Poole Town have moved five points clear at the top of the Southern Premier League after they brushed aside Chesham United 3-0 on Tuesday night.
The Dolphins were then able to relax on Wednesday evening as second placed Weymouth were thrashed 5-1 at Corby Town.
On Tuesday night the Dolphins comfortably negotiated a potential banana skin when they welcomed play-off chasing Chesham United to Tatnam.
Luke Burbridge had the first real chance of the game when his close range header forced the Chesham goalkeeper into a fantastic reaction save from Ben Close’s cross.
Shortly afterwards Poole did make the breakthrough, albeit in slightly controversial fashion.
Chesham defender Daniel Braithwaite and AFC Bournemouth loanee Joe Quigley both went for the same ball, and Braithwaite took a knock to the top of his thigh.
He went down and was in some clear discomfort, but the referee waved play on, and the ball fell to Marvin Brooks on the penalty spot who had time and space to turn and fire into the the net to give the hosts the lead, and leave the Chesham team to argue with the referee, whilst their team mate remained down receiving treatment for another five minutes before eventually playing on.
If Chesham felt hard done by for the first goal, they were in disarray right on the stroke of half time when Poole were awarded an indirect free kick for an alleged back pass which was certainly a questionable call.
There was another lengthy delay whilst the visitors argued their case, before Steve Devlin fired the ball through the crowded penalty area into the roof of the net to give Poole a two goal cushion with what proved to be the final kick off the first half.
The second half was pretty comfortable for Poole, and they were always in control. Chesham huffed and puffed and did go close to halving the deficit when Mark Bell’s surging run and shot from range dipped and hit the post before bouncing away to safety, whilst at the other end Brooks and Devlin again went close for Poole.
Hippolyte also hit the post with a long range shot for the visitors, before Poole almost gifted Chesham a route back into the game.
Nick Hutchings was caught napping inside his own box and got himself into trouble. He brought the United striker down just outside the box, and got himself booked. Thankfully he made up for it by palming the resulting free kick out for a corner which came to nothing. It simply wasn’t to be for Chesham.
The Dolphins eventually added a third ten minutes from time when Luke Burbridge scored after playing a neat one-two with Roberts on the edge of the box. Game, set and match. The Dolphins were moving five points clear at the top.
Despite hitting the woodwork twice Chesham never put Poole under any sustained pressure, and whilst 3-0 was probably a little harsh on Chesham, there can be no denying that Poole thoroughly deserved all three points.
Just like the recent Dorset Derby, the Dolphins controlled the game from start to finish without really getting out of second gear, you certainly sensed they had a lot more to give.
That result meant they were able to put their feet up and watch events unfold at Steel Park on Wednesday night as second placed Weymouth travelled to fourth placed Corby Town.
Poole would probably have wanted a draw, but that was in severe doubt once ex Notts County striker Spencer Weir-Daley gave Corby the lead after just four minutes. Weymouth once again giving themselves a mountain to climb by conceding a sloppy early goal.
Despite the early set back, Weymouth soon began to grow into the contest, and began to apply some pressure but without forcing any real clear cut chances.
There was a lengthy stoppage after half an hour when Corby’s Paul Malone suffered a serious injury.
Adam Kelly had a shot which was palmed away by the keeper, and he collided with the Corby man when they both went for the same ball. A complete accident, which certainly dampened the spirits of the home crowd.
It was later revealed that the Corby midfielder suffered a double leg break and a dislocated ankle, and will be on the sidelines for a considerable length of time. We all wish him a full and speedy recovery. It’s never nice to see anybody get seriously hurt playing the game they love, but especially at this level where players have other jobs to hold down alongside their football careers.
Corby doubled their lead in the sixth minute of stoppage time at the end of the half to leave Jason Matthews with a big team talk to give at half time.
But whatever he said at half time, it had the desired effect in the early stages of the second half, as the Terras came out and began to ask the hosts some questions.
They halved the deficit just three minutes after the break when Tim Sills was on hand to fire home after the Corby keeper failed to properly deal with the initial effort.
However, any hopes of a dramatic fightback went out the window less than a minute later, when Corby attacked straight from the restart, and not for the first time in recent weeks – Ashley Wells dived in and left the referee with no choice but to award a spot kick, which Mills converted to restore the Steelmen’s two goal cushion.
That knocked the stuffing out of the Terras, and Corby began to put on a show for their home supporters – and they looked like scoring every time they went forwards.
Spencer Weir-Daley got his second of the night just before the hour mark, and he completed his hat-trick ten minutes from time to seal an impressive win for Corby, and leave Weymouth with a miserable five hour drive home to look forward to.
The win moves Corby up to third place, one point behind Weymouth with a game in hand, and six behind Poole, though they have played two games more than the Dolphins.
The local derby against Poole was the first time you could really say Weymouth had let themselves down this reason, but last night left a very similar bitter taste in the mouth. Once again they rolled over against one of the league’s top sides, and were soundly beaten.
You do have to say that Poole Town are now in pole position to go on and win the league given their current form and the games in hand they have. There is still a lot of football to be played, but if anybody was going to catch them you’d put money on Corby now.
Weymouth are in rotten form. Their confidence has hit rock bottom and all of a sudden teams are licking their lips at the thought of playing them with their very leaky defence.
Two capitulations to their two title rivals within a fortnight leaves them with a lot to do if they are to get back into contention, but right now the main concern is that they may even drop out of the play-off mix if their current form continues.
Since the turn of the year it’s been like watching a completely different team.
They’ve gone from playing confident, free flowing attacking football and looking like scoring five or six goals every game, to looking very timid and nervous, and in truth wondering where a goal is going to come from.
They have to get back on track, and they really need to start on Saturday when they welcome Cirencester Town to the Bob Lucas Stadium.
The Centurions are in excellent form, and currently sit just one place below the play-offs with games in hand.
The Terras were the first team to beat Cirencester on their own patch earlier the season, when they put in possibly their best performance of the season in a comfortable 3-0 win.
How the Terras faithful would dearly love to see their side rediscover that kind of form on Saturday!
Elsewhere, league leaders Poole face a tough trip down to Cornwall to take on Truro City.
City sit fourth in the table, but Poole will go there in confident mood having beaten Truro twice at Tatnam this season in league and cup. Mind you, Truro are a totally different proposition on their home pitch – winning twelve of their sixteen home league games.
The pressure is on both Weymouth and Poole this weekend, with Poole now having a real chance of building a big cushion between themselves and the rest of the league, whilst Weymouth are desperate to rediscover the form which took them top of the table at Christmas.
They’ll certainly be hoping they have more luck against Cirencester than their near neighbours Dorchester did a couple of weeks ago, when they were denied a cast iron penalty in the last minute which could have saw them take a deserved share of the spoils.
The Magpies themselves continue their rejuvenation under Mark Jermyn when they travel to Bideford on Saturday.
The two sides sit 15th and 17th, and it should be an interesting game with Dorchester in such brilliant form, and Bideford always being such a strong proposition on home soil.
James Spring
