Poole Town made it a hat-trick of victories in the league to go five points clear at the top of the table on Saturday.
Jack Dickson’s tenth minute strike was enough to give them all three points at Chippenham in midweek, and they picked up where they left off against last season’s play-off finalists St Neots Town. Just five minutes had been played when a corner came in and Will Spetch smashed the ball in off the post to give the Dolphins the perfect start.
St Neots came close to equalising straight away but Nick Hutchings was on hand to pull off an excellent save from what ultimately proved do be the visitors best chance of the game. Despite a strong squad and being many people’s favourites in pre-season the Saints are yet to really live up to their star billing, and the Dolphins would go on to dominate proceedings.
Jack Dickson had a shot that looked destined for the bottom corner well saved by goalkeeper Andrew Wilton, and Steve Devlin saw a free-kick hit the post and bounce away to safety.
Poole had dominated the first half of their game last Saturday but only had one goal to show for it, but this time they picked up where they left off and put the game to bed.
Just six minutes into the second half the Saints’ defence failed to properly clear their lines, and when the ball fell to Luke Burbridge he made no mistake – neatly firing into the bottom corner to put the hosts in control.
The Dolphins continued to press. Marvin Brooks went on a strong run before seeing his shot saved by Wilton, before some neat link-up play between Dickson and Lindsay ended up with the ball being laid off to Brooks who again saw his effort well saved by Wilton.
But from the resulting corner St Neots again failed to properly clear their lines, and Michael Walker was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net to extinguish any faint hopes of a Saints’ fightback, and seal a very comfortable three points for the Dolphins.
Last time these two sides met at Tatnam it was heartache for the Dolphins when they were beaten in the play-off semi finals just days after losing the title, but this game couldn’t have been any more different, and taking six points off of the Saints’ this season will be sweet revenge for Poole who now sit five points clear of second placed Leamington.
They’re also nine points clear of fourth placed Weymouth, who must still be wondering how they came away from Dunstable empty handed on Saturday.
They created chance after chance after chance but it just wouldn’t go in for them, and two goals from their only two real chances gave Dunstable a somewhat fortuitous victory.
Adam Kelly saw an early effort fly wide of the mark and Dean Evans also headed wide, before Daniel Talbot gave Dunstable a 17th minute lead – curling in a beauty of a free-kick that left young loanee goalkeeper Jordan Holmes rooted to the spot.
Weymouth looked for an instant response but Chris Shephard spurned an excellent opportunity, before Adam Kelly was inches away from equalising when his shot hit the crossbar and bounced to safety, before Stewart Yetton saw a rather tame effort comfortably gathered by veteran ‘keeper Paul Bastock.
Weymouth continued to pile on the pressure but to no avail. Dean Evans fired wide when the ball fell to him following a scramble in the area, and following another scramble from one of Weymouth’s many corners the ball was hooked off the line by a covering defender, as Weymouth somehow went into the break a goal down.
Weymouth continued to press at the start of the second half, but they couldn’t force an equaliser, and just past the hour mark they were hit with a sucker punch.
Daniel Talbot swung a dangerous free-kick into the box, and James Kaloczi rose highest to head home into the far corner to give the hosts a two goal cushion.
Weymouth’s frustrations were probably somewhat compounded on 73 minutes when they finally did get on the scoresheet – Dean Evans heading home from Chris Shephard’s corner to give the Terras hope.
Dunstable’s Victor Osuhu then saw red for a second bookeable offence ten minutes from time, and the Terras began to throw the kitchen sink at the hosts.
But by hook of by crook Dunstable somehow held on to claim three points to move to within four points of the play-offs themselves.
An unbelievably frustrating afternoon for Jason Matthews’ troops but they mustn’t get too downhearted. If they continue to play like that they’re bound to win more games than they lose. Quite simply it was one of those days for them.
Meanwhile their ridgeway neighbours Dorchester were unable to bounce back from Monday’s FA Trophy exit in a replay at Kingstonian, as they fell to a 1-0 home defeat in what was a rather drab and uneventful affair at the Avenue.
Matt Day’s header six minutes before the break was enough to give fifth placed Hungerford all three points, as Dorchester never really troubled visiting goalkeeper Paul Strudley throughout the contest and fell to only their second home league defeat of the campaign.
The defeat sees them slip to tenth in the table, six points adrift of the Crusaders who occupy the final play-off spot.
The Magpies will need to be a lot better on Tuesday night when Hitchin Town visit the Avenue. The Canneries sit level on points with the Magpies but they’ve played the least games in the division, and have up to five games in hand on some sides, so they could get themselves up in the play-off picture if they can win their games in hand.
Weymouth’s game at basement boys Paulton Rovers has been postponed due to Rovers’ involvement in the Red Insure Cup, so all’s the Terras can do is sit back and hope that struggling Histon can do them a little favour when they host leaders Poole Town on Tuesday night.
The Stutes currently sit 20th, just two points above the relegation zone, but they have picked up fourteen of their twenty points so far on home soil. However Poole will still be expected to come away with three points, which would take them twelve points clear of Weymouth.
We’re getting to that stage of the season where we’ll start to see quite a few postponements, and Poole are notorious for having games called off around this stage, so it’s important for them to get as many points on the board a they possibly can before they start losing games to the weather.
James Spring
