60s: Missing squads shake up the league

It was a bit of a quiet afternoon for some at the latest round of the 60s Dorset Walking Football League, as both Sherborne and Dorchester were unfortunately unable to field squads for the day.

This led to a string of 1-0 walkovers across their four scheduled fixtures, shuffling the league table in the process. Swanage ended up as the primary beneficiaries of the situation; by virtue of being scheduled against both absent sides, they picked up six points and two clean sheets without having to step onto the pitch.

With Sherborne not attending, our day was reduced to three matches – two of which would be against teams in the top three places; Eastleigh and Weymouth.

DSWFC Tournament Report

Tournament report by John Gray and Simon Allen

We started the day against Eastleigh, who unlike most teams, had more people on the sidelines than on the pitch – they do have a good set up. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal quite early, but we stuck to the task and forced their ‘keeper into some good saves. However, we weren’t able to find the net before The Spitfires doubled their lead. They saw the match out and inflicted our third straight defeat to them of the season (0-2, 0-3, 0-2).

Next up was Swanage who are struggling towards the bottom of the table having finished third last season. We took the lead with a deflected strike from Peter Kane, his fourth of the season, which maintains his spot as our top 60s scorer this season. Our second goal came after the break from the penalty spot. Brian Hooper emphatically dispatched the opportunity for his third of the season to give us a 2-0 win – our first against The Swans this season (W1, D1, L1).

We closed the day out against a Weymouth team who had the county goalkeeper playing for them. He produced some good stops to keep them in the game. In the closing stages of the match we’d accumulated three non-walking offences. In our efforts to not concede a fourth, we were punished as one of their players went through unchallenged and won the game with practically the last kick.

We were gifted a win for the cancelled fixture against Sherborne – a ‘result’ which lifted us up to fifth above… Sherborne!

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In my opinion the story of our season has been fine margins. Things that can go either way, but tend to go the way of our opponents. Thanks to Darren (Snell) for coming along to support. I feel blessed to have a squad of players who always give 100 per cent.”

John Gray, DSWFC 50s Manager

Everyone played well. There’s never a lack of effort from the players – its just a shame the same can’t be said of Lady Luck. Eastleigh’s movement off the ball is really good with any lapses of focus on our part taken advantage of, but we had chances and on another day it might have been a different story. Weymouth scored with practically the last kick of a match where their ‘keeper made a number of good saves.

Well done to Dave Lodge and Terry Clark. Dave brought his usual high levels of skills on the ball and Terry his constant movement and willingness to receive the ball which, as a defender, I can assure you is a pain in the arse!

Paul Gillis, DSWFC 50s and 60s Player

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DSWFC: Player Stats (2025/26)

Here you can see the DSWFC 60s tournament appearances and goals for the season to date.

Player	Tournaments	Goals
Bacall, Dave	4	–
Clark, Terry	1	0
Gillis, Paul	3	0
Goodwin, Glen	2	0
Gray, John	5	0
Henville, Guy*	1	–
Hooper, Brian	5	3
Kane, Peter	4	4
Lodge, Dave	1	0
Madden, Andy	2	1
Reeve, David	2	0
Sanderson, Mark	5	0
Wilson, Andy	4	1

League Overview

Top of the table Bournemouth Reds suffered their first defeat of the season (in match 18), losing 0-1 to Wimborne. The result increased Wimborne’s unbeaten run to six matches. That run would come to an abrupt end with a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Eastleigh in the next match!

Talking of Eastleigh… they failed to capitalize on Bournemouth Reds slip-up by losing to The Reds compadres, Bournemouth Whites. A result which, at the time, pushed Dexter’s down a place to seventh. Eastleigh could have gone within two points of top with a win.

After some poor results in League Round Four, Weymouth picked up 9 points this time round in their efforts to secure third spot – they’re four points ahead of Wimborne with just the last round (four matches) to go.

At the start of the final League Round in April, Eastleigh will have a four point gap to make up if they are to stop Bournemouth Reds winning two 60s League Titles in-a-row. And the first match of that final round for the top two is… Bournemouth Reds vs Eastleigh!! What a cracker that could be.

Why not take a look at the league tables, including all results and history for the 50s, 60s and 65s.

Future dates

The final round of the Dorset Walking Football League 60s fixtures are scheduled for Sunday 19 April 2026. The tournament will be held at our home ground – County Ground, Hamworthy. Check with your club nearer the time before making your journey though!

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