Poole Town suffered a crushing defeat at the Avenue stadium in their Easter Monday local derby with Dorchester Town.
It’s two defeats in three days for the Dolphins, and Corby’s win at Histon means the Steelmen now sit five points clear at the top of the table.
Dorchester would have been quietly confident going into the game having taken four point off Corby this season and got a well earned draw at Tatnam on New Year’s Day, and in front of the Avenue’s second highest home gate of the season, the Magpies made a bright start – taking the lead after just eight minutes when Ben Watson lofted the ball over the onrushing Nick Hutchings from close range from Gleeson’s free kick.
But the celebrations had barely died down when ex-Terra Luke Burbridge levelled things up just three minutes later – heading Joe Quigley’s flick on past Walker-Harris to make it 1-1 with barely ten minutes played.
The Poole winger was causing the Magpies plenty of problems, and the visitors really should have taken the lead when Burbrudge whipped a good delivery into the area, but Quigley couldn’t quite get on the end of it.
Then it was Dorchester’s turn to go close on twenty minutes, when Tarbuck’s cross was headed towards goal by Morgan, but it just grazed the crossbar. Morgan was no doubt relieved to look up and see an offside flag.
Minutes later the visitors hit the woodwork themselves when Will Spetch drilled a first time shot towards goal but it hit the foot of the post and rolled to safety.
Dorchester really should have taken the lead right on the stroke of half time when Crittenden raced onto a through ball, but one on one with the keeper, he could only steer his shot inches wide of the target.
However, the Magpies midfielder was to make up for that miss just before the hour mark.
A Dorchester corner was cleared but only as far as Crittenden 25 yards out, who unleashed a low shot which nestled in the bottom corner of the net and sparked wild celebrations among the home support.
The Dolphins were clearly rocked, and a flurry of bookings ensued over the next twenty minutes as Poole grew more and more frustrated, with no real clear cut chances being created.
Richard Gillespie was introduced to the action late on in one last throw of the dice, but both he and Michael Walker failed to get on the end of Steve Devlin’s floated free kick in injury time, and Dorchester held on to secure one of their results of the season and pick up their first win in five.
The win keeps Dorchester eight points clear of the relegation zone, and with Arlesey just starting to find a bit of form, this win could prove to be the difference.
That’s a total of eight points the Magpies have taken from the top two this season – drawing both away games and beating them both on home soil. It will certainly give the fans hope that they can be competing at the other end of the table next season.
Poole have started stuttering at the worst possible time, and are now five points adrift of Corby. But they do still have three games in hand, so realistically the title is still Poole’s to lose.
But they will be starting to worry about third placed Truro, who moved to within three points of them after a 2-0 victory over Weymouth.
It was always going to be a tall order for Weymouth to get anything out of this clash, but they went home extremely frustrated having put in a much improved performance, only to lose out to two identical goals from set plays.
Weymouth were the brighter of the two sides for the first half an hour and were cursing their luck when George Rigg had a shot cleared off the line, before the Truro goalkeeper managed to claw away Jordan Copp’s cross-come-shot which was heading towards the top corner.
Then on 32 minutes they failed to deal with a corner and after a scramble in the six yard box, Cody Cooke smashed the ball into the roof of the net to put the hosts in front from their first shot on goal.
In the second half Weymouth huffed and puffed, but as has so often been the case over the last few months – it simply wouldn’t fall for them.
Their luck was summed up when Chris McPhee saw a looping header bounce off the top of the crossbar and away to safety. Over the first half of the season things like that were falling for Weymouth. That was either dropping into the net or being bundled home on the line, but their luck has completely deserted them.
Eight minutes from time Jake Ash powered home a towering header from another corner to seal the points for the hosts, and leave Weymouth looking nervously over their shoulders at the chasing pack.
The Terras now sit lie fifth – clinging onto the final play-off spot by just one point from in form St Neots Town.
This Saturday Weymouth travel to second bottom Banbury United, and nothing less than three points from this one will do, with back-to-back games against the top two to come after that.
Banbury are 11 points from safety and even with their two games in hand, are almost certainly set to be relegated.
It’s a game Weymouth must win and in truth should be expected to win, but the same was said about their recent home game with Burrnham. In Weymouth’s current form, nothing is guaranteed, and it promises to be a nervy afternoon in Oxfordshire.
It’s been said a lot in recent weeks, but Weymouth will once again be hoping their Ridgeway rivals Dorchester can do them a favour when they welcome St Neots Town to the Avenue Stadium on Saturday.
The Saints won a truly unbelievable match 6-5 when the two met back in December, so if this game is anything like that it should be a cracker.
Dorchester will just be pleased to be avoiding a nervy end to the season given the position they found themselves in when Mark Jermyn first walked in the door. He’s done a remarkable job, and will no doubt already be looking to next season.
Poole Town play one of their games in hand away to Cirencester on Wednesday night, and they could close the gap to Corby to two points with a win. They then host Hitchin Town on Saturday, and with Corby making the long trip to Truro, the Dolphins could find themselves back on top of the table with two wins. But they need to get back to winning ways at Cirencester, and prove they can handle the pressure.
James Spring
