Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Let's face it - we are f'king awful at this. Really, really bad.
I've looked at the stats, and this is what I have found:
- We've failed to hold on to a lead (to the full result) 11 times in the league
- This is a total of 21 lost points
- 7 of these 11 games have been at home
- 6 of these 11 games, the lead has been lost in the last 10 minutes
I can't stand it when we try and sit on these slender leads, it feels very negative, and seems to hardly ever work. The tactic seems to be bring off Alfie, leave JP isolated up front on his own, and then pack the midfield a bit more. What seems to actually happen is JP is so isolated up front, that any headers he wins just goes back to the opposition and we are back defending again. Momentum is therefore 100% with the team trailing, and it's just attack against defence for the last part of the game and we are just so fragile as it keeps on happening, so it invariably just happens again.
Last night was the classic version of this. The last 10 mins we barely had the ball, it never stuck up front and as soon as they scored the overly familiar late equaliser, it was just Battle of the Alamo again and it was only ever going to be Maidstone who were going to win it, and luckily we got a point.
I'd love to see us be more positive, and try and get a second goal or whatever to put games to bed, rather than sitting on leads, as it seems that we are very very shit at that. Sure, we'd drop points this way as well, but I think we'd probably win more games than we are currently. 21 points is a lot give up when you are chasing a single promotion spot.
Disclaimer: I only went over the results once, so might be slightly incorrect, but I think the point stands!
@calvertskans Any idea how many points lost this translates to?
Red cards certainly felt a lot this season, Josh Brooking's stint with the club helped boost these numbers! Can't remember many straight reds though.
@dorking-eagle I said after the Chesham game on Saturday that it was mental that Alfie played 90 minutes. He should have been subbed off at half time like the rest of them so that he had more in the tank for tonight.
I think Marc actually took him off because of the yellow he picked up though. Seems an odd decision to me as your strikers are less likely to be making tackles that lead to second yellows anyway. I think he could have played another 10-15 mins.
That being said, I don't think taking Alfie off really hurt us as we still looked decent for a bit after that sub. The decision to replace him with Murphy was a strange one though as I don't really see what he offered the team in that scenario. I think putting on Milsom or even Young would have been a better option at that point.
@matthewpont In the regular season, I think we lost 17 points in total due to goals conceded in the 80th+ minute. 24 points total lost from winning positions.
We also got knocked out of 3 cup competitions due to goals in the 80th+ minute - Horsham (FA Cup), Eastbourne (FA Trophy), Boreham Wood (Playoffs)
In terms of red cards, we got 5 straight reds although one of Brooking's was overturned. We conceded 7 goals after going down to 10 men across the season but only dropped 2 regular points from those positions (Bath away). We were obviously knocked out last night as a result of the red though.
Not so fun fact, last night was the first game all season we lost a game from a winning position...
@matthewpont I would bet on it costing us around 15 points due to this failing which would have landed us on 101 points a runaway champions.
Whatever Mark and the coaching staff think is good game management and 'clever' clearly needs to be ripped up and flushed down the toilet.
Clearly major changes are required ahead of next season.
The league title and promotion back to the national league has been lost due to this issue. Number 1 priority for him from this point onwards and for next season, stop being mugged off late on in games. Its not injuries or referees that cost us.
I do think the lack of a like for like for Alfie is an issue. Surely if Alfie needs to be pulled second half, a like for like type player needs to be brought in. A 34 year old poacher is the only substitute for him which is as far from 'like for like' as it gets!
S&C needs to be addressed, as some of them look like they are running in water late on.
Also the mentality of the team needs to be addressed. You do not have a mentality of 'hanging on' and 'time wasting' the entire last 10 minutes, as it translates into what we have seen all season. Shipping late goals because you have a passive mentality late on in a game vs other teams who throw everything at you because they know they will get something. These two intangible forces lead to what we see, inevitable consistent shipping of goals late on. I saw it since the second season in National league, teams were setting up to tear us a new one from the 60th minute and its translated into this season too. Come on.
Somewhere between 15-25 points left on the table and another season staring up at the NL.
Thought it would be interesting to compare the late goals we concede compared to the other top 6 sides.
It makes for depressing reading:
| Team | Goals Conceded | 80th+ | of which 89th+ | 80th+ % | 89th+ % |
| Dorking | 54 | 22 | 12 | 40.74% | 22.22% |
| Torquay | 42 | 12 | 7 | 28.57% | 16.67% |
| Eastbourne | 43 | 5 | 2 | 11.63% | 4.65% |
| Truro | 42 | 13 | 5 | 30.95% | 11.90% |
| Worthing | 58 | 5 | 4 | 8.62% | 6.90% |
| Boreham Wood | 48 | 8 | 3 | 16.67% | 6.25% |
| Maidstone | 38 | 6 | 4 | 15.79% | 10.53% |
Almost half our goals conceded coming after the 80th minute is insanity...
@calvertskans Worthing who have conceded about the same number as us so the best comparison (slightly more).
Only shipped 5 since the 80th minute vs 22 that we shipped.
1. Personnel needs to change, clearly the natural physical stamina and athletic speed of certain players is not at the level. You do not make them "fitter" by training differently or training more, they have a ceiling and its not at the level required. They need to be moved on.
2. The mentality of being passive and playing the time wasting and shit house game to hang onto leads just needs to end. It should be flushed down the toilet. If you have a passive 'hanging on mentality' and it meets and aggressive 'we will get something' mentality, that is when you ship goals late on and don't score any yourself
3. Need a replacement for Alfie. A like for like. The reason why we have nothing at the other end of the pitch in the business end of games is because Alfie is the only striker who can run in behind and press defenders at a higher tempo and he is always usually subbed for the last 30 minutes. The one replacement we have for him is a 34 year poacher. We had Alexandrou but Mark took one look at him and bombed him out the building. One of the issues is that these types of forwards tend to be on the younger side, and erm, you know what I mean by this.
I was watching highlights of the Rochdale play off game last night and it really did strike me that to be in that top 6 in the league above.
You need pace and fitness. The game was so much faster and more intense than what you see at NLS, it almost seems half paced in comparison. If we are going to develop a squad that goes up and does well, the focus needs to be on recruiting athletes who can play the game at a high pace and play for 90 minutes plus injury time at a high level of intensity.
