As with most of my write-ups for home games this is going to be deja vu all over again. I.E "Went to the Endeavour, drunk lots of stella at cheap happy hour prices, had lots of conversation about football,beer, wrestling and fingering, went back to the endeavour after football, drunk lots more beer". And that again was pretty much it, although it was strangely a lot less quiet before and after the game with less people out than usual. I'd expected a bigger turnout with expectations high with the FORSTERLUTION now underway but then again it was only the second qualifiying round for the FA Cup. Still, Uncle John had come down for the first game of the season and was very generous and great company again. He gave me £20 at the start of the day as I was fairly low on funds after having got absolutely hammered after Dave Bell's funeral on Thursday. Which by the way, was attended by over 300 to send the great man off, including many fellow Dovorians. Mark Winter confirmed yesterday that his family have scattered his ashes at Crabble on Sunday so we'll always be blessed by his presence.
John also announced his plans to get a publisher to release these blogs into one big book come the end of the season, which sounds very exciting if he is able to get them done at cheap rate. I'm sure a few of you wouldn't mind paying a couple of quid to read my inane drivel all over again!
Anyway, after several pints of Stella in the beautiful sunshine, we decided to head up to Crabble for a couple of pints. I dislike drinking in the concrete, bland shithole but seeing as the club had gone to the effort of reducing the price of Forsters and John Smiths, I thought it was best to support the club seeing as they have begun to listen to our fans in our complaints. I was pleasantly suprised upon arrival there to see that they have finally got some club photos in their: two montage things of our FA Cup Run last season and one of our Ryman Premier title win. Its not much thus far as I'd still like to see a lot more, particularly retro ones, but its a very good start nonetheless. Here they are, sorry once again for the poor quality of my phone pictures;
Great stuff I'm sure you'll agree. Just a shame that the place is still a really dull and uninspiring place to drink but hopefully we'll continue to polish this turd.
Anyway, back onto the fuschball. I hate FA Cup home games because I have to pay even though I've already forked over a fucking ridiculous amount to watch football at Crabble this season as it is. But never mind, its cup rules and everyone has to pay so tough shit. After speaking to a couple of Carshalton fans about their egotistical prick of a chairman, I fucked off outside about 5-10 minutes before kick-off to make my way over to the DoverPort end. Only to discover after the toss that the silly wankstains were making us change ends so we all had to move round to the River End. I hate kicking off at the River End first half as it just does not feel right and its easier to get a better atmosphere there for the second half. And I think it did suffer as a result. I felt we were a bit dissapointingly flat for our new manager although we started off quite loudly. However, he was impressed with our vocal support it seems so maybe I am being too critical. Once we really get going he should be REALLY impressed.
The crowd was announced out as 639 which really stunk out as an 'FA cup crowd' I.E reducing the real figure by a couple of hundred. Because there were certainly more there on Saturday than there was against Havant last week! Still, a decentish crowd for an FA cup 2QR against lower opposition.
As for the small matter of the actual game, I thought we were very sloppy in possession in the first half. Harry Baker blazed over a decent chance as his poor run of form continues; he really needs to grab a goal soon before his confidence slips any further. Carshalton calved out a few half-chances but never seriously threatened Ruiz in goal. We actually took the lead a minute before half-time after Billy Bricknell pounced on a defensive error to nutmeg their goalkeeper. It was a tad fortunate but I was chuffed that we went into the interval a goal to the good.
At the start of the second half it was the Robins who calved out the better chances but Ruiz was equal to anything they had to offer, particularly from a couple of ryman south players I can remember well in Paul Vines and Dean Lodge.
About 20 minutes into the second half we got our second goal when Purcell, who started on the bench for the first time this season in favour of Simmonds, broke down the left hand side and passed it into the path of Bill to slide the ball into the back of the onion sack.
Sam Cutler wrapped up our win and confirmed our place into the next round of the FA cup when he scored his second goal for the club four minutes from time. He pounced on a goalkeeper fumble to finish well inside the area. So the scoreline finished 3-0 to the mighty whites in a relatively easy victory. Carshalton were not awful by a long stretch but we managed to punish their defensive errors which ultimately made the difference.
So not a classic by any means in Forster's first game in charge but ultimately a very positive result that will get the confidence slowing amongst the players. One of the best moments of the game was the introduction of Olly Schulz as a second half subsitution, who came onto the field to receive a rapturous reaction from the fans having been frozen out by Martin Hayes since the start of the season. Welcome back Olly.
Forster's first league game will be one of the biggest tests we face this season. Old Kentish foes and high-fliers Welling United away, although we visit them on the back of their fa cup exit against Bromley. Confidence will be high but we'll be up against very tough opposition and need to be on our best. Luckily we have a good record at Park View Road and have won on our last two visits there. I really like Park View Road; its a complete shithole but its a proper football ground. All its lacking is a roof behind each goal because other than that I think the place oozes character. I understand this won't be an opinion shared by many of you fellow Dover fans! But yeah, I'm really looking forward to the day and the game.
For the first time this season after a Saturday game we stayed in the Centre Spot for a few drinks to give the players a warm reception and Jason Mcfarlane seemed delighted to get a picture with his hero, Venuzeula's number one;
Great photo for a caption competition as I cruelly posted on the Conference South forum. The winning comment was "Nolberto Solano's weightwatchers group has its first member"
As per usual, I went down to the Old Endeavour with some of the others and got pretty fucked, although not many of us were there. Phil Smith quietly fucked off, so did John and then eventually Vicky and Champ did too. Which left just me, Chris Collings and Dave Waterfield who were telling me about Darren Adams.
I drunkenly got John to agree to give me a lift home to Herne Bay in the morning for work and being the nice chap he is he agreed. So that saved me from the hassle of getting the train back and instead I ended up buying a 14 inch stuffed crust pizza which they chucked in a free garlic bread with! Buzzing. I only managed to eat about 4 slices before falling asleep and waking up to the delights of having a pizza.
Poor John was way over the limit in the morning so I felt bad but grateful for his efforts.
Yesterday our FA Cup draw was made and I was fairly pleased to be at home to Wroxham or Concord Rangers. I would rather it was away but I believe Concord is on Canvey Island, which is a fucking shithole, so maybe we've got off lightly there. It should be another easy tie for us though as there is a big gulf in class between us and the potential sides.
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