Today we welcome
Dorchester Town to the Melbourne Stadium, with the visitors sitting
bottom of the league and six points from safety. In the teams last
meeting, Dorchester ran out two nil winners with then manager
Holdsworth bemoaning the teams failure to take it's chances. Last
season the Clarets ran out comfortable winners with a four nil home
win, gaining revenge for a single goal defeat in the reverse fixture.
Founded in 1880,
Dorchester Town Football Club play their home games at The Avenue
Stadium. Nicknamed 'The Magpies' the club were Dorset Senior Cup
finalists in 1888 and 1890 before becoming a founding member of the
Dorset League in 1896. The club endured little success for many
years, before finally winning the championship in the 1937/38 season.
They joined the Western League in 1947, winning promotion from
Division Two in 1950 and then going on to win the league championship
in the 1954/55 season. This proved to be a successful decade for the
club as they finally got their hands on the Dorset Senior Cup and
enjoyed a number of good FA cup runs in this period facing the likes
of Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers, Port Vale and Plymouth Argyle.
Dorchester reached the 2nd round of the FA cup in 1954,
where a crowd of 5,500 packed into the old Avenue Stadium to see the
home side lose to eventual semi finalists York City.
The Magpies won
the Dorset Senior Cup four more times before entering the Southern
League in 1972. It didn't take the club long to adjust and soon
tasted success in the 1977/78 season, a year in which manager David
Best utilised his links with former club AFC Bournemouth to attract a
few key players such as John O'Rourke, Jack Howarth and most notably,
Harry Redknapp. Dorchester finished runners up to Margate Town that
season, after an impressive run of sixteen games without defeat. The
formation of the Alliance League (now the Skrill Premier) meant the
Magpies ended up in the reformed Southern Division a year later. This
didn't deter the club however and in their centenary year the club
celebrated by winning the Southern Division title in the 1979/80
season, clinching the title after a fourteen game unbeaten run. The
club had earlier in the season sold defender Graham Roberts to local
rivals Weymouth, a player who would go onto enjoy FA and UEFA cup
success with Tottenham Hotspur, winning six caps for England.
A young Trevor
Senior impressed alongside top scorer Paul Thorne that year, with
Senior going on to later enjoy a successful league career, primarily
with Reading, where he broke the Berkshire club's all-time
goalscoring record. Before he left the Magpies though, Senior helped
the club reach the 2nd round of the FA cup once more,
where they lost to AFC Bournemouth in a replay at Dean Court. After
taking their league opponents to extra time, a goal four minutes from
time ended the club's dream of a place in the third round – a feat
they are yet to achieve.
The 1983/84 season
saw the club relegated following a severe financial crisis, with
Dorchester only just avoiding dropping out of the league altogether
the season after. However, a remarkable turnaround followed, with the
Magpies returning to the Premier Division as champions following a
goalless draw with Ashford in the final game of the 1986/87 season.
The return to the top Southern division began a roller-coaster period
for the club, after being mid table regulars for several years, a
brush with relegation came at the start of the nineties. Stuart
Morgan was bought in as manager in 1993 to help stabilise the ship,
despite an excellent first full season in charge, where he guided the
club to sixth place before the club once again flirted with
relegation on numerous occasions. Despite their league form, the club
enjoyed several cup runs, reaching the last sixteen of the FA Trophy
for only the second time in their history and reaching the first
round of the FA Cup where they were defeated by Oxford City.
The
Club were relegated to the Eastern Division after a disappointing
league campaign in 2001, despite another FA Cup run which saw the
Magpies defeated in the first round once more at the hands of Wigan
Athletic. It didn't take long for the club to regain its Southern
Premier status with promotion coming at the end of the 2002/03
season, scoring 114 goals in the process. Dorchester once again
tasted success in a cup, this time defeating Kings Lynn to lift their
first Southern League Cup. The first season
back in the Premier Division was a difficult one but the club
succeeded to reach the play-offs, where victories over Bath City and
Tiverton Town saw Dorchester become a Conference club for the first
time in the newly formed Conference South division. A season later
the Magpies almost saw further play-off glory, but missed out on
another promotion opportunity on the final day of the season, going
down 7–3 at Bognor Regis Town. With Eddie Mitchell taking over
ownership of the club, Dorchester announced they would be making the
step up to full time football in time for the 2007/08 season. Since
going full time, the club have retained their Southern Premier status
often finishing in the lower half of the table. The last two seasons
have seen the club push on, finishing eleventh and eighth
respectively.
The current campaign has been
tough for the Magpies, accruing fifteen points from twenty two games,
winning just four. The club have faced an uphill battle after
enduring an awful start to the season in which they conceded ten
goals in their first three games, losing 1-0 away at Staines Town,
3-0 at home to Weston-super-Mare and 6-2 at home to Whitehawk. A
point away at fellow strugglers Gosport Borough was then followed by
another set of three consecutive defeats. With the team leaking
goals, the Magpies already had a minus thirteen goal difference after
just seven games.
Unfortunately for Claret
fans, Dorchester were about to register their first victory of the
season. With both teams sitting in the bottom three of the league,
this was seen as a key game. After taking the lead in the first half
through Dan Way, the Magpies went on to seal the points with
virtually the last kick of the game through experienced midfielder
Nick Crittenden, after some heavy pressure from Chelmsford. This
wasn't enough to take Dorchester off the bottom but many at the club
were hoping this would spark a run of results going into October.
Dorchester faced play-off
chasing Dover Athletic in their next match, with Dover just edging a
scrappy affair one nil. They followed up this encouraging performance
with a 3-1 away victory at Maidenhead United, a win on which they
failed to build upon as they then lost three games on the trot. Their
defensive frailties were being exposed for all to see, shipping ten
goals in three games for the second time this season. However,
against a much fancied Sutton team, the Magpies registered their
first clean sheet of the season in a smash and grab, one nil away
win. A second clean sheet followed in the draw with Eastbourne
Borough, meaning the Magpies had accrued four points in October,
leaving them five points from safety with a game in hand.
The run of clean sheets was
bought to an abrupt end with another heavy defeat at Havant and
Waterloo, with another five goals conceded. Despite bouncing back
with a 2-1 home win against fellow strugglers Tonbridge Angels, the
Magpies have yet to register another win since and are on a four game
losing streak, having suffered defeats to Eastleigh (2-1),
Weston-super-Mare (3-0), Boreham Wood (5-0) and most recently Dover
Athletic (4-0).
Magpies manager Phil Simpkin
will be looking for an upturn in fortunes when they visit the
Melbourne Stadium, with the club six points adrift at the bottom with
many of the teams around them having games in hand. With the worst
defensive record in the league and the second fewest goals for, it is
little surprise that Dorchester find themselves in this position.
Simpkin has bought in Warren Byerley on loan from Poole Town on a
months loan, in a bid to boost their strike force. AFC Bournemouth
duo Charlie Lossasso and Jake McCarthy were signed on loan at the
start of the month, keeping up the club's ongoing link-up with the
Cherries. Lossasso is a tricky winger with a reputation as a
free-kick specialist and McCarthy a young centre back or midfielder,
who is highly rated by his parent club. Despite these signings, the
results have yet to improve and the Clarets will be looking to take
advantage of the leagues leakiest defence.
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