With this being our fourth Saturday home game on the bounce it means that yet again there is nothing particularly interesting that I can report. These blogs are indeed fastly becoming predictable and dull. "Went to the Old Endeavour early with Champ and Fish, drunk a lot of pints of stella, got fairly pissed which means that I am unable to recall chunks of the game, drunk a few more beers after the game then managed to stumble my way back to Herne Bay for work in the morning". And that is pretty much entirely what happened again.
Well me and Champ decided for the second week running to get to the Old E for an early start. Then we picked up our dear friend Fish and got to the Endeavour at the ridiculously early time of 10:24AM. But with all 3 of us having not drunk anything the night before it enabled the beer to flow down well even at that time. I've gained a reputation from fellow Dover fans for being a piss-head/alcoholic but I very rarely drink that much outside of Saturdays/Match-Days so its a bit unjust sometimes. Binge-drinker is the correct term to be applied with me! In fact I'd say I drink less than quite a lot of other people my age, it's just that most of my drinking gets consumed on match-days.
The pre-match shenanaghans at the pub were as subdued as I had predicted. It seemed to take forever for the next Dover fan to arrive which would eventually be good old Paul Eades, still going strong in his late eighties. Fair play to him.
Other than him though there were very few others that joined us, other than the pleasant company of Andy Lucey, Jared, Mark Winter and a few others. A combination of piss-poor weather and the lack of excitement at playing yet another home game, this one against a small club that would only bring 3 fans to Crabble, were probably the main contributers to the lack of numbers
So by the time we departed in our taxi to Crabble around half 2 (Yes we're lazy buggers!), my mood and excitement for the impending game wasn't particularly bouyant.
My first Crabble Burger in about 4 or 5 years slightly lifted the spirits. At £4.20 it was slightly expensive but being as succulent, tasty and greasy as it was, it was worth every penny of my random decision.
I made my way onto the River End just prior to kick-off where a minute silence was observed for the recently departed Barry Fletcher, who sadly lost his life on Friday afternoon. Barry was an absolutely lovely bloke, a real character and one who will be sorely missed on Crabble matchdays. This has been a terrible year for us with us losing so many of our loved supporters and Barry unfortunately joins a list of people that you couldn't say a bad word against that we have now lost. R.I.P Barry, its always the best ones that get taken away from us prematurely.
The Weston players nobbishly decided that they would switch ends before kicking-off after winning the toss, which meant that we had to move around to the Town End. And after that nuisance hinderance we would have to witness a very dull half of football. Donovan Simmonds made his much-needed return to the side after injury which meant George Purcell went out to the left-wing, where he struggled to make an impact in the entire game. Phil Starkey slotted in for Shane Huke at right-back who began his 3 match suspension.
Did anything noteworthy happen in the entire first half? I can remember a couple of glancing headers which didn't trouble their time-wasting goalkeeper, then I can remember an audacious bicycle kick from James Walker which flew over the bar. Other than that though, I need to see the impending match highlights to see if I have forgotten anything of interest. Some bloke from the forum filmed the game and should make them available online soon, which is positive stuff. Hopefully he can do it on a more regular basis.
But we barely got a grip on the game and struggled in the wet and windy conditions, with Redwood and Purcell being particularly ineffective on the wings.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first - chances were very few and far between. Purcell saw an early effort fizz past the post but it would be a while until we saw meaningful shot on target, when Tom Wynter, deputizing as captain, saw his long range effort well saved by their keeper, so the search for his first goal in DAFC colours continues.
One of the more entertaining moments of the first half was a mass brawl that occured near the Centre Spot. Well I use the term 'brawl' but it was more like handbags as you see at most football games. Lots of flapping arms in the air and lots of shoving but unfortunately no proper punches connecting. The only end result was a couple of yellow cards that were dished out. Shame.
We spent most of the second half huffing and puffing for a winner but a lack of end product in the final third combined with their shameless time-wasting antics made it seem like we would all be going home dissapointed.
Then came the 93rd minute. Harry Baker passed the ball down the right flank which found Southam in space. He cut the ball back into the ball into the path of an on-rushing Barry Cogan who duel fired the ball into the bottom. Bang! Cue pandemonium in the sparsely populated River End for the wildest celebrations of the season. You cannot beat moments like those. Everybody just loses their inabitions and just frantically jump, run, cuddle, kiss and push one another in that single moment. I think my Dad took the brunt of most of my excitement! Theres not a sweeter moment than those 30 seconds following those important goals - those are the moments that make all that time, effort and money religiously following a football team worthwhile.
The next few minutes saw Weston's goalkeeper comically rushing all over the place, having spent the previous 93 minutes taking the piss over how long he would take on a goal-kick. Then the final whistle went. Cue joy, relief and a feeling of justice finally breaking down a Weston side totally devoid of any ambition to win the game. It wasn't particularly a good performance but we did obtain the all-important 3 points and I went into the centre-spot happier than I have been after any game this season. Woohoo!
The crowd, as I had expected, was very dissapointing at 725. We have a new manager, new hopes and renewed prospects for the season yet we're still struggling to get people through the turnstiles. Why? Obviously playing our fourth consecutive home game on the trot didn't help, neither did the horrible winter conditions. But their can't be too many excuses - this would be considered a poor crowd for us during our ryman south years. When we spoke to Jim after the game he understandably wasn't impressed either. He deserves better for all he has put financially and with the effort he puts in running the club on a daily basis. WE deserve better. Everyone is quick to pat ourselves on the back when we get a big attendance and create a superb atmosphere but we need to be getting more for our bread and butter league games. It can't always just be take, take, take from fans like some people expect.
This isn't a dig at regular supporters as I do understand that not everybody can make every game but overall there isn't enough people from the town getting behind the club.
Poor attendances wind me up and concern me more than it should but that is just my PASHUN filtering through, I want this club to grow and progress instead of settling for mediocrity and i'm sure many of you feel the same.
So with that bared in mind, it was understandable that the atmosphere was shit yet again. It's like fighting a lost cause when its the same 10 or so people singing. Obviously its a personal choice whether people choose to sing or not but that doesn't mean we can't recognize that it has been crap.
While complaints on the forum (which I regret drunkenly replying too) about Champ and others calling people 'wankers' for not joining in our justified, it really isn't as bad as it is being made out. As I said again, the context gets mistaken for being and aggressive one whereas the reality of it is that it is just a rallying cry to just drum up more response. I use equally as bad language to try and get more people to join. Whether or not this is the right way to go about approaching it, its very frustrating for some of us nonetheless.
Right anyway, enough whinging about crowds and atmospheres, they don't win prizes (although they can help). I had a rather enjoyable couple of post-match jars of fosters in the centre spot. One of them came courtesy via Reginald, who has been an absolute star this season. He handed over me £50 (and trusted me not to spend it on beer!) to contribute towards the costs of the two flags I am purchasing, as seen on the Dover forum. If anyone else would like to help burden the costs then that would be much appreciated and you know where to find me (well you can hardly miss me, fat cunt etc).
Inside me and Champ had quite a long conversation with Olly Schulz and his father, who both agreed what a shit, inept manager Martin Hayes is/was. His devoid of passion and communication was the key theme. Champ also vigorously made him promise that they would get revenge on Dartford for us with us still reeling from that awful result. Olly already seemed fired up for the task so hopefully we'll return back from Princess Park with nothing less than 3 points in our back pockets. NO PRESSURE THEN LADS
We eventually tumbled our way down the hill in the pissing rain to meet the others in the Old Endeavour, who had all SHAMELESSLY avoided putting money into the club bar for a few post match beers. Come on guys, I know that the centre spot is a shit venue at the best of times but having one or two in there won't hurt if you're drinking anyway.
I was still going strong in there with the beer flowing down beautifully before the realisation that I had to make my way home soon dawned on me. So I decided to fit in one more drink on the way back in the Admiral Harvey; officially the most grim and dhingy pub in Britain. I beat Jared in the most sloppy, mistake-ridden game of pool in history in a match where neither of us deserved to win.
Then we both bought a whole hot chicken each in Morrisons that was reduced to 99p, where I would devour most of it in Dad's kitchen before abruptly making my way to the station and leaving a lot of mess behind so I would like to spend this sentance to apologise to my father for being a messy son. Sorry pops.
And that concluded another bog standard home game which was made much more enjoyable by the dramatic 3 points.
Fortunately the next few blogs will be slightly more varied with us playing Maidenhead away tomorrow night, which I am very much looking to, along with Boring Wood away on Saturday via St Albans and hopefully Nottingham after the game (book your fucking tickets Fish).
A bit of research indicates that Maidenhead have not won in the league since early September, which has made me feel dangerously confident ahead of tomorrow evening. Its true that they have played well in the FA Cup including a dicking of Woking a few weeks back, but the FA Cup is a totally different kettle of fish and hopefully they'll be too busy concentrating on their 1st round tie with Aldershot on Saturday.
We will have to improve on Saturday's performance mind you if we want to continue our current decent league form. Fingers crossed my write-up later this week will be full of happy tones.
| Saturday 05 Nov 2011 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boreham Wood | 2 | - | 1 | Bromley | |
 Bryant (31) Wilkinson (46) |
Waldren (76) |
 231 |
|||
| Dorchester | 2 | - | 1 | Basingstoke | |
| Dickenson (15) Martin (52) |
Sills (64) |
491 |
|||
| Dover | 1 | - | 0 | Weston-S-Mare | |
| Cogan (91) |
725 |
||||
| Eastleigh | 4 | - | 1 | Maidenhead Utd | |
| Slabber (11) Montgomery (23) Slabber (37) Flood (91) |
Brown (54) |
503 |
|||
| Farnborough | 1 | - | 3 | Chelmsford | |
| Connolly (31) |
Akurang (02) Ibe (53) Bakare (61) |
505 |
|||
| Hampton & Richmond | 3 | - | 1 | Eastbourne Borough | |
| Ledgister (48) Tarpey (58) Ledgister (90) |
Watson (32) |
441 |
|||
| Salisbury | 1 | - | 2 | Dartford | |
| Anderson (02) |
Wallis (26) Erskine (63) |
769 |
|||
| Staines Town | 1 | - | 4 | Sutton Utd | |
| Dunne (64) |
Griffiths (36) Orilonishe (67)  Griffiths (69) Orilonishe (78) |
378 |
|||
| Tonbridge Angels | 3 | - | 2 | Thurrock | |
| Walder (21) Kinch (86) Boateng (90) |
Poole (56) Bowditch (06) |
478 |
|||
| Truro City | 2 | - | 3 | Welling | |
| Pugh (05 og ) McConnell (90) Hayles (09) |
Pires (66) Day (72) |
542 |
|||
| Woking | 3 | - | 0 | Havant and W | |
| Gray (47) Gray (53) Cowan-Hall (74) |
1,655 | ||||
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Woking | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 13 | 26 | 39 |
| 2 |  |
Sutton United | 15 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 33 | 15 | 18 | 33 |
| 3 | |
Welling United | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 22 | 14 | 33 |
| 4 | |
Dartford | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 17 | 15 | 32 |
| 5 | |
Chelmsford | 16 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 27 | 15 | 12 | 28 |
| 6 | |
Basingstoke Town | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 29 | 20 | 9 | 26 |
| 7 | |
Dover | 15 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
| 8 | |
Boreham Wood | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 21 | -3 | 24 |
| 9 | |
Truro City | 16 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 28 | 31 | -3 | 22 |
| 10 | |
Dorchester | 18 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 30 | -6 | 22 |
| 11 | |
Tonbridge Angels | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 30 | 33 | -3 | 21 |
| 12 | |
Eastbourne Borough | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 29 | 27 | 2 | 20 |
| 13 | |
Weston-S-Mare | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 26 | 27 | -1 | 20 |
| 14 | |
Eastleigh | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 27 | -8 | 20 |
| 15 | |
Salisbury City | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 19 |
| 16 | |
Havant and Waterlooville | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 18 |
| 17 | |
Bromley | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 28 | -4 | 18 |
| 18 | |
Maidenhead United | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 21 | 33 | -12 | 18 |
| 19 | |
Farnborough | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 39 | -20 | 13 |
| 20 | |
Staines Town | 15 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 23 | -8 | 10 |
| 21 | |
Hampton & Richmond | 15 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 29 | -10 | 10 |
| 22 | |
Thurrock | 16 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 40 | -26 | 9 |
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