Dorchester Town (H)

Having missed the Staines #packthepark game, this was my first return to Twerton Park since the freezing cold Bromley game. The weather was no where near as cold this time, but annoyingly I have picked up a cold, which meant my singing voice had to change to more of a throaty bawl to stop the continual coughing.

Getting home lateish and feeling sorry for myself, I skipped the usual prematch ales, and went straight to the ground, a quick chat with a mate, purchase of a pin badge (bargain at £3.50) I then went to set up the flags.

Normally the flags are put up by Reed/Gibbo etc., but with Gibbo off wearing Glamorgan Uni tracksuits and Reedy on holiday I was asked to do them. Having struggled on my own until Notman arrived like the cavalry to help, I can safely say it is a doff of the cap for the effort involved.

Dorchester Town had made ex-stripe, man mountain Charlie Clough their captain since we played them in the distant days of summer, when we were top of the table and looking good, and fellow old boys Ben Watson and Jason Matthews were also starting. City dropped Adam Connolly for the first time in God knows how long, while starting loanee Elliott Chamberlain and Griffin up top.

City had a chance early on when Chamberlain hit a tame effort towards goal, but Matthews managed to fumble it and we hoped he would continue his usual calamitous performances at home (for the record, I quite like Matthews, and he did have some good games, but Christ he was prone to an error) but he claimed the ball at the second attempt.

City’s current custodian pulled off a save that was blasted straight at him after City failed to clear their lines, and the young keeper pulled off a few more decent saves when his defence deserted him.  

Dorchester were having more of the game at this point, and it was no surprise when the stripes fragile defence wilted like spinach in hot water and Ben Watson knocked home an easy finish, around the 20 minute mark.

City were not out of this though, and echoing his brilliant goal at The Avenue earlier this season, Griffin was tripped around 20 yards out, he picked himself up and magnificently curled his freekick into the bad of the net. 1-1 and Griffin proving again his prowess at set pieces.

City attacked again soon after the restart, and Chamberlain latched onto a threaded throughball which left him clear on goal, Matthews was drawn out of his goal and Chamberlain played the ball back to Griffin, who tapped into the unguarded net. The linesman though decided that Griffin was offside and disallowed the goal, I am not convinced, I was fairly sure the ball was played square, therefore Charlie wasn’t offside, however, I have only seen the incident once and I am wearing my stripey glasses!

The stripes were playing the better football at this point, and it was against the run of play that Dorchester regained the lead, a ball was played in from the left, and symptomatic of an uncharacteristically poor performance from Danny Ball, the young left back completely missed the forward behind him who gratefully capitalised on Ball’s mistake to score a very easy goal.

City equalised within 5 minutes, courtesy of an outrageous finish from Griffin and potentially a classic cock up from Matthews. Joe Burnell lifted the ball over the Dorchester defence who badly mistimed their attempted offside trap, the ball fell to Griffin 30 odd yards out, the bulky frontman didn’t take a touch, but calmly lobbed the ball towards goal over Jason Matthews, (who I assume came out to close the angle but why when he was so far out?) who backpeddled and did manage to get a hand to the ball, but not enough to keep it out of the net.

The half time whistle sounded with the game tied at 2 each. We decided to mix up the standing a bit, and stood at the Bath End during the second half, for the first time for me in at least 3 years, weirdly it is much closer that the usual Popular Side angle so provided some interesting new views.

It was from this position we noted how big Dorchester’s centre back pairing is, Charlie Clough is just a monster, while their number 4 Pugh was even taller (although slighter in build). A Griffin freekick bounced to Simpson who hammered the ball over, but shortly after Griffin limped out of the fray to be replaced by Kerry Morgan.

Despite the diminutive stature of the City boys up front, we still tried far too many crosses which was ridiculous, given the aforementioned size of the centre halves. City were having by far the better of the half, and two chances stand out in my mind. A corner dropped to Gethin Jones who was unmarked, but he showed why he is a centre back by only connecting with his studs and the ball dribbled towards goal, the second involved a similar chance. A ball was crossed to Noah Keats at the back post, he completely missed the ball which then struck his standing leg, the ball though fell kindly to Chamberlain who placed his shot just wide of the post with Matthews stranded.

Despite City having the majority of the game Dorchester scored next, surprisingly enough from a corner. Giant centre half Pugh headed home, although Mellor was screaming loudly for a foul at every official, so I can only assume someone held him and prevented him from claiming it.

The stripes tried to restore parity, but it was not to be and the fourth home defeat in a row followed, it was harsh on City who potentially deserved to nick it, but the form isn’t good enough at the moment.

After the game, I went to take the flags down and while up the step ladder I saw a sight that will haunt my nightmares. The Dorchester team returned to the Twerton pitch to do a warm down before heading home. Charlie Clough emerged shirtless (it was a bit cold, but fair enough) and the proceeded to pin a smaller team mate to the ground, while egged on by the rest of the team. Leaving the homoerotic scene alone, I packed the flag bag, and left Twerton until Saturday when Tonbridge Angels come to town, hopefully a game as good as the 3-4 away win will occur! UTC!