50s: Clear goal-scoring opportunity

The year might only have been four days old, and the weather bloody freezing, but (nearly) everyone was back and ready to get on with the action in 2026. Unfortunately, Sherborne weren’t able to make the first Dorset Walking Football League tournament of the seas, so we played with nine teams.

With the absence of Sherborne, three teams were handed a 1-0 win. Those teams were our Dexter’s Thunder (who were left with difficult fixtures against Storm and Eastleigh), Verwood (who we guess would be grateful for the points, but would probably have preferred to play the fixture on such a cold day), and Dorchester (who would have had a disastrous day without the points gift!).

DSWFC Matchday Info

50s League Round Three, 2025/26

📆 Sunday 4 January 2026, 12:00
📍 1610 Sports Centre, Dorchester
🧊 Cold and bright

Thunder matchday squad

Mark Cope 🧤 | Dave Lodge 🧢 | Mike Excell | Mark Williams | Simon Allen | Paul Gillis | Jase Sheath

Storm matchday squad

Billy Bulloch 🧤 | Simon Baker 🧢 | Nick Webb | Darren Snell | Gary Craig | Simon Cooke | Pete Mitchell | Chris Cockwell

DSWFC Tournament Report

In terms of debuting players, Round Three of 2025/26 was a biggie for Dexter Walking Football Club. We fielded no less than four new players across the two teams. That’s testament to how many players we’ve welcomed to the club over the the last couple of months.

It’d been two months since League Round Two. Back then Storm were disappointed to have collected just four points from their three matches, while Thunder collected a solitary point from three tough fixtures

Dexter’s Storm

Storm arrived at the Littledown Centre with an eight player squad, consisting of six regular starters, and two debutants – those newbies were Pete Mitchell and Chris Cockwell. A noticeable absentee was Luke Hitchen, who was at the tournament in a coaching capacity, but unable to take to the field due to injury.

Opponents	Score & highlights
Verwood	Won 3-0 Comfortable win to start the day and a debut goal for Chris (Cockwell), as well as one each for Gary and Snelly.
Thunder	Won 1-0 Another win and another goal for Gary. Maybe fortunate Thunder weren’t awarded the penalty they should have been.
Weymouth	Drew 1-1 Gary scores in his third consecutive match and Weymouth draw for only the second time this season (9 matches).

Storm started the day with a 3-0 win against Verwood in the first game, with goals coming from Gary Craig, Darren Snell with his first of the season, and a brilliant debut goal from Chris Cockwell. This was also a first walking football appearance for Pete Mitchell. Chris and Pete both played very well.

Storm then played Thunder in the Dexter’s derby which was a tight game in which both teams played well. The match was settled by a single goal scored (again) by Gary, who was more than filling in for Luke’s absence. Thunder should have been awarded a penalty after a foul which denied a goal scoring opportunity on Jason. Who knows how it could have ended if the penalty was given, but in the end Storm collected another three points.

Storm’s third game was another tight one. Weymouth went ahead against the run of play through their star man Gary Robson. Pete and Nick both picked up injuries during the game but Storm kept going. Despite the disappointment of going behind, we equalised through Gary scoring his tenth of the season.

Overall seven points from nine was a decent haul, but missing out on all nine was disappointing, such are the standards Storm are setting this season (W5 D3 L1).

Dexter’s Thunder

With the withdrawal of Sherborne from the day, we had just two matches to think about. First up would be the always tough Eastleigh, followed by another derby with our compadres from Dexters Storm. As with Storm, we also had two new signings making Walking Football debuts – Mike Excell and Mark Williams – both of whom will be great additions.

Opponents	Score & highlights
Eastleigh	Lost 0-2 We were competitive for much of the first half. Had two new players on the field for much of the game.
Storm	Lost 0-3 Again on top and competitive for much of the match, and should have been awarded a penalty when Jase was denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Sherborne	Won 1-0 (walkover) As Sherborne were unable to attend the tournament, we doubled our wins for the season!

Whenever Eastleigh are he opposition, you know it’s going to be tough – their last match at League Round Two was a 6-0 hammering of Verwood. We all knew we’d need to be on our toes and our two newbies soon found out just how hard the Dorset Walking Football League is.

In the first half we matched Eastleigh for effort and had some decent possession, but their superior experience told in the end. We were disappointed to have not scored and to have been beaten – that is testament to how well we think we can do with these players.

Our second and final match of the day was of course against Storm. This encounter really could have gone either way. Many people felt we were the better side in the first half, restricting their chances while making plenty of our own.

A lapse of concentration in defence and Gary (Craig) stole in to score his ninth of the season, and we were unlucky to be a goal down. Then came the controversy.

Having found a way through the Storm defence, Jase was about to pull the trigger when he was clipped from behind, denying him a clear goal-scoring opportunity. The offending defender was blue-carded but no penalty was given, as it should have been. There’s nothing to say Jase would have scored, or that a penalty would have been converted, but it’s clear a more boosting opportunity was taken away from us.

All-in-all there was much to be pleased about for Dexters Thunder. Our new players did really well, there was a good camaraderie, and we really could have collected some points (from the matches actually played!). If we can keep a settled squad, then the future looks good.

Law 12: Fouls and misconduct

In Temporary Dismissals (C9) it states “…[if a player] denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick..” then a blue card should be issued and “…are also sanctioned with the award of a penalty kick to the opposition…”.

You can download the laws from our Laws of the Game page.

DSWFC Player Season Stats

Here you can see the DSWFC 50s tournament appearances and goals for the season to date.

Player	Tournaments	Goals
Allen, Simon	3	0
Baker, Simon	3	0
Ball, Martin	2	0
Bulloch, Billy	3	–
Cockwell, Chris	1	1
Cooke, Simon	2	0
Cope, Mark	3	–
Craig, Gary	3	10
Excell, Mike	1	0
Gillis, Paul	1	0
Gorridge, Neil	1	0
Hitchen, Luke	2	4
Lodge, Dave	2	1
Mitchell, Pete	1	0
Robbins, Toko	1	0
Sheath, Jase	3	4
Shute, Andy	2	0
Snell, Darren	3	1
Webb, Nick	3	0
Wheeler, Darren	1	0
Williams, Mark	1	0
Wilson, Andy	1	0

League Overview

Bournemouth Whites collected their first point of the season by way of a goalless drew with Dorchester. This was followed up with their first win when they overcame Verwood 3-0. And that was after losing the first match of the day 1-10 against Amesbury!

Talking of Amesbury, they suffered their first loss of the season… 2-1 to Bournemouth, who in turn lost their other two matches on the day to Weymouth and Eastleigh, both 2-0.

Sherborne’s absence handed 1-0 wins to Dexter’s Thunder, Dorchester, and Verwood.

Why not take look at the Dorset Walking Football League tables. It includes all the results and history of the 50s, 60s and 65s over the past few seasons.

Future Dates

The next round of the 50s Dorset Walking Football League is scheduled for Sunday 1 February 2026. We’ll be heading back to Dorchester for Round Four of the league. Check with your club organisers before travelling though, just in case there are any changes.

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