Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Dorking 3 Bromley 2
The first half at least was very competitive and saw some quality goals. Bromley didn’t have their big guns out there but they had half a dozen first teamers in need of playing time on the pitch and certainly put a shift in.
Great to see the new boys out there. Sidwell looked comfortable, neat and tidy in midfield and McCallum showed what he can do, given good service, which was provided on both wings. Lewis in particular skinned his man and delivered every time, as usual. The prospect of McCallum and Casey up front with the flying wingers for the rest of the season is an exciting one. Not sure how JP gets back in when fully fit.
Second half fizzled out a bit with all the subs but good to see the youngsters getting some game time. Roll on Saturday!
An excellent work out. Great game too. We looked super sharp first half, and so did Bromley tbh.
Second half a little more disjointed with all the subs but the youngsters did brilliantly (especially Lawrence, again) - very decent squad and a bright future too.
Loved the McCallum goal, really aggressive physical header, quite Haaland-like. Hamstring issue sounds like he might be a bit fragile to start with and need to be rotated with Prior?
Sidwell buzzed about and was involved in plenty.
McManus never stopped running 2nd half and did a few Cryuff spins! Casey an absolute goal machine. Lots of positives.
Slight doubts potentially remain over Hampton being on if the rain continues all week.
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
@dorking-eagle Yeah I can see it being 50/50, heavy rain again today and tomorrow.
Although not officially confirmed yet, the Hornchurch FA Trophy tie against Telford has been put on the 20th Jan it seems. Therefore our game that night against them will obviously be postponed. Probably a good thing with the McCallum and Pybus injuries.
Next available date for that game appears to be the 17th February.
Weather looks really bad tomorrow for Hampton but the following days look relatively ok. They've also not had a game at their ground for almost a month so the pitch is probably in decent condition.
Next available date for that game appears to be the 17th February.
Which is half term week, so every cloud and all that
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
I can’t believe McCallum is injured already , unbelievable
No one is remotely surprised he is injured.
He is being loaned out by Eastleigh despite being on massive wages because he is 'struggling to recover from injury' according to their fans.
He is coming to a club that is proven to get a new recruit injured inside 4-5 weeks maximum. I cannot remember the last big name signing we signed up that wasnt injured in that timeframe.
Why was such an important player played more than 30 mins in a meaningless friendly?
When he could have played in the league a few days later had his time been managed, like WTF guys.
So frustrating at the lack of seriousness and professionalism there is still within the club, its a farce. That includes MW by the way. But its his money and his choice.
Loved the McCallum goal, really aggressive physical header, quite Haaland-like. Hamstring issue sounds like he might be a bit fragile to start with and need to be rotated with Prior?
Sidwell buzzed about and was involved in plenty.
McManus never stopped running 2nd half and did a few Cryuff spins! Casey an absolute goal machine. Lots of positives.
Slight doubts potentially remain over Hampton being on if the rain continues all week.
Promising yes it was. But the McCallum situation is really stupid.
Surely if he has only 30 mins in him before breaking down at this stage play him vs Hampton where he will get us a goal than in a meaningless friendly vs Bromley! He has scored his strikers goal vs Bromley for 0 points and now he wont be fit for Hampton where we need 3 points.
So frustrating to see so many good players and so much money pissed up against a wall, due to basic incompetence. There is an army of coaches at the club and they still cannot even get the basics right with one player when its obvious.
I agree @JacksonFairweather that our injury record has been farcical but I'm not sure who or what is to blame for that. Many of the injuries have been fairly innocuous or unlucky contact injuries - remember Charlie Carter when he joined? - and we know our pitch does not help. In terms of playing time, I guess there is always a balance between getting players match fit and getting used to the playing style in a competitive environment and putting them at added risk of injury. With McCallum, I have no idea of his medical condition and how many minutes was good for him, but it was great to see him get on the end of quality crosses, at both ends too.
It does seem that many players are made of chipsticks these days. Whether that is the flimsy boots, increased intensity / physicality of games or training workload, I don't know. I am not sure if you can treat players like Paul McGrath - wrap them up in cotton wool all week and bring them out on a Saturday. That would be least risk of injury but not the life for most semi-pro footballers, nor best for the team?
We can't have a squad where several players are only good for 30 minutes, but presumably McCallum himself thought he was ok for what he played?
Niall played 45 minutes on that pitch and was ok (AFAIK) so it's not an exact science.
If Hampton is rained off and there is no game for another week, what do we do? Play a friendly but on grass only? Put some of them in the B team on Saturday (but it's on the Meadowbank pitch). Or do nothing because they are too precious to risk, but then they lose match fitness? Whatever we do something could go wrong.
It's a miracle we even have Sidwell and McCallum in the building because there isn't the budget and it has been suggested that the main club sponsor funded it (plus McCallum's wages is also being part subsidised by Eastleigh). People are trying everything they can to equip the club as best they can.
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
This season:
Frank Vincent - Zero minutes missed this season through injury
Dennon Lewis - Only missed 45 mins this season through injury
Can think of plenty others in recent years who haven't picked up injuries in their first few months at the club as well - Seager, Bowerman, Male, Pybus, Prior, Hollis, Craig, Cook, Casey, Bobby-Joe Taylor, Young, Williams, etc.
Annesley and Norville-Williams are the only muscle injuries I can really remember seeing in the early days of a Wanderers career.
More than anything, McCallum needed minutes, as he has mostly featured off the bench for Eastleigh this season, which is why 45 mins in a friendly was probably a good idea to try and get him up to speed. Only change I probably would have made is that I would have tried to organise a grass pitch friendly rather than at Meadowbank. That would have been tough considering the weather though.
Sounds like Prior will be back next weekend so McCallum can slowly rotate minutes with him over the next few weeks.
