Dorchester Town kicked on from their derby victory with a fantastic 3-0 victory away to Cambridge City on Saturday.
Their win was even more remarkable considering the team bus broke down on the long treck north, forcing the kick off to be delayed by over half an hour.
But despite their late arrival, it was the Magpies who came flying out of the blocks – taking the lead just nine minutes in when Charlie Davies fired a free kick in at the near post.
Ben Watson and Jonah Ayunga went close to doubling the lead, but it remained 1-0 at the break.
One would’ve expected the Magpies to have to weather an early second half storm from City, but in fact it was the Magpies who struck a crucial blow just seconds into the second half when Chris Dillon fired Ayunga’s low cross into the net to give his side breathing space.
Ten minutes later, Dorchester were home and dry when Brad Tarbuck pounced on a defensive lapse to nip in and score the third.
There was even time for Ben Watson to miss a penalty ten minutes from time, but it couldn’t tarnish a magnificent performance and a superb away win. It’s the first time Dorch have won by more than two goals on the road since last August’s 5-1 victory away to Burnham.
Things weren’t quite so straightforward for their ridgeway rivals on Saturday, and for the third home game in succession Weymouth made their supporters sweat until the 89th minute before coming up with a crucial goal.
Histon had an early free kick fizzle just wide of the post, but from then on Weymouth took control, and in truth they should’ve had the game dead & buried by half time.
Mark Molesley set off on a run, cut inside the defender but could only shoot straight into the arms of the visiting goalkeeper Denzel Gerrar.
They were then millimetres away from opening the scoring moments later. Stewart Yetton did well on the edge of the area and fed it through to Jordan Copp. Everybody seemed to stop – including Copp himself, expecting him to be flagged offside, but when no flag came Copp tried to curl it in at the far post, only to see his effort bounce off the post and away to safety.
Yetton then had a shot blocked shortly afterwards, before the talisman then missed a golden opportunity.
He was slid in by Dean Evans, and found himself on his own on the edge of the box with plenty of time to pick his spot. But he failed to control it properly, and in the end could only shoot tamely into the grateful arms of the keeper. Normally the sort of chance Yetton gobbles up for breakfast.
Evans and Lowes both tried their luck from range, and Yetton then saw a header bounce off the crossbar before the keeper just managed to tip it over for a corner, which was eventually scrambled clear after a quick game of pinball on the edge of the six yard box.
Weymouth continued to press in the second half, and gradually they and the crowd grew understandably frustrated.
Just past the hour mark, Chris Shephard was brought off the bench for his first appearance of the season following a knee injury, and just minutes after coming on he nearly put the Terras in front, when the ball was only cleared as far as him lurking on the edge of the box, but he dragged his shot wide.
Tim Sills was also introduced to the action ten minutes from time, and he must still be wondering how he didn’t put Weymouth in front with his first touch.
Calvin Brooks had clearly grown fed up of defending – and he set off on a surging run into the box and drilled a low ball into Sills on the edge of the six yard box. The keeper was desperately scrambling across his goal but was nowhere near, and Sills fired it straight… onto the first tee at the Wessex golf course. A quite unbelievable miss.
That looked like being the sign that it simply wasn’t to be the Terras’ day, but then on 89 minutes they finally made their pressure count, and it was two subs who combined to set it up.
A rare Histon attack was broken up by Adam Kelly, who used his electric pace to glide past three players and play it to Chris Shephard.
Shep instantly showed the Weymouth fans the quality they’d been missing – playing an inch perfect cross-field ball into the feet of Yetton.
Yetton’s cross-come shot looked like it was set to be tapped in at the far post by Kelly, but instead the job was done by Histon defender Elkanah Sabanda, who stabbed the ball into his own net. Some way to make an impact on your debut!
The Bob Lucas Stadium erupted, probably through sheer relief as much as anything, but Weymouth scored. Who cares how it went in?
The full time whistle blew and the devastated Histon players collapsed to their knees. So close to a good away point, yet so far. And now a 5 hour journey home lay ahead of them. Ouch!
Poole Town will have some sympathy with them though, after they made a fruitless trip home from Kings Lynn.
The Dolphins went into the game without two of their regular defenders in Michael Walker and Jamie Whisken.
And it showed on 22 minutes when Kings Lynn took the lead from a corner – Ryan Fryatt poking home from close range.
Then on 55 minutes goalkeeper Nick Hutchings was left extremely red faced, when he was caught off his line by Cueman who managed to lob him from the halfway line to double the Linnet’s lead.
Poole needed something special now, and twenty minutes from time they were thrown a lifeline when Kern Miller managed to head Devlin’s free kick past his own goalkeeper to halve the deficit.
Five minutes later the comeback was complete, as Luke Roberts fired home after a scramble in the area to haul the Dolphins level. And with a quarter of an hour still to play, they must’ve sensed all three points might be up for grabs.
However their joy turned to despair just two minutes later, as Sam Mulready fired an unstoppable drive past Hutchings to give Kings Lynn all three points, and hand the Dolphins their first away loss of the season.
The weekend’s results means the three Dorset clubs sit side-by-side in the table all on 14 points, in 6th, 7th and 8th places respectively.
This weekend they get a break from the league action as they make their bows in the greatest cup competition in the world, with the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.
Poole Town welcome Western league side Barnstaple Town to Tatnam. Barnstaple are two divisions below the Dolphins, and they’ve had a mixed start to the season – taking 10 points from their opening 6 games.
Elsewhere, Weymouth travel to Southern league Central division club Petersfield Town. They’ve made a poor start to their season – picking up just one league victory so far.
Both Poole & Weymouth will be heavy favourites to progress, but of course this is the FA Cup, and on the day absolutely anything can happen. That’s what makes this competition so special.
Dorchester have a difficult looking tie at home to Cirencester Town, but if it’s anything like the league game last month, it should be a real thriller, after the centurions came out on top in a seven goal thriller.
But Dorchester are in fine form, and are yet too concede a goal at home, so they will surely fancy their chances of getting revenge.
It should be a cracking weekend of cup football. Despite what the media would have you believe – the FA Cup doesn’t just start in January!
James Spring
