Oldham is definitely winnable, they're not on top form and the fans don't like their manager. No doubt they will be thinking we are beatable too of course. They too have only won 1 of their 7 matches so far.

Halifax have had a lot of personnel change since last season, but what I do remember of them is they were a team of giants. I'd be delighted with a point earned there! Plus it's a new ground 'tick' for my son. 

We'll be bringing the drum to both!

I agree that Oldham is the more winnable game, and we should have got a point there last season probably. The less said about the home game the better.  I'm looking forward to going to both and ticking off two new grounds at least.  Any points are a bonus! 

We only have 1 point north of the M25 since we joined the National League so I don't have a ton of hope but it does feel like we can get something from the Oldham game considering their form. It just depends if we can deal with their height/physical presence well enough.

Halifax have conceded the least goals in the league so far but don't score many either so I'll take a 0-0 there!

Posted by: @calvertskans

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We only have 1 point north of the M25 since we joined the National League  

😦Good grief! But I think you are correct!! (Gateshead away?)

(Edit - for what it's worth I think we can do something about that certainly at Oxford City, Kidderminster and Fylde)

@dorking-eagle - A bit depressing isn't it! 🤣 Although we were a bit unfortunate to not get at least a point at Oldham and Scunthorpe last season.

I agree that Oxford, Kidderminster and Fylde are all winnable games this season. I reckon we can probably get something from Gateshead again and hopefully York as well. Hartlepool, Rochdale and Alty will likely be tough though.

As an aside - I saw the Woking away attendance at Maidenhead was around 500. A quick check shows that journey is only 10 minutes further than the one Dorking took to Woking the other week. So the numbers are broadly the same.

Puts to bed all those keyboard warriors sneering at our 'embarrassing' number of away supporters 

The majority of any clubs 'away contingent' don't go to EVERY away game. So last season, visiting Dorking was probably a first time for most teams fans (bar Maidstone who had been here the 2 seasons before, and Eastleigh who visited us twice)

A lot of clubs fans might have made an extra effort to visit us last season because we weren't expected to stay up (and therefore they mightn't have had a second chance to visit us)

We might see this season that some of those fans who came to us last season might not return to us a 2nd season running. Not necessarily because of poor facilities or anything, but just because they have already 'ticked' visiting our ground and could prioritise the 6 newer teams that joined the division for this season?

PS - TONIGHT (Wednesday) at 8.30pm, Marc White is the guest on the Oldham podcast - www.Youtube.com/@oafcpodcast

On a separate note (but seeing as this thread is covering all sorts of stuff!) I went to Crawley last night with my son and a friend to watch their cup match against Charlton (as a neutral).

£10 for me, my son was free (he was an 'accompanied 14-17 year old), parked on street for free less than 10 mins walk away the other side of 'the subway'

Game finished 4-3 to Crawley and was throughly entertaining

Admittedly this was a 'bonus' game to attend for me and my son, however Crawley only charge £17 for adults for League games (and my son would be free with me), so we would be naive to think that some 'floating fans' don't choose a game there over Dorking from time to time with attractive pricing like that and a pretty modern ground with a large bar and fanzone

@dorking-eagle Yeah pricing is a really tricky one and involves so many factors - and I get a few might be tempted. But on the whole fans tend to be loyal to one club really.

On another issue (!) - re the away end - I recall Marc mentioned a while ago they wanted to do something about the view - but what? Just can't think what they could possibly change now it's finished? Anyone any ideas?

If they’d built the away end higher/ steeper that would certainly have helped the view and experience. But guessing the end product was a combination of time, money and planning approvals! 

Each step of the away end is twice as deep and half as high as a regular terrace should be. So in effect it is 4 times worse in terms of 'shallowness' than a regular terrace

This was specifically because of having to be sympathetic to the houses directly behind.

I stood on the top step of that new terrace before the back fencing was installed and to be fair it does tower over the houses behind.

It is only really an issue when away fans bring 500+

The best way to mitigate the shallowness of the rake is to give the whole end to away fans so that they can spread out.

It also doesn't help that we allow standing along the front rail, because when combined with the hatching in front of the terrace really puts the fans on the terracing at a huge view disadvantage

Unfortunately to hit the required 4k capacity all of the factors I have mentioned had to be employed.

I think the only improvement that Marc was hinting at was probably the roof (which we have planning permission for). Even that only covers the 'central third' of the terrace

@dorking-eagle I was at that game last night and totally agree..Great game too!

Welcome to the forum Tim 👍 further evidence that we are in competition with other nearby clubs who can attract support with competitive pricing

@dorking-eagle thanks for the Oldham podcast link, I listened to Marc last night and was an entertaining watch/listen 

Was great to hear about slider @Jlamps too 🤣🤣🤣 

As for the score against Oldham on Saturday, there isn’t a result that would surprise me … but as an optimistic 🐔 I’m going for our first 3 away points north of the M25 in the NL 👏👏 1-2 to Dorking