Dolphins Crowned Champions & Terras maintain play-off hopes
It was party time at Tatnam on Saturday as a Marvin Brooks hat-trick secured the Southern Premier league title for Poole Town with two games to spare following a comfortable win over Dunstable Town.
Following a hard fought midweek win at Stratford the Dolphins went into the clash knowing that a win would seal it.
A season’s highest crowd of 1057 packed into Tatnam, and it took just three minutes for the party to get started.
A Luke Roberts cross was missed by the Dunstable keeper, and Marvin Brooks was on hand to smash the ball home at the back post to the delight of the home crowd.
The Dolphins dominated the first half. Richard Gillespie fired a shot just over the bar, and a Luke Roberts volley was brilliantly saved by Dunstable keeper Pedrcyz.
Right on the stroke of half time the keeper was indebted to his defender for a goal line clearance when Jamie Whisken met Devlin’s corner. Despite their first half dominance the Dolphins only had the one goal to show for it, and really needed a second to settle any nerves.
And twelve minutes into the second half it arrived. Following some neat build up play the ball found Brooks in the middle of the box, and he kept his cool to fire home and put his side on the verge of the championship.
Ten minutes later the Dolphins were literally handed a chance for a third when a Brooks header was handled on the line by a defender. The Dunstable man was given his marching orders, and despite the crowd calling for Brooks, Steve Devlin stepped up, but saw his penalty well saved by the keeper.
But in the final ten minutes the visiting keeper went from hero to villain when he pulled down Gillespie in the box and also saw red – leaving his side to play out the final few minutes with nine men. This time Brooks did take the penalty, and he duly completed his hat-trick to cap off a performance worthy of champions.
The celebrations began in earnest at full time. It’s a remarkable comeback from the Dolphins after missing out in such heart-breaking style last season. But they’ve been the side to beat all season and deserve this title.
They had looked to be wobbling, but six straight wins without conceding a goal have got them over the line, and this time there’s no need for a nail biting final day.
On Tuesday night they play their final home game of the season against relegated Bideford, where they will be presented with the Southern league shield. It promises to be a real party atmosphere at Tatnam and they’ll be expecting another bumper crowd to see the coronation.
Their Dorset neighbours Weymouth won’t be relaxing yet though. They managed to keep alive their faint play-off hopes with a comfortable 3-0 win over Merthyr at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
The Terras made a fast start, and took the lead after a quarter of an hour following some good link-up play between Shephard and Copp which finished with Copp firing the ball home across goal to give the Terras the lead.
Less than ten minutes later Shephard himself was on the score sheet. He drove forwards and played a neat one-two with Ben Thomson before unleashing a stunning finish to beat the onrushing keeper and put the Terras in cruise control.
Merthyr clearly already on their holidays rarely threatened, and much of the second half was a scrappy affair with the Terras just happy to play the game out.
But it came to life in the final five minutes.
First, visiting defender Jarrard Wright was shown a second yellow card after tangling with Stewart Yetton. And from the resulting free-kick, Mark Cooper bravely headed home a third goal to seal it for Weymouth.
It could’ve got even better deep into injury time. A neat corner routine saw George Rigg hauled down in the box, but after dusting himself down, he saw a rather tame effort saved by the goalkeeper. But that wasn’t to tarnish what was a fairly comfortable and routine victory for Weymouth.
But they will have been frustrated that not a single result went their way, and despite that victory, their play-off hopes are effectively even smaller now.
They’re three points adrift of fifth placed Redditch who have a game in hand to be played on Monday night against Kettering Town – who are level on points with the Terras and still harbour play-off ambitions of their own.
All’s Weymouth can do is win their final two games and hope for a few favours elsewhere. They play their final home game of the season against Cirencester Town on Tuesday night. The Centurions recent form has been patchy, and with their season long finished, Weymouth will expect another three points. Nothing less will do.
Elsewhere, Dorchester Town seemingly can’t wait for the season to come to an end, as they suffered a 1-0 loss at relegated Bedworth United.
It’s been a disappointing second half of the season for the Magpies, and just two wins in their last games have seen their season fizzle out into mid-table obscurity.
They play their final away game of the season on Tuesday night at Stratford Town, and they’ll be hoping to get back to winning ways and at least try to end the season on a high by securing a top ten finish.
James Spring
