It was party time for Poole Town and their supporters on Tuesday night, as they welcomed Bideford to Tatnam for the final home game of the season.
The Robins were already relegated, but sportingly formed a guard of honour for the champions before kick-off, as the Dolphins looked forward to being presented with the league title after the game.
But before that there was a match to be played, and with nothing riding on it, it was perhaps no surprise that the game took a while to get going.
The first chance of the game didn’t arrive until twenty minutes in, when Marvin Brooks saw an effort deflected over following a goal mouth scramble.
Shortly after Devlin played a superb cross-field ball to Charlie Lee who saw his long range effort fly just wide of the mark, before Michael Walker headed wide from a Devlin corner in what was an otherwise uneventful first half.
The closest the hosts came to making a breakthrough before half time came on forty minutes when James Granger unleashed a spectacular effort from 30 yards which forced an excellent save from Bideford keeper Kyle Moore, before Brooks headed wide from the resulting corner, and the two sides went in level at the break.
Early in the second half the visitors almost stunned the home crowd by taking the lead when Matt Andrew unleashed a powerful effort from range that Nick Hutchings only managed to grab at the second attempt.
However that seemed to spark the Dolphins into life, and just past the hour mark they made the breakthrough.
Marvin Brooks has been on fire in recent weeks, and it was him again on hand to give his side the lead – calmly slotting the ball home into the bottom corner of the net following a quick game of pinball in the box.
Ten minutes later the hosts doubled their lead – Luke Roberts getting the byline and sending in a cross for Alan Connell to volley home for only his second goal of the season.
Poole were now turning on the style, and eight minutes from time Luke Burbridge rounded things off with a superb individual goal, as he skipped past a couple of defenders before firing an unstoppable effort past Moore to seal another victory, and another clean sheet for the Dolphins.
It was the perfect way to round off a memorable season for the Dolphins. It took a lot of mental toughness and determination to come back so strongly after missing out in such gut wrenching fashion last season. But they have been the side to beat all season, and very few have pulled it off.
The stats don’t lie, they have the league’s best goal scoring record and the joint best defensive record. They’ve had a real knack of grinding out results at difficult places, and they deserve this championship. Congratulations to everybody at Tatnam. It’ll be interesting to see how they do next season in the Conference South.
Just along the coast, Weymouth still have hopes of joining their Dorset neighbours in the Conference South next season, as they took their play-off chase to the final day of the season following a routine 3-1 win over Cirencester in their final home game of the season.
It was a quiet start at the Bob Lucas Stadium, with the first action of note coming a quarter of an hour in.
Cirencester’s Zak Kotwica surged forwards from midfield and was tracked by Calvin Brooks. Kotwica went down and appealed for a penalty, but he was instead booked for simulation.
The Terras began to zip the ball around nicely, and had their first real effort on goal on 17 minutes – Chris Shephard cutting inside and firing straight at goalkeeper Josh Langley.
The Terras were moving the ball around quickly and forcing the visitors into mistakes, and on 28 minutes they were handed a chance to take the lead.
They sliced open the visiting defence with some slick play and George Rigg was hauled down inside the box, leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot.
Chris Shephard stepped up and confidently fired home into the bottom right corner to give the Terras a deserved lead.
Weymouth sensed Cirencester were there for the taking and began to pile on the pressure.
Just minutes later hesitation in the visitors defence allowed Ben Thomson through on goal, but Josh Langley did well to narrow the angle and pull off a good save with his legs.
Shortly after Mark Molesley tried to curl one into the top corner but it drifted wide of the mark, before the Centurions caused the home side a scare with a rare foray forwards.
A Cirencester corner was only half cleared to Adam Connolly, who unleashed a powerful strike that looked destined for the top corner, only for Jason Matthews to roll back the years with an outstanding diving save to keep his side in front.
Despite spending most of the first half camped inside the Cirencester half Weymouth only had one goal to show for it at half time, but three minutes into the second half they gave themselves some much needed breathing space.
A Chris Shephard strike cannoned back off the post, but it fell perfectly for Mark Molesley who fired the rebound home to double his sides lead.
Weymouth appeared to be cruising, but just eight minutes later the home crowd were stunned as Cirencester halved the arrears.
A Weymouth attack broke down and the visitors hit them with a lightning counter down the right wing, and a perfect cross was headed home by veteran striker Charlie Griffin to set up a nervy final half an hour.
And a few minutes later Griffin very nearly restored parity, but his header from a corner drifted wide of the mark.
The visitor’s hopes were then dealt a blow twenty minutes from time when Zak Kotwica again threw himself to the ground, and was shown a second yellow card for simulation.
In the final ten minutes Dean Evans almost finished it when his spectacular effort from range was superbly tipped over the bar by Langley. But two minutes from time the hosts could finally relax.
Weymouth won the ball back on the edge of the Cirencester box, and Ben Thomson unleashed a wonderful effort that looped beyond the reach of Langley into the top corner of the net to spark wild celebrations among the home fans.
The victory means Weymouth still have hope of making the play-offs going into the final day.
They must win at 15th placed Chesham United, and hope that fifth placed Leamington lose at home to Hungerford. But just to add a bit more excitement to the mix, Kettering Town are sitting six points adrift with a game in hand against relegated Bideford, before a final day trip to Dorchester.
The Poppies could snatch the final play-off spot if they win both of their remaining games by an aggregate of at least six goals (assuming Weymouth only beat Chesham by one) and Leamington lose.
What could be simpler? It promises to be a nail-biting final day of the season.
Bizarrely, the Terras may end up needing a favour from their ridgeway rivals Dorchester against Kettering. The Magpies signed off their final away trip of the season with a 2-1 victory at Stratford Town.
Charlie Davis gave the Magpies the lead twenty minutes in before Luke Holmes doubled the lead on 34 minutes.
The Magpies played out the second half relatively comfortably, and despite a late Stratford consolation goal from Richard Gregory, the Magpies secured all three points.
There was also a dramatic away day success for the other Magpies, Wimborne Town at AFC Totton.
Wimborne had lead through James Stokoe’s goal until Mike Gosney equalised for Totton two minutes from time.
But Stokoe and Wimborne weren’t to be denied, and he was on hand to net a dramatic winner with virtually the last kick of the game to seal a memorable away day success for Wimborne, who have done superbly well to secure their southern league south & west division status after a turbulent season on and off the pitch.
In what was an excellent night all round for Dorset club’s, Portland United secured promotion to the Wessex Premier league at the first attempt after thrashing Hythe & Dibdon 6-0.
The Islanders have had a fantastic first season in Wessex Division One, and are on the verge of winning the league. They’re five points clear of Amesbury Town. They host Fleet Spurs at Grove Corner on Thursday night and could secure the title with a win depending on Amesbury’s result.
It was certainly an eventful midweek, and this weekend promises to be a real thriller!
James Spring
