Dorchester Town 3 Wimborne Town 0 SLPS Tues 16/11/21

Graham's report of the game:-

Dorchester Town 3 Wimborne Town 0 - 16 Nov 2021

After staying on level terms for the first half, Wimborne's midfield was over-run in the second as
Dorchester scored three times to deservedly take the points. After Saturday's battling performance
in the FA Trophy at Weston, this was a disappointing return to league action for Stokoe's side.
Wimborne's man-of-the-match was keeper Ryan Hall.

One glance at the team-sheet told you that this was going to be a tough night for the East Dorset
Magpies. Bragg, Cann, Chugg, Gunson, Henry, Morrison and Scorey were all unavailable through
injury or suspension, and just young Louis McWilliams to come on from the bench. In comparison,
the county town Magpies' bench was filled with options.

Manager Stokoe brought Scott Arnold, Jez Bedford and Jake Carswell into his starting XI.
There was an early scare for the visitors when Mark Jamison's header back to his keeper forced
Hall to make a diving save. The first real chance of the game came on 9 minutes when Bayston's
weighted through ball left Stanley one-on-one with Hall, the young stopper saved. Hall was beaten
two minutes later but the experienced Dan Strugnell was in the right place to clear off the line. On
18 minutes the young keeper again denied the hosts when he managed to divert Bayston's effort
onto the post. Three minutes later Hall again saved his team, this time when Bayston was played
through. Hall's best save of the half came on 41 minutes following a free-kick 35 yards out. When
the ball was returned from a half-clearance, Bayston's full-blooded shot was instinctively saved by
the keeper.

The visitors did have chances in the first period. On 27 minutes Curtis Young's cross from the right
was headed out to Carswell on the edge of the box but his instant drive was wide; Young, coming
in from the right, forced Benfield to concede a corner at his near post; and Lewis Beale's pull-back
from Carswell's pass found no taker.

Wimborne's rearguard action was undone in the first minute of the second period. The visitors'
defenders failed to clear Bayston's low cross from the right allowing Purrington to sweep home
from close range. Dorchester's second came on 54 minutes. One-touch passing and movement
ended with full-back Hanger clear of Wimborne's defence and he slotted home from near the
penalty spot.

Wimborne did have chances in the second half. Both Arnold and Jamison headed Young's corners
wide; Billy Maybury's shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide; and Bedford, coming in
from the left, had his shot deflected for a corner. But ex-Wimborne keeper Benfield did not have to
make a save in the half. All the incisive action was towards Hall's goal, as Wimborne's midfield was
over-run. After Hall had saved from Roberts and substitute Tavares, the third and final goal came
on 92 minutes. Centre-forward Roberts, another ex-Wimborne player, chased and won a long ball
down the inside-right channel, and fired fiercely at goal. Hall made yet another fine save only for
the ball to rebound into the path of Stanley who passed the ball into the unguarded net from the
edge of the area.

Dorchester played with purpose and precision in the second half, and if it hadn't been for the
excellence of Ryan Hall in goal the margin would have been bigger. After Saturday's strength
sapping effort, Wimborne's tired legs showed. Manager Stokoe needs more fit bodies, and soon.
But with a third of the league season now played, a return of just seven points makes painful
reading for supporters.

Wimborne: Hall, Strugnell, Arnold, Jamison, Mason, Maybury, Carswell (McWilliams 80), Young,
Bedford, Morgan, Beale Unused subs: Cann, Cull (gk), Gamble, Scorey

Attendance: 439

Match stats:

Wimborne Dorch
Goal attempts on target 1 12
Goal attempts off target 13 12
Corners 6 6
Fouls conceded 5 8
Offside 1 9
Cards 1 Y 1 Y

Current League Table :-

southern-football-league.co.uk/league-table/Southern%20League%20Premier%20South/2021/2022/P/

P.S On a happy note - if we won all our games in hand - we would be out of, or almost out of, the relegation zone !

The bench was full of players either still injured or coming back from injury.

I agree the development boys ain't ready for Southern prem but if u don't try them u will never know.Some are worthy of the bench instead of injured players at least they would give their all.

IF NOT why have a development team if you ain't gonna use them?

My apologies for there not being a post-match interview with James.
There wasn't an obvious route from the stand to the pitch.
I hung around in the stand, then inside, and not knowing the layout to the dressing rooms I was unable to make contact with him.
And after a while, the call of a hot cup of Ovaltine at home got the better of me, and I left.
I'll try to do better on Saturday 

I’ve been thinking about this post Gemma, is it that the management don’t know what they are doing/not coaching/not encouraging? Or is it down to the budget and quality of players they have to work with.

Is it the same management that we had last season when we were mid table with 2/3 wins after 7/8 games, is it the same management that went further than lots of previous managers before in the game cup, is it the same management that’s got us to the furthest we have ever got in the trophy.

Looking at these bits I’d say that it mostly comes down to the lack of funds and ability therefore to attract the necessary quality of player to compete week in week out in the league.

I may be wrong but worth thinking about.

Re games in hand and available points to get us out of danger, presumably you are assuming that the teams immediately above us fail to score any more points. When factoring that into the equation it brings home just what a perilous position we are really in especially with games against some of the top clubs still to come. But we live in hope

Over the past few weeks as a management team we have been reading this forum, carefully analysing what you guys as valued supporters have been saying, along with being present at the fans forum in which we both pushed for at a recent board meeting to give you all as fans an update you deserved about where we are as a club. However, after last night and reading all of what’s been said I felt only right to post something with some information on certain points raised in this thread. But it’s only fair we start back at the beginning when we were appointed.

When James and myself were appointed last year after Danny had been relieved of his duties, we had to build a whole new squad pretty much due to previous management not getting players signed on and subsequently those 3-4 players who we wanted to keep had already agreed to join Poole. The budget we had then was also inclusive of staff wages including physio. That budget is a step 5 budget as some wessex teams are paying more than what we have. Having said that we built a team who equalled the clubs best ever fa cup run and were comfortable mid table having picked up a couple of important wins against farnborough and Weston before the season was cut short. It was however clear though that due to the covid situation clubs had cut budgets and therefore we had more clubs down around our budget mark due to cutting costs.

When returning to action after lockdowns etc and seeing/hearing through contacts in the league, majority of clubs had significantly increased their wage bill and were signing players from higher leagues and in some cases pro clubs. We did explain to the board that it was going to be a struggle to compete with the resources we had been given but we were given the same budget as last season. So again had the same budget inclusive of staff wages.

So we set about selecting targets, we had incoming signings and players departing but what was very clear was that we were going to struggle financially to compete with other clubs at this level with the amount of money being offered to players who we wanted to speak to. Regardless of facilities where new ground etc money talks at this level and we simply couldn’t compete. So where do go from here? Well again we exhausted lots of different avenues and we managed to sign a few players from Eastleigh who had exposure to conference full time training and we also signed experienced centre back Keaton Wood who had the experience we needed and we felt this was an area we needed to strengthen. Unfortunately he had a career ending injury after ten minutes of a pre season friendly against Portland. By that stage of pre season a lot of our other targets had signed elsewhere and we were in a position of having to look at the loan market due to finances again.

We started the season with the optimism that we would have enough to stay up which is what the goal was at the start of the season, just stay in the league. However, safe to say we were proved correct when we said we needed more money because those clubs who had cut costs last season had strengthened significantly and signing players on £400-£500 a week. Some clubs actually going hell for leather to get out of the league and pumping £7k-£8k a week at playing budgets to get out of the league. How do a club like Wimborne compete on the pitch with that? It’s simple we can’t.

In fairness to the BOD, they have stated as they did at the fans forum, that it has been an oversight on their part as to what we needed to compete at this level and have stated we can go and spend more money for the right players. But that’s the problem and the million dollar question? Where do you now go get players good enough and the right players to get us out of trouble? It’s 4 months into the season with players we want on contract, happy where they are or simply put wanting absolutely obscene money for this level of football. Having said that look at Saturday with the performance away in the trophy to create history and beat a big club like Weston to progress in the trophy. It shows this team do have something about them. We are also the same management duo who have guided the club to equal best ever fa cup run last season and again this season making history getting to 2nd round proper of the trophy, bringing in a significant amount of money for the club. And a lot of the players are the same also. So we are trying to get things right on and off the pitch.

Much has been said about the squad depth and fully agree with everyone we need more depth. We have had to use some of the development players more than we would have liked at this stage and we’ve just had to throw them in the deep end to southern league football due to injuries and suspensions. Honestly of all ours years playing this level and above we’ve never been involved with a squad who have suffered so much bad luck with injuries. Recent signing Dan Jones from aldershot played on Saturday for their 23s and broke his elbow so it will be a long time before we see him back in action. Again another body we would have had available last night. Fair play to the young players stepping up and it’s great to see from a club point of view but we need experience. We know that but we have been put in this position due to financial reasons, injuries and suspensions.

Regarding information on the thread or the questions you want answered:
Ben Scorey- Injured his knee v Walton a month ago and it’s still not quite right. He’s been doing the warm ups and some training to try get it ready and he’s not far away from being fully available for selection.
Canny- Has a scan next week on what could be a hernia. Has been a huge asset in terms of voice and experience on and off the pitch. Has played the level and knows the game so yes he’s almost like a player coach.
Connal- picked up a knee injury v Weston on Saturday and working against the clock to have him fit for Saturday.

So from an already thread bare squad a few injuries puts us in a very weak position to:

1. Being able to field our strongest team
2. Being able to bring fresh legs off the bench to change the game

Chuggy and Jamie suspended whilst Eastleigh have told Tom Bragg after bud recent thigh niggle that they wanted to ensure he was 100% fit before playing again. Again should be fit for selection on Saturday.

With regards to comments made on here about last nights performance, no passion or voice and lack of coaching I would totally agree that the performance was not anywhere near good enough. Certainly not after considering our performance on Saturday against Weston in the trophy which shows that this team can perform against the bigger teams in the league. In terms of setting the team up…..we set the team up with info on the other team and how we can exploit the other teams weaknesses etc and how we defend against them. Unfortunately that just didn’t get implemented on the pitch and collectively as management and players we had a few harsh words after the game last night as we know that wasn’t good enough. Again, we go and watch opposition teams ourselves and do reports on them for the players to go through. But we all take responsibility for last night as it was nowhere near the standards we expect even in terms of just effort.

We have worked tirelessly to exhaust all of our contacts both in non league and the professional game to try and get experienced players in but again it does boil down to money at the minute and the fact where we are in terms of catchment area we compete with Poole,Dorchester and in some cases Salisbury. All those clubs have bigger budgets than ours. I think someone said above about Dorchester having double our budget. From what we know yes that’s correct. The fact that a few step 5 clubs are paying more than we are in a huge indicator of where we are. Even some of the step 5 clubs and step 4 clubs in the Southampton area, they are paying considerably more than we are.

I am not pushing all responsibility elsewhere but we as a management team have been put in a very difficult situation with regards budget and like i stated above our budget is significantly lower than everyone else in the league bar one, kings Langley. So regarding changing management at the minute even if I was a neutral, I can’t see how doing that would help as they will have the same budget as we have been given. We don’t want to see this club fail and talk about the dreaded ‘R’ word. We’ve never been relegated as players so we don’t want that to happen as a management team. Staff and players are still together we are still fighting.

I am always happy to speak to people face to face at any game home or away and answer any questions about the playing side. Always approachable in that regard but please stick by us please keep supporting the players, we all value your support highly and are doing all we can to turn the corner in the league.

I hope this has answered a few of your questions, apologies if not as there’s been quite a few on here over the last 12 hours. But I felt only right to put you in the picture and also assure you all that we are still all fighting to get some fresh bodies in and try to start picking up some much needed points in the league.