50s: The Tide is Turning

The penultimate league round of the Dorset Walking Football League was held in Dorchester on 10 March. Some squads needed to make enforced changes due to the controversial scheduling of the tournament on Mothers Day – indeed, one team were even forced to withdraw entirely as one-by-one their players dropped out.

Pre-tournament Form

Dexter Sports’ first match of the morning would be against Sherborne who were just three points ahead of us in the league at the start of the day. Having drawn all three of their matches in the previous round, Sherborne were unbeaten in five (W1, D4), including a 1-0 win against us in January.

Our second match of the day would be against Weymouth, who had only lost two matches (of nine) all season. However, their recent form had been poor, with just one win in the previous five (W1, D2, L2). Despite that recent form, they were only four points behind second place Dorchester, with a game in hand.

A settled and regular squad has not been easily achieved this season, and another three changes to the squad which celebrated our inaugural season’s victory in the last round, were needed for this one. A debut selection was handed to Andy Whittingham, who was pleased to wear the number 18 shirt – it being his preference in the unavailability of the number nine shirt.

Matchday Squad

Dexter Sports 1-1 Sherborne

A match we were determined to win, did not quite go to plan, particularly after showing good attacking intent for the first five minutes, only to then concede a goal resulting from another misplaced pass – an unfortunate and common error throughout our season and one which we MUST address.

Nevertheless, the team responded well and quickly returned to attacking with Andy Whittingham proving his worth with some excellent defence turning moves, only to see his subsequent shots saved or just wide of the target.

Play continued in similar vein and it would have been unjust had we not come away with at least a draw. That point was secured after Luke Hitchen’s firm strike successfully completed a free flowing move from back to front. It’s an indication of the squad determination that the post-match mood was one of disappointment.

Dexter Sports 1-0 Weymouth

Weymouth, who started the day third in the league, would provide a stiff test, but one which the squad felt capable of passing… and so it proved with a notable 1-0 victory.

It would be fair to say, we were only in the game at half time due to the heroics of Dave Bacall in goal, whose shot-stopping and courageous closing down of sole strikers bearing down on him was outstanding. We could easily have been three goals down, with a mountain to climb, at half-time. The fact we were still level seemed to galvanise the lads and the second half was completely different.

Sloppy passing was eradicated and we showed much more energy. Simon Allen, returning after four weeks without kicking a ball, covered an immense amount of ground, while Darren Wheeler showed great positional play and was an available ‘out’ on many occasions. Darren ‘Snelly’ Snell was his usual solid self, distributing the ball threateningly to Luke and Andy, both of whom, again, had opportunities to score. It was, almost inevitably, Luke who struck decisively to put us one up.

In every game this season, Paul Gillis has been a rock at the back and his understanding with Dave has developed into a very strong pairing. The last five minutes of the game saw Paul rise to new levels of leadership, breaking down or blocking wave-after-wave of attacks, as Weymouth threw all their players forward in an attempt to equalise. They failed. We won. Brilliant.

Performance Overview

We doubled our season’s points tally in Dorchester and the joy, smiles, laughter and camaraderie at the end of the day was not only a delight to be involved in, but also an indication of just what a united squad we have, in a club which prides itself on ‘Family’. Somewhat ironic then, that the lads turned out to play football on… Mothers Day!

Captains Comment

I’m really proud of the team. Everyone played their part and there was a real determination to prove that we’re better than “making up the numbers”.
We have big tests on final matchday against Eastleigh and Amesbury, but these results will increase our belief and confidence. Well done lads. 👏👏👏

Paul Gillis, Dexter Sports WFC 50s Captain

The four points collected in Dorchester were enough to lift us from bottom, above Verwood, and to level on points with Sherborne. There’s just one league tournament left in this season – that will be in Bournemouth on 14 April 2024, where we will play Eastleigh and Amesbury. Take a look at the league tables.