50s: The Curse is broken

Preparation for Round Four of the Dorset 50s Walking Football League was an anxious time for manager Andy Madden. Initially only six players were available for selection, and none of those was a recognised goalkeeper. That was followed up by two members of the squad picking up hamstring injuries!

So, with a squad of just seven, a borrowed goalkeeper, two players nursing hamstring injuries and no wins so far in the season, the team headed to Sherborne for matches against top two in the league (Bournemouth and Dorchester) and Verwood in match one.

Here’s how the 50s manager saw the day…

Matchday Squad: Geoff Budden, Paul Gillis (c), Darren Snell, German Castillo, Luke Hitchen, Marcello Giordano & Simon Allen
Manager: Andy Madden

Dexter Sports 1-0 Verwood

There was nothing fortunate about our first win of the season, which was thoroughly deserved, especially considering two of our players were carrying hamstring niggles.

We played neat and simple possession football, while shadowing the opposition well when they had the ball. Luke Hitchen’s sweet strike was the only one of a number of chances to hit the net.

Dexters 1-2 Bournemouth

This was a fine performance against a highly competent Bournemouth side, which could so easily have ended with shared spoils.

We let ourselves down, with both of the opposition goals coming after needlessly losing possession in dangerous areas and again, we had good chances to add to Luke’s second goal of the day. It was not to be.

Dexters 1-4 Dorchester

For whatever reason, the simple stuff and tight marking evaded us in the third game. We can have no complaints about the result, however frustrating it was.

We’ve now conceded eight goals in our two battles with Dorchester this season – we have to find a way to counter this next year. But at least, through German Castillo, we scored one of our own.

Performance Overview

Everybody played their part across the three matches, and again, we created some good phases of play. In particular, and not for the first time, Captain Paul Gillis was immense in defence, especially against Bournemouth.

We need to keep our concentration and more naturally adopt a simple style with fewer attempted clever flicks… the failure of which were the cause of considerable damage.

Well done fellas – WE WON A GAME 😁

Retiring Goalkeeper

So, we borrowed Geoff as our stand-in goalkeeper, who then pretty much immediately after the tournament, decided to hang up his goalkeeping gloves to concentrate playing outfield instead. We’ll try not to read too much into that Geoff! Thanks for stepping in all the same though.