Dorchester Town, Poole Town and Weymouth all picked up valuable three point hauls in the Southern Premier League on Saturday.
The league leaders Poole Town put in one of their best performances of the season to come away from Cambridge City with a 2-0 victory.
In an entertaining free flowing game between two good footballing sides it was Jamie Whisken who broke the deadlock five minutes before half time, heading home a free kick.
And the points were sealed just over an hour into the match. Some outstanding individual play from Luke Roberts saw him beat two defenders before cutting the ball back perfectly for Luke Burbridge to smash beyond the City keeper, to seal a valuable away victory for the Dolphins.
Weymouth maintained their pressure with a hard fought 2-1 victory away at Burnham, in what was their second trip to the rather aptly named Gore Stadium in a week.
Having been taken all the way to penalties in what was the dullest football match the 75 hardcore non league fans in attendance on Tuesday will ever see, Saturday was never going to be a classic, and so it proved.
Chris McPhee surprisingly came straight back into the starting XI after a week off with a foot problem, whilst Sam Poole slotted into the back four, replacing Yeovil loanee Calvin Brooks who was away due to family reasons. Jordan Copp was also back in the starting XI at right back, replacing Jake Wannell who was also away due to family reasons.
But the Terras fresh faced defence wouldn’t have to worry about Burnham ace Nicke Kabamba, who dropped to the bench with hamstring troubles.
Despite missing their talisman, the home side caused the Terras enough problems. They could, and perhaps should have taken a lead into half time when Dan Brown found himself unmarked with the ball at his feet, but his rushed effort was straight at Jason Matthews.
George Rigg had Weymouth’s best chance of the first half, hitting a powerfull effort from 25 yards which the keeper just managed to get a hand to, tipping it onto the crossbar and watching it bounce behind for a corner.
That meant at half time it was now a total of 255 minutes of goaless open play between the two sides. But during the half time interval, both sides finally seemed to realise that football could be entertaining.
Five minutes into the second half, the Terras finally made a breakthrough.
Jordan Copp recieved the ball around 25 yards out, and with no defender stopping his advance towards goal, he was allowed time and space to pick his spot, and shot across the face of goal into the bottom corner from the corner of the box, to give Weymouth a precious lead.
But it wasn’t to last. Burnham attacked right from the restart, and pulled themselves level with a fantastic strike from Romaine Walker, who was allowed to drift past four players before unleashing a wonderfull curling effort into the top corner of the net, giving Jason Matthews absolutely no chance. As good a finish as it was, it was avoidable for Weymouth. But nobody put a foot in and allowed him the time and space to pick his spot. Frustration for Weymouth who had worked so hard to make the breakthrough.
After 260 minutes without a goal between the two sides, suddenly we’d had two goals in four minutes!
And it could have been three in ten minutes when McPhee picked out Adam Kelly, but his shot lacked the power to trouble Alex Lynch.
With the clock ticking down, and title rivals Poole Town winning, the Terras needed to find a goal, and it was that man Stewart Yetton who grabbed the all important winner just five minutes from time.
Chris McPhee played the perfect through ball, and the tallismatic striker latched onto it ahead of the defender, and got to it just before the unrushing goalkeeper, before delicately chipping it beyond the keeper. It seemed to take an age for the ball to bounce into the net, but the celebrations when it did told you all you needed to know about how crucial a goal it was.
This sealed a massive three points for the Terras. Burnham have been improving of late, and their performances in the three games over the week did not reflect their league position at all.
Weymouth had come away from two tough encounters with a place in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy, and more importantly three points on Saturday.
The victory sets up Tuesday night’s massive derby with Poole Town perfectly. The Terras sit nine points adrift of Poole but with two games in hand. It’s too early to call this a must win game for either side, but a win would give both sides a massive boost. A win for Weymouth would put them second in the table and cut the gap to just six points with those two games in hand, whilst a win for Poole would take them 12 points clear of the Terras and ten clear of their current nearest challengers Corby Town.
Dorchester Town did both Poole and Weymouth a massive favour by picking up a surprise 2-1 victory over Corby at the Avenue.
In possibly their best performance of the season, the Magpies weathered an early storm, with Corby’s William Carvalho smashing the crossbar from 30 yards.
But on 21 minutes the Magpies took the lead in sensational style, when Andy Robinson hit a superb strike from 25 yards into the top corner of the net, stunning the Steelmen.
It could have been 2-0 shortly after, when Dan Smith struck a shot just wide, before he then saw a header comfortably saved.
Dorchester did have the ball in the net again shortly before the break, only for the linesman’s flag to intervene.
But on the hour mark, Dan Smith did give the Magpies a fully deserved 2-0 lead.
Matthews laid the ball off to him 20 yards out, and he hit it first time hard and low into the bottom corner to spark jubilant scenes around the Avenue.
Dorchester were playing with a renewed sense of confidence, and Smith in particular was causing the promotion chasers all sorts of problems.
He should have put the result beyond doubt ten minutes from time when Nick Crittenden picked him out perfectly, but shot shot flew just over the crossbar.
And they were made to pay for that miss moments later when former Notts County man Spencer Weir-Daley halved the deficite to set up a nervy finish.
Having blown a 2-0 lead against Cambrige City last weekend it would have been easy for Dorchester to crumble again, but this time they held on to secure a thoroughly deserved, and long overdue three points.
The win moves the County town outfit up to 17th place, four points clear of the relegation zone. It was without doubt Dorchester’s best result of the season, and certainly their best performance for some time.
They can’t afford to rest on their lorrells with most sides below them having games in hand. But it’s important now that Dorchester use Saturday’s result as a benchmark, and a platform to build on. They have some more tough games against promotion chasers coming up, but Saturday’s result gives the whole club a much needed boost.
The Magpies don’t play at all until next Wednesday due to the FA Trophy on Saturday, which leaves the spotlight on “El Jurrasico” on Tuesday night.
It’s the biggest game at the Bob Lucas Stadium for many years. In many people’s eyes, these are the two best sides in the division, and both stand a great chance of lifting the title come the end of the season.
Both sides are in great form, playing some great football and full of confidence. So get yourselves down the Bob Lucas Stadium on Tuesday night and support your local team. It promises to be a cracker!
James Spring
