves up for the rest of the month:
Stats:
Possession: Dorking 59% - 41% Hornchurch
xG: Dorking 0.80 - 1.08 Hornchurch
Shots: Dorking 16 (6) - 11 (3) Hornchurch
Crosses: Dorking 25 (3) - 9 (4) Hornchurch
Highest Rated: Jimmy Muitt [7.6]
