Well, that was a roller coaster of a game. The ending has been indicative of our season - allowing late goals to win or equalize. Don't really have an arm-coach thought on what needs to happen, but strong finishes to games need to happen for us to have any chance to return to the NL. It will be an interesting summer. 

Marc said in the post match there will only be a couple coming in, 1 almost completed. Wouldn’t be drawn on any players leaving 

Posted by: @gary-munnery

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Maidenhead would go into the NLN wouldn’t they, like Oxford did last year. Agree yeah, would be some tough fixtures. Chuck in Horsham too.

I know might be a little reactionary but I’m hoping Marc and JB will seriously look at the squad and move some of the players on now. And give Carter whatever he wants to stay another season 

I am pretty sure the easy option for the league is that Merthyr, promoted from the Southern Prem South (step 3) go straight into NL North, as Merthyr is quite 'northerly' on latitude anyway. Then the 3 'southern' teams from the NL (ie excl Fylde) come down into NLS. So NLS gets even tougher sadly.

Last night in the post match, Marc was saying about only bringing in a couple of players and not making many changes. Maybe that was him being diplomatic, as we still have 1 or 2 Surrey Senior Cup games to play and not wanting to disrupt the squad with a cup still to play for.

But there are surely at least a handful of players that need to be moved on now? Players who could and should have moved on last summer. Jon Bines spoke recently on that Location football video that we are only halfway through the squad transition. That we will move to 4 days training a week next season and that all players would be part of that, and the suggestion that no newcomers would have jobs outside football, ie as we lose the plumbers, posties and accountants, we replace with younger 'football only' players?

As a result of being so loyal to the old guard last summer, we ended up adding what? 7 players through the season? And sending several out on loans to sort out fitness issues...

I feel we need to look long and hard at why we continue to leak like a sieve late on in games. Tactics and sitting deep is a big part of it, but is it also an indicator of age and fitness range? Was it Bath where we started (or finished?) with only 3 outfield players under 30?

I feel there is a lot of change ahead, just that it won't be signposted in a post match interview following a painful defeat.

Positives?

480 Wanderers last night (600 at Worthing). Away crowds never under 200 nowadays (although I did really like it when it was 30-60 of us too). 

Home crowds regularly 2k+ (lets not wait till the last months of the season to hit those numbers again next season)

The mega sponsorship (still amazed about that, good job).

The ground - surely that must be in touching distance getting progress regarding control of the lease(??). The new little stand seems well received, hopefully some sort of small roof on it too?

And if Marc can get the squad right, then a strong season to come where we learn from this one, hopefully heading the pack and staying there.

No team goes up or wins a play off competition, if they continually get bodied late on in games by everyone and their grandmother. 

Embarrassing end to the season. I hope serious action is taken based on that and the other games that have been chucked away this season. 

Definitely not good enough and to suggest we move the deck chairs around a bit either isn’t good enough. 

We under performed with our wage bill and the management of that game by the management team and players at 3-1 up was shocking. Serious changes required. 

I actually think every Wanderers player out there yesterday gave everything. (Although from my one viewing when I was there it did look like Muitt punched an oppo player for his first yellow (if I am wrong, massive apologies). But if my eyes were right, then he was lucky not to get a red card for that alone. 

Last season, it felt like we sleepwalked to relegation - we kept losing game after game but it didn't feel like we addressed the deficiencies. (Compare to 22/23 when we brought in Francombe, Prior and Craig in the Spring to make the difference). What I mean is, if the same thing keeps happening then it needs changing.

We discussed on here recently about losing 25pts after 80 mins in games, mostly from winning positions.

Any oppo manager worth their salt would seriously make that a major part of their gameplan - stay in the game, and then go full on from 80 mins.

Even in recent months it happened at Hampton, Maidstone, St Albans and Bath off the top of my head.

If you were a marathon runner, and your regularly lost a narrow lead in the home straight due to others in the race putting in extra effort, then you'd look to change your tactics, or work on your resilience. I just don't think the current crop of players have 97 minutes in the tank, even taking into account JB's physio department improvements to reducing injuries in the squad.

An annoying thing about it all is seeing just how brilliant the VNL will be next season - all the great new places there are to go to (on top of great places we have been before) and knowing that it was potentially within our reach. That's football I guess.

The VNL is where the club can hugely grow off the pitch and operate to it's full potential. So it's to the clubs credit that crowds have still grown and things like the sponsorship have happened regardless in this lower division.

Horsham no doubt on Boxing Day though. Ugh. 

Posted by: @dorking-eagle

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I actually think every Wanderers player out there yesterday gave everything. (Although from my one viewing when I was there it did look like Muitt punched an oppo player for his first yellow (if I am wrong, massive apologies). But if my eyes were right, then he was lucky not to get a red card for that alone. 

Last season, it felt like we sleepwalked to relegation - we kept losing game after game but it didn't feel like we addressed the deficiencies. (Compare to 22/23 when we brought in Francombe, Prior and Craig in the Spring to make the difference). What I mean is, if the same thing keeps happening then it needs changing.

We discussed on here recently about losing 25pts after 80 mins in games, mostly from winning positions.

Any oppo manager worth their salt would seriously make that a major part of their gameplan - stay in the game, and then go full on from 80 mins.

Even in recent months it happened at Hampton, Maidstone, St Albans and Bath off the top of my head.

If you were a marathon runner, and your regularly lost a narrow lead in the home straight due to others in the race putting in extra effort, then you'd look to change your tactics, or work on your resilience. I just don't think the current crop of players have 97 minutes in the tank, even taking into account JB's physio department improvements to reducing injuries in the squad.

An annoying thing about it all is seeing just how brilliant the VNL will be next season - all the great new places there are to go to (on top of great places we have been before) and knowing that it was potentially within our reach. That's football I guess.

The VNL is where the club can hugely grow off the pitch and operate to it's full potential. So it's to the clubs credit that crowds have still grown and things like the sponsorship have happened regardless in this lower division.

Horsham no doubt on Boxing Day though. Ugh. 

From where I was standing, Jimmy pushed the players head into the ground after the tackle (which was a fair one)

Surprised he wasn't withdrawn then after the yellow card like Alfie was after his for hoofing the ball out of the ground.

I agree on the need for some younger blood for next season, and to move on a couple of the old guard. But at this level, I think that JP, Milsom, Craig and Francombe at the very least could all contribute well next season. 

The annoying thing about last night was that until the sending off, that was as good as we have played all season.  The big quick pitch suited us, and the first half was total domination but for two shots, with one going in. Not offside either imho, as Taylor touched the ball last. 

The controllables that Marc talks about are discipline. Apart from Jimmy, Alfie gets a stupid booking for kicking ball away, gets hooked, and there goes our ability to sustain possession in high areas and relieve the siege.  On this occasion there was little choice but to defend deep, which I thought we did pretty well. All 4 of their goals were good hits.  But fatigue at the end is obvs something to be addressed.  

Next year will be tough for sure, but to get within 3 points of going up after that start is not too bad, even if we certainly should have got it over the line.  Another season at this level might be helpful to get the off the field stuff sorted and to prepare properly for a real go at NL the following season. And as you say David, the growth in fan base, particularly away, has been a massive plus. Bar the odd idiot.  

A brilliant night of footy even if result went the wrong way. It’s why we do it! 

Fair enough Steve, I suspect we won't actually see the incident in replay form until BoA comes out in several weeks time with multiple angles. 

And it's the same old story anyway - Bath away (2 dropped pts) and yesterday's loss blamed on red cards, but we have lost plenty of winning positions with 11 men, so it's not always that. And lets not forget that 2 of our goals that gave us the 3-1 lead were bonkers own goals.

At some point we'll no doubt have a thread for looking forward to next season, the good and the bad (Horsham again ole ole ole 🤣 , the toilets at Chesham, non-segregation carnage at Maidenhead if they don't stay up as per ruddy usual etc)

Obviously a heartbreaking way to lose last night but ultimately I don't think it was the end of the world. Three away playoff games would have been a real tough ask and I wouldn't have fancied us much at Torquay on Saturday after how much physically and emotionally went in to the game last night. It would have a lot more devastating if last night was a semi-final or obivously a final.

Very proud of how we played though as we were sensational for 75-80 mins of that game. Was always going to be difficult once we went down to 10 men, even after going 3-1 up. Them pulling that goal back to make it 3-2 so soon after 3-1 was the killer really. Ultimately, losing the game in the 96th minute didn't really matter as we would have almost certainly lost that in extra time a man down and dead on our feet.

Others have already mentioned it a lot here but late goals is obviously a real problem and that will almost certainly be down to fitness and the age of the squad. Tired minds/bodies late on in games obviously won't defend and press with the same intensity and will ultimately lead to goals conceded. Add in to that issues with discipline (9 red cards and lots of silly yellows) and it really doesn't help either. We need players with more pace, fitness and athleticism next season if we are going to compete for 46+ matches.

The support and atmosphere was excellent and up there for one of the best away ends we've ever had really. Hopefully that continues in to next season as well. Rooting for Torquay to go up as they look the next best team to me and will mean that, with Truro and Weymouth gone as well, the travel next season looks a bit kinder.

UTW

Stats looked ok:

Possession: Boreham Wood 47% - 53% Dorking

xG: Boreham Wood 1.15 - 0.75 Dorking - Own goals don't record an xG value so in reality it is a bit higher

Shots (On Target): Boreham Wood 11 (6) - 10 (2) Dorking

Top Performer: Jason Prior [7.6]