The teams gathered for the tournament under leaden skies, with the chance of rain pretty high. League Round Four had ended in four consecutive 1-0 defeats for DSWFC – they were certainly hopeful of better this time round.
Preparation for the tournament on our own turf was hampered with a couple of injuries in training on Friday night. 60s captain Peter Kane had his foot stood on in an accidental clash while Brian Hooper picked up a swollen calf. Peter was passed as fit while Peter Cherryman replaced Brian in the squad after initially being left at home.
Mike Ryan was also left out of the matchday squad, but joined a bumper crowd of five other supporters at a rain drenched County Ground in Hamworthy.
Our manager, John Gray, hoped to boost confidence ahead of match one… “I’m looking forward to all three games today. They’re all winnable as margins are thin amongst all in the league. Unfortunately, Brian has a swollen calf sustained by contact at training, Pete cherryman will be covering. Captain marvel Pete Kane is fit after his contact injury on Friday. Let’s enjoy.”
Matchday Squad
John Gray (Manager), Paul Gillis, Peter Cherryman, Peter Kane (Captain), Mark Sanderson, Andy Madden, David Bacall (GK)
DSWFC: Match Reports
vs Sherborne (1-2)
Goal scorer: Peter Kane
In match one of the day we conceded a very early goal! Inside two minutes there was a defensive mistake. Dave (in goal) reacted really well to save the initial shot, but the ball fell to the opposition who had a fairly easy finish past the recovering keeper. Not a great start.
From that point up until half-time DSWFC had the lion’s share of possession, but couldn’t make the much needed breakthrough. It’s probably true to say Sherborne sat on their lead.
Shorty after half-time Sherborne doubled their lead. From a freekick just outside the area, the ball was passed sideways into the centre, before what appeared to be a sliced effort came back off the post to hit Dave’s back and into the goal! An own goal conceded to go 2-0 down.
And then the rain arrived! For most of the second half it hammered down, making conditions difficult for both teams. It was during this deluge that Peter Kane halved the deficit. Peter collected the ball to the side of the goal – a poor first touch looked to have taken him too wide, but a calmly struck shoot beat the keeper at the near post.
The keeper was livid and Sherborne looked to be rattled, but they held on for the remaining few minutes. A disappointing start to the day, even though we dominated possession for much of the game.
vs Swanage (0-1)
What was needed after the disappointing first match was a calm, mistake free tie with Swanage – that didn’t happen! Again in the first half there was confusion (this time in midfield). Two of our players got in a muddle, the ball fell to the forward who was through one-on-one with Dave, who he calmly slotted past.
In similar fashion to the Sherborne match, after conceding the first goal, the rest of the first half was one way traffic in our favour. Three free kicks just outside the Swanage area were all squandered ahead of half time.
Mark Sanderson was brought on for the second half and made himself a nuisance, having three shots – one was saved, another won a corner and the third hit the crossbar. The rain started to let up a bit in the second half, and we were all over them once again, but just couldn’t find a way through.
The result could have looked worse if it wasn’t for a decent recovery save by Paul in the final moments when we were caught upfield looking for the equaliser when the ball was lost.
Pride was hurt, words were shared and tempers flared. There was a heated performance review in the break ahead of our final match of the day against Weymouth.
vs Weymouth (3-0)
Goal scorers: Peter Cherryman, Andy Madden & Peter Kane
The performance review of the Swanage match may have been lively, but the effort, teamwork and momentum in the following match was a great response to that discussion.
Before we took the match by the scruff of the neck though, we survived two scares. The first was when Dave once again found an opposition player bearing down on him in a one-on-one situation. This time Dave saved incredibly from the ground with his foot above his head to block a neat little chip.
Then some luck was on our side. Again a shot struck the post then hit Dave (this time on the head), but bounced away from danger. Possibly these two events spurred DSWFC on to take the lead in a match for the first time in a while!
Peter Kane played a lovely ball across the field to Peter Cherryman’s feet. The Cherryman kept cool to fire the ball across the keeper into the far corner for his first goal of the season.
We kept pushing forwards in the same way. Andy had a shot blocked after a skillful, mazey run through Weymouth’s defence. John chose to keep the side unchanged for the second half, with Mark (Sanderson) champing at the bit on the sideline, to get on and play against a clearly rattled Weymouth.
Part the way through the second half we were in uncharted territory, with a two goal lead. Paul (Gillis) played a precise through ball from defence into Andy, who turned and shot first time to wrong-foot the keeper.
Once again Dave was on hand to make a crucial save at the near post, before Peter Kane put the tie beyond doubt. Scorer became provider when the Peter’s combined down the right hand side and the Kane version scored his sixth goal of the season.
Tournament Round Up
All three of our matches were well controlled by Tony Rimmer, who was reffing a walking football tournament for the first time. He ran the matches with confidence and clear communication. Tony can also be found marshalling the Dorchester 50s midfield, and updating Facebook with results and tables of the Dorset Walking Football League.
Unfortunately Dave’s picked up an injury during the tournament. In his own words his thumb is “…swollen and a weird colour”. A trip to an A&E maybe required if there’s no improvement!
We scored 33% of all our goals in this tournament – 12 scored all season, with four this week! We also ended the day with a positive goal difference despite losing two out of three matches.
John Gray, DSWFC 60s manager
“For me personally, after the first two games and all the opinions being broadcast, I was thankful for the honesty, especially from Paul Gillis, which got a reaction, resulting in the encouraging performance against Weymouth. Overall I’m pleased to end the day with a win.”
Simon Allen, DSWFC 50s player
“This was an interesting watch. The squad really gelled after some heated discussion between the second and third matches. They should take a lot of confidence from their performance against Weymouth. Cut out the costly mistakes and shoot more often.”
Top Scorers
After the relatively high scoring Round Five for DSWFC and 17 matches this season, our goal scorers are…
- Peter Kane (6 goals)
- Brian Hooper & Andy Madden (2)
- John Gray & Peter Cherryman (1)
Next Matchday
The sixth and final round of the Dorset Walking Football League 60s will be played in Bournemouth at The Littledown Centre on 27 April 2025 (kick-off 10am). With a game in hand, DSWFC will be hoping to make up the six point gap to Swanage and not finish bottom of the table.
Why not take a look at the Dorset Walking Football League tables and results for all the age groups (and previous seasons)?
Get in touch
The physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise are well known. If you’re interested in playing football in a friendly, safety first environment, get in touch with Dexter Sports Walking Football Club now…
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