Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
No time to feel sorry for ourselves as we face the long midweek trip to York tomorrow night. The hosts find themselves in 17th place in the table with 2 wins and 2 draws from their last 5 games. In fact, they only have 1 league defeat since mid-November.
George Francomb limped off on Saturday so you would imagine he would be a major doubt for this game. Marc also mentioned that Prior might struggle with 2 games in a short space of time. Bowerman and McShane continue to miss out while Marc said that Rutherford had a chance to return on Saturday against Kidderminster.
Predictions:
York City 1-1 Dorking (Blair)
3,995 attd (102 away)
Possible Lineup:
Male
Fuller Cook Craig B.Taylor
Muitt Pybus J.Taylor Blair
Carter
Ottaway
Subs: Gallagher, Hollis, McManus, Briggs, Moore
Marc hinted at returning to a back 4 for the rest of the season (or certain games) so the above feels like the only option with the players available. Carter could play up top instead of Ottaway to leave space for Moore or McManus to come in to the midfield as well.
102 away fans mainly because match tickets are half price in our end! 😉
Every little helps!
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Zero votes so far for a Dorking defeat. Love the optimism of this group!
York City (1)1 Dorking (1)2 (Carter 2)
3,701 (121)
Scrappy 0-1 away win, just what we need, and an unlikely goal scorer ... Joe Cook maybe
Come on Wanderers, bounce back
‘We’re the red and white army’ 🐔 ⚽️
Have gone for a scrappy draw. Hard without Prior and Carter is wasted being put up front. But Ottaway needs someone up there with him - maybe Jimmy? Back four seem a sensible approach, if it includes BJT! Respect to all those making the long trip ...
Such a tense affair, Dorking so defensively disciplined, cautious throwing too much forward, reduced York to pot shots and half chances
One huge piece of luck in the first half when York clattered a shot against the woodwork but Dorking finally got s bit if luck in return for their hard work
Man of match for me Blair or Josh Taylor
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
What a cracking result!
Nice to have a bit of luck in our favour for once and great to see Blair get the winner. Should do wonders for his confidence.
And maybe that is the right tactic at the moment. Keeping it tight and hoping for a bit of magic up front. Not the Wanderers way but needs must right now. Same again on Saturday! 💪
@baggy Totally agree that this is the way to stay in the League. Having some pace with BJT seems to help a lot. TC and Hayden are strong defenders, but slow. Francomb is slightly faster. Glad we have Cook and Kennedy on the bench. Thought one of them was going to come on when TC got the yellow.
Blair seems to fall apart more when we start going behind, but when York made a mistake and allowed him to get free, I believed he was going to nail it right in- and he did. Almost pulled a Mitch from where I was watching on a rug with that score.
Josh Taylor has been a consistently positive, strong player on the pitch. He is up there with Harrison Male for me.
Can't belief the space they gave Blair for the goal, it was like they moved off him
Heading to the office now absolutely buzzing with delight!
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
The gents commentating on BBC York, who understandably sounded like they would rather have been covering down the road at 9-2 Mansfield v Harrogate, were clearly unfamiliar with our team so it was in interesting neutral perspective to hear. Full of praise for an organised back 4 and our ability to keep possession as well as acknowledging our pace limitations with certain defenders and lack of attacking output. Although they didn't rate BJT's crossing ability at all and questioned Male's physical credentials as a goalkeeper! Glad we could teach them something.
That's a bloody great result,
I'm a West Ham fan and people say the Academy of football, it's a load of crap just as the Wanderers Way is a load of crap.
This is how you have to play in the NL, it proved it last season and hopefully it will again this season. Be hard to beat, make the other team work hard to score against us and the luck will fall our way.
Until we go full time and can afford players of a higher standard, 3 at the back has to be put on the shelf.
Agree great result, but I do think a club can have a 'way' of playing - even if that is just a commitment to an entertaining attacking style of play.
It's one of the things that differentiate us from others - results aren't always everything and I don't think we'd want to become like some of the NL clubs that just do all they can to stick around but bore the pants off the spectators week in week out.
That said, there are certainly times when we must be tougher to beat, and this is one of them. I also think this is why we're currently so successful away from home, as we don't push forward as much, and then don't get caught out on the break with our lack of pace. But we can still do that in a relatively entertaining way - nice passing game but a more steady build up with some great, pacy wingers.
Such a good performance though, so controlled. Watched on the stream and yet again all I could hear were the happy Wanderers throughout.
Well done all.
Well that was fun! Some great scenes in that away end when that Blair goal went in 😍 Made the 3am return to Dorking much more enjoyable.
There were definitely some limitations with that line-up but we did look much more solid while still managing to keep the majority of the posession. People are forgetting that we had 3 of our 4 wingers (Briggs, Muitt, Bowerman) and our 2 best forwards (Rutherford, McShane) missing through injury last night. If you add some of them to the side then we would have had much more attacking threat while still looking solid at the back.
Delighted for Blair to get this first goal since the injury as he was so unlucky to not score at the weekend. Josh Taylor picks up his 5th assist for the season and is now having his best ever goals/assists season for Dorking. Hollis/Craig/Francomb were excellent again as per usual and they look even better having Bobby with them.
One negative I will say is that I thought Prior looked very off it again last night and Ottaway didn't look fit when he came on either. Marc mentioned Rutherford might be back for Kidderminster though which is good. Further injuries to Muitt and Briggs is a real concern though as we just don't look like a threat down the right hand side with McManus there.
Stats:
xG: York 1.29 - 0.72 Dorking
Posession: York 41% - 59% Dorking
Shots: York 13 - 7 Dorking
@happy-hammers Haha yep - that's what the forum is all about!!
On a side note, what a beautiful kit we wore last night...love those red socks with the white.. 😍