Think I'll go for a 1 - 1 draw...

What a strange game. The first half was easily the best half of attacking football I have seen this season. The goals we scored were absolute quality; the chances created frequent; but the headed finishing awful (Nikaj and Forster). We should have been 6-4 up. They had four chances and scored 3; some dodgy defending, a dubious offside (I couldn't see for sure) and unlucky bounces. Wood took his goal well and had a good game, but Lewis came on and immediately pinged over some great crosses.  I thought Pybus and Pinchard ran the midfield really well and Barrett is looking more dynamic every week - he needs to be on the ball as much as possible. Defence looks a bit ropey at times - could have gone either way at the end. Great game overall though. And plenty of burgers going spare at the end! 

Posted by: @baggy

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What a strange game. The first half was easily the best half of attacking football I have seen this season. The goals we scored were absolute quality; the chances created frequent; but the headed finishing awful (Nikaj and Forster). We should have been 6-4 up. They had four chances and scored 3; some dodgy defending, a dubious offside (I couldn't see for sure) and unlucky bounces. Wood took his goal well and had a good game, but Lewis came on and immediately pinged over some great crosses.  I thought Pybus and Pinchard ran the midfield really well and Barrett is looking more dynamic every week - he needs to be on the ball as much as possible. Defence looks a bit ropey at times - could have gone either way at the end. Great game overall though. And plenty of burgers going spare at the end! 

The perfect summary - couldn't have put it better. We were insane going forward first half.

Some game! Two teams who want to play football, ping it about and create. Chelmsford played well, especially their number 24 (Olopade). A draw probably a fair result.

Forster’s best game for Dorking so far. Electric running at the full backs and looked to have a great connection with Barratt on the left. We have some serious ball players in that team. Really promising stuff, especially with Taylor still to come back. Nikaj was very tidy as well.

Even though we scored three, the concern still has to be the finishing. Three gilt-edged chances squandered in the first half, with two worldies converted. Nikaj misses far too many chances in the air. Annelsley also seemed to get dragged out into midfield, allowing players to run in behind when he lost out.

Most of all, are we starting to get worried about Morris? So eager to fly out of his goal, and doesn’t look as comfortable with his feet as Harrison did last year. Seemed at fault for some of the goals against Billericay, and again today. 

Happy with that performance, onto Torquay!

I've just seen the offside "goal" now on highlights.  It was not even close!  I saw the ref almost blow straight away but he then looked over to the linesman who had his flag down. He even went over to discuss it, apparently on the advice of the fourth.  I can't imagine how the linesman tried to justify it, or what he saw - it seemed so clear cut. 😡 Would love to hear the official explanation.  

The ref also gave some really soft free kicks against Nikaj when he just held his ground in the box and defenders went to ground after initiating contact.  Maddening! 

That said - we had enough chances to win it and lost a bit of energy in second half. 

@Baggy it’s not often you see players react that strongly to an offside and when they do it’s usually pretty clear.

Watching the goals back maybe I was being a bit harsh on Morris, they were good finishes. What an amazing game played in the right spirit. 

Crazy game and not a sustainable way for us to keep playing football matches. I appreciate we are missing Camp but the drop-off in defensive quality when him (and Laqeretabua) are missing is stark. At the other end of the pitch, our build up play was superb but our finishing needs to improve; we can't rely on Barrett and Nikaj scoring worldies every week.

Regarding the offiside call, I do not think it is a clear and obvious error as Marc suggested; I think it is a very subjective call. Alexander was obviously in an offside position but that is not an offence in itself, it is whether or not he was interfering with play.

He makes no attempt to play the ball and even clearly gets out of the way of the play, so I would say he does not interfere in that regard. However, you could probably argue he is obstructing Morris in terms of his view of the ball, although even that would be debatable, as the ball was high in the air when it came through to Barbrook. I think if the ref had disallowed it then Chelmsford probably wouldn't be able to complain but either way, complaining about it on Twitter, etc is just silly...

I think we are going to be in for a tough weekend as Torquay had a nice easy game against 9 men and we had to run the likes of Pybus, Pinchard, Rogalski, Annesley, etc in to the ground. It also sounds like Francomb and Pybus might be doubts after last night as well...

In hindsight, it was a good game. Good goals, but so many missed chances. I thought Pinchard was superb, and for once I agreed with the MOM award. After not being impressed at first with Wood, I can now see how good he is.

I do have a bit of a problem with Morris. I thought he was meant to be vocal, but a couple of times he left it to Philpot to clear to touch when it looked like it should be the keeper's ball. 

I'm not sure about Sayers. I'm sure he would be better if he didn't spend so much time flicking his hair back. Get a decent haircut, man!

Chelmsfords first goals is causing a bit of a row on X currently. To me he’s stood right in front of Morris- albeit maybe a couple of metres away, then just steps aside to let the guy score. Surely that’s in the action zone and therefore affecting what Morris does.

That aside, very entertaining game but we really should’ve scored at least 5.

On another note, just seen the injury update email in which it says Dan G will now be out till the new year! 

Some interesting stats...

Possession: Dorking 68% - 32% Chelmsford

Shots (OT): 19 (12) - 12 (5)

xG: 1.69 - 1.92 - Some questionable xG values once again...

Passes: 638 - 296 - Our new record amount of attempted passes

Duels: 50% - 50%

Top Performer (Dorking): George Nikaj [8.2]

@gary-munnery still doing the rounds! Marc not letting it go. 

The more I watch it, the less it’s clear and obvious. Probably offside, yet you could defensibly argue he moved away from the ball. Little bit embarrassing for us to go in so strong and play the victim on X only for professional referees to chirp up and disagree. Just focus on the next game now.

Shame about DG. Could do with his presence at the back, ASAP.  

Josh Laquerabua (probably spelt it wrong) was on the bench for Charlton last night by the way. That's what we are missing at the back.

Posted by: @mattywanderer

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@gary-munnery still doing the rounds! Marc not letting it go. 

The more I watch it, the less it’s clear and obvious. Probably offside, yet you could defensibly argue he moved away from the ball. Little bit embarrassing for us to go in so strong and play the victim on X only for professional referees to chirp up and disagree. Just focus on the next game now.

Shame about DG. Could do with his presence at the back, ASAP.  

The issue even when you exclude the 1 goal each game due to the referee, becomes making the argument you should be winning both games, when you have shipped 2 goals vs Billericay and 2 goals vs Chelmsford. With all due respect to both those sides, neither of them are promotion contenders either. 

The problem with the back 3 is that you do not have sufficient numbers back there, when an opponent turns it over quickly and targets your back line at the transition. 

Opponents do not need many transition turnovers to create clear cut chances and score goals. You can argue the RM or LM should be back, but that is physically impossible if its quick balls forward. You can even argue a CM should be getting back, but they are already behind the play. 

I think a strong case needs to be made for a back 4. Clubs have studied Dorking for years and know exactly how to attack on the transition. Its too predictable and easy to play against. Possession stats and XG don't win games. 

Given the way Torquay tore our back 3 apart last season in the play offs, a serious case needs to be made for us going with a back 4. Especially given the fact that is 6 goals shipped in 2 games. Clearly its not working defensively right now at all. 

@dorking-eagle Slotted in at the back like he had been with us for years. Great player hope he has a good career

100% Hemel, Rolls royce of a player for this level!

Very good analysis Luke by the way.