| FA Trophy 4th round |
| Venue: Meadowbank Stadium Date: 14-01-23 Dorking Wanderers 3 Harriers 2 Att: 957 (away fans: 169) |
It was Dorking that did the talking
Report: Phil Lench
Two early goals for Dorking Wanderers ended the Harriers FA Trophy hopes, yet again, for another season. It took the National League side just under five minutes to open the scoring and by half time they had the game won with their further two goals coming as a brace for Ryan Seager. We did manage to equalise the opening goal soon after Harry Ottaway had scored but it was never going to be enough by the time the game was up.
All three of Dorkings goals were down to defensive errors and that was no surprise when the Harriers starting eleven was announced before the game. Caleb Richards out having rolled his ankle during training in midweek wasn’t what we wanted to hear but obviously the secrecy surrounding his absence didn’t seem to concern Dorking in the end. Also Reiss McNally was missing but that was down to Solihull Moors still refusing to allow him to play in the Trophy even though he’s with us for the remainder of the season.
The question then was who would play left back and who would take the number four shirt? On paper it looked like Ben Margetson would replace Richards and Zak Brown in place of McNally but that wasn’t it. Instead, for some reason, we seemed to be playing Ashley Hemmings at left back while Margetson took the number four place. Ash did ok though and the main problems were coming from our other full back.
Up front, getting a first start, was new loan signing Joe McGlynn following his arrival at Aggborough from Burnley. On the bench was some good news with the return of Alex Penny and Nathaniel Knight-Percival after being out injured for too long.
The game got underway with the usual stupid flares from the kindergarten kids that have un-wantedly attached themselves to the Harriers. It also got underway at 100mph with the three strong Dorking strikeforce testing our backline immediately. As said Ash coped well enough with a bit of coaching from Margetson but it was Joe Foulkes having the torrid time, mainly due to his fear of synthetic pitches and his inability to track his man.
Seb Bowerman had all the freedom he could want to put balls into the box because Joe was never in spitting distance of him.
The first goal came from Hemmings side of the pitch when a ball was sent over from the edge of the area. Tom Palmer fumbled his touch slightly and the ball carried on for Bowerman, in acres of space, to loft back in again to the head of Harry Ottaway to bundle home.
We had no intention of letting them keep the lead and a minute later Jack Bearne tried his luck with a distance shot that was going wide anyway but then came the equaliser. We were awarded a free kick some way out from goal and Shane Byrne lined up to take it. He rolled it to his right for Zak Brown to size up and, once that was done, Zak let fly with a shot from twenty five yards out that beat the Dorking keeper ends up. Que more stupid flares.
With our tails high we thought it would now be a small matter of scoring again to make the game safe as Bearne, again, fired over and then sent a third shot in that rolled just wide of Dan Lincolns goal. Dorking had other ideas as they continued to barrage our weak defence and their second goal didn’t take long to come.
Another cross in from Niall McManus wasn’t defended and fell to the feet of Seager who turned on his toes to prod the ball home between defenders and a keeper who weren’t quite on their game.
Bowerman again a few minutes later skipping away from his marker could have added a third but his shot from the corner of the box thumped against the bar with Palmer beaten and fell to be cleared for a corner. A few minutes later and it was more or less game over.
Bowerman was again involved, coming in oh so easily to pick out Seager, even though he was being closely marked,to poke the ball home from several yards out. Utterly embarrassing defending.
We still tried to rescue the game with Tom Owen-Evans playing balls through and trying to close players down. Hemmings, in his wing back role, was getting up and down the flank now that he’d got confidence in what he had been told to do – rightly or wrongly – and the new lad McGlynn tried hard but wasn’t on the same wavelength as those around him.
Ethan Freemantle had a chance to score just before the break but sent his shot wide while another free kick, taken by Byrne, was sent to the head of TOE but that went over the bar.
HT: 3 – 1
The second half started, as expected, with Alex Penny entering the game as Joe Foulkes replacement. Sadly Joe was way below his best today and that was possibly down to his fear of 4g pitches. Earlier in the week Russ Penn had told him that he wouldn’t be playing due to that but the issue was forced by Calebs injury and he couldn’t really be dropped. Alex looked a bit ring rusty for the first ten minutes but improved as the game went on.
The Harriers began to pass the ball around more confidently now that they were looking a little more secure at the back. Hemmings went close with a strike that went wide while Owen-Evans and Freemantle both bought good saves out of Lincoln as he pushed TOES strike onto the post and then repeating that up with a push onto the post from Ethans effort.
We still had to work hard to keep the dangerous Bowerman out when his initial shot was pushed away by Palmer but only as far as Seager who fired back in, but this time his shot wasn’t on target, thankfully, and veered wide.
The game turned into a midfield battle for the remainder of the half with our remaining substitutes coming on. Mid way through the forty five Amari Morgan-Smith came on for McGlynn in an effort to add a little muscle up front for us then with time ticking down, and us looking unlikely to score, youngster Kobe Hall mystifyingly came on for Owen-Evans even though TOE’s game hadn’t warranted his removal.
It took until the third minute of injury time to get the only goal, and a consolation, of the half when AMS beat the offside trap to take the ball around Dan Gallagher and slip it into the net beyond Lincoln. For some unknown reason the idiots let off a celebratory flare.
So we’re out of the Trophy now and we have to concentrate on our abysmal league form. With the return of our two important defenders that should become achievable thankfully. We do still have the infamous Worcestershire Senior Cup to look forward to starting – floods allowing – at Stourport Swifts on Tuesday.
Just a word about Dorking: They seem a nice bunch with friendly stewards and fans but their ground is a shambles basically. The coaches, including the players coach, had to park in the town centre due to the access to the stadium being narrow and minimal. The ground itself isn’t very old so that makes you wonder why they thought it was a good location. The stands are erected where they can find space to put one and it has no real viability for proper expansion being hemmed in with boundary fencing on two sides.
Any Harriers fans that wanted to sit down were confined to a small section of the main stand with around eighty seats. When that became full others wanting to sit down tried to sit in the home supporters seats but were quickly turfed out. YET! there were Dorking fans sat behind us and they were allowed to stay.
The biggest moan (me, moan?) has to go for the floodlights. Sorry Dorking but they are no where near league standard and would look inefficient at Sunday league level. At times during the second half it was very hard to see the other side of the pitch and into the corners. The LED scoreboard gave out more illumination than the pathetic floodlights.
FT: 3 – 2
Goals for Dorking Wanderers: Ottaway 5, Seager 18, 27
Goals for Harriers: Brown 12, Morgan-Smith 93
The Harriers Online MotM is: Tom Owen-Evans
Talk about the game here
Latest table and stats here
| Dorking Wanderers | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Lincoln | ||||
| Fuller | ||||
| Jebb |  |
46 | ||
| Cook |  |
|||
| Harris |  |
89 | ||
| McManus | ||||
| Muitt |  |
73 | ||
| Bowerman | ||||
| Seager |  |
|||
| Ottaway | |
|||
| McShane | |
|||
| Subs: | ||||
| Kennedy |  |
89 | ||
| B Taylor | ||||
| Cheadle | ||||
| Mekki |  |
73 | ||
| Wheeler | ||||
| Gallagher |  |
46 | |
|
| Egan | ||||
| Harriers | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Palmer | ||||
| Foulkes | |
46 | ||
| Hemmings | ||||
| Margetson | ||||
| Pearce | ||||
| Byrne | ||||
| Owen-Evans | |
83 | ||
| Brown | |
|||
| McGlynn | |
64 | ||
| Freemantle | ||||
| Bearne | ||||
| Subs: | ||||
| Emery | ||||
| Penny | |
46 | ||
| Knight-Percival | ||||
| Morgan-Smith | |
|
64 | |
| Martin | ||||
| Lissimore | ||||
| Hall | |
83 | ||
| Referee: | ||||
| Mr Jason Richardson | ||||
| Ruislip | ||||