Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
It's that time of year again! We kick off the season this weekend at home to promotion rivals, Dagenham & Redbridge. The Daggers have a couple of ex-Wanderers in the form of Liam Vincent and Davide Rodari, and will be hoping to gain promotion back to the National League this year.
The fitness update from the team showed that Muitt, Pinchard and Gallagher are likely to return in mid-late September with Josh Taylor returning a month or so after that. Isaac Philpot awaits the results of a scan but could be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Predictions:
Dorking 1-1 Dagenham (Rutherford)
1,589 att.
Morris
Camp Annesley Vincent
Wood Francomb Pybus Lewis
Barrett McShane
Rutherford
Subs: Foulkes, Sayers, Grass, Page(?), Tauta-Caballero, Forster, Nikaj
I only saw it on the live stream and ended up just feeling very frustrated. So much possession second half and so little to show for it. The pace was not quick enough moving the ball and the final poor was too often poor: not beating first man, or near post with no one in sight. But it should have still been 1-1 with the chances at the end. I hope I am wrong but I have not seen Nikaj head the ball accurately in pre season at all. Daggers were physical but disappointing after first 10 minutes.
Much work to do of course and tough games coming up, but no panic. Just frustrating to miss an opportunity vs ten men.
By the way it is a big assumption that because for the last 2 seasons the league table was really close until the last 2 games, that it will be the same again and the eventual promoted teams can lose 11 league games
You could just as easily get a season like when Yeovil just ran away with it (or two teams have a huge gap all season over the rest)
Nothing more than that, but we shouldn't be too comfortable with what we got yesterday, because we know what happens with play-offs more often than not.
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
If you look at the seasons that Ebbsfleet and Yeovil won the league comfortably, they barely had any competition. Their biggest threats were the likes of Oxford, Dartford and St Albans. The league is much tighter now due to some big names dropping out of the NL (Dorking, Torquay, Maidstone, Maidenhead, Dagenham, etc) and some investment in some of the existing sides (Truro, Chelmsford, Hemel, Weston, etc). I don't think we will see a team steamroll the league until some of these bigger sides get back in the NL or if we have a couple of seasons where big Southern sides don't get relegated from the NL.
Stats from the game yesterday are fairly expected:
Shots (OT): Dorking 20 (3) - 6 (2) Dagenham - Sort of tells the whole story really
xG: 2.44 - 0.58
Possession: 67% - 23%
Passes: 495 - 197
Duels: 55% - 45%
Might just be rubbish but the rumour I heard was that Marc and George disagreed about his position and there was doubt that he would even be in the squad today.
Spoke to Marc, no issues at all - with any players - all good 👍
AdeB if you know people at the club, can you ask whoever does the match reports to include the team sheet and playing subs. It would be useful for those you can't make the game.
Did the spin the wheel happen in the fan zone anyone know?
Also just saw a few Daggers fans moaning a Dorking player threw a milkshake on them out of the dressing room window 🤔
@crawleysth Do you mean on social media or the club website?
Club website. Not everyone uses twitter regularly and with it being banned for under 16s next year good practice to put these things on website.
Agree with everything Tom has said there, really frustrating day against a poor poor side. With the red card, you also need to bear in mind that Louis pulled Carroll's hair and so probbly lucky not to be off too, ref only gave it due to the fuss we caused on the Bank. Such a wasted chance even if it is early doors.
I thought Pybus had a shocker and he really needs to sort himself out as not been at the required level for a long time now. Hitting the first man with every cross and playing so slow against 10 men that you would have thought we were the side 1-0 up.
Once again Marc was right with something along the lines of - you're only ever 2hours from agony or ecstasy! Not really sure what happened yesterday! I think the positive (or gamble) came from the post match, our success or failure this season will be how the Alfie/ George partnership works - i think when either is ask to play alone we never look like scoring! I'm not sure what that makes our ideal shape/ starting XI one up doesnt work - unless Casey still free and cheap!
Thanks for the stats Tom 👍
If true about the milkshake, wtf!
I thought it was fenced off behind the DW dressing room after the game so it could be porkies
And who allows milkshakes for elite athletes anyway!
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Agreed, was good to hear that Marc said we will go back to 2 up top again next weekend. That does leave us with no bench options though, so I imagine a striker signing is an absolute must this week.
I thought we were terrible, against a below average team. Looked a far worse outfit than the start of last season. Dont get the hype around Pybus thought we should of got rid of him last season when we had the chance, will be injured soon enough as well I'd imagine.
Nikaj got into some great positions but has a head like a 50p.
Starting to feel tired of the excuses, and "we dominated the game look at the stats" blah blah already this season. Just focus on winning the bloody game.
Agreed, was good to hear that Marc said we will go back to 2 up top again next weekend. That does leave us with no bench options though, so I imagine a striker signing is an absolute must this week.
I would imagine an offer has been made to Patrick Casey, but he will have other options, and other targets are being considered. Another striker will be brought in for sure.
Its been concerning to see Alfie's recent lack of form in front of goal since he came back. He is often doing a lot of donkey work around the pitch and never then attacking the 6 yard box. We all know he has it in him, but the way he is being used now, is not how he was used previous to his injury.
I heard Casey wanted 4k a week a while back,so I’m guessing that would make any move a non starter unless demands change.
Possible 3rd stint incoming for a certain JP9? Surely not
