#dolphins 0 v 2 #hemel

Pre match drinks was improved today by Hemel fans joining in and having a natter

They were cautiously optimistic despite some less than quality performances (their words not mine) and didn't even raise an eyebrow at the High Ho song - good effort I reckon

I stood in the new stand behind the goal first half and the RWA didn't take long to discover and appreciate the acoustics of the place.

I was more intrigued in their number 8 and number 9. They reminded me of the Schwarzenegger/Devito movie "Twins" and I'm sure 9 must be cheesed off with 8 bench pressing him all the time (beast)

The game kicked off and the opening 10 minutes were even(ish) with both sides forcing easy saves from the respective keepers but although shot numbers were even, possession certainly wasn't

The relentless number of games Poole are having to play was already showing as Hemel were quicker to every ball and always had options when on the ball, whereas Poole looked pedestrian in comparison

Good sides capitalise on any advantage and Hemel are better than good and so on 13 minutes the almost inevitable happened

A through ball had their attacker chasing and although I was a LONG way away, it seemed like Thomas hesitated and by the time he decided to go at the ball it was too late

Their player got there first and smacked the ball over the diving keeper. To his dismay the ball struck the underside of the bar and bounced out but, as shown for the full 90 minutes, when attacking Hemel attack with pace and in numbers and so it was Mackey who got there first to tap it in

It was a hard enough task to get anything out of this game having played twice midweek and playing the champions elect and this was a real, very visible body blow 0-1

Heads dropped, panic set in.

Players stopped running and when they did run, control was all over the place

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't just about Poole imploding, Hemel went for the jugular and just ran the show

First to every ball the movement patterns of their attack was a joy to behold making our defence run and run, pulling them out of position and making them make decisions that they just didn't want to make

While Hemel were putting together 10-12 pass moves together including showboat back heels and then making Thomas make up for the goal with at least 2 very good stretching saves, the best that Poole could muster was a hoof up front and hope for the best

With the massive back 4 Hemel had it just wasn't the right tactic and they mopped up what was thrown at them

Half Time 0-1

Second half started and we noticed that their Harte lookalike of a keeper started the same as he did for the first half - tensed as if expecting a shot straight from the kickoff

Had he not watched the first half - that wasn't going to happen

We were still hopeful though - maybe Killick would work his magic again

As the ball struck the underside of Thomas' goal for the second time this game just 3 minutes into the second half we all looked at ourselves and winced

It was turning into a car crash - the kind of thing you don't want to watch but you just can't help yourself

The viewing got worse on 56 minutes as the frustrated Devlin was replaced by Chiedozie

The shirt came off in disgust like it did last time he was subbed at home but this time he went one step further by spitting his dummy fully over the fence and storming off

We all know he wears his heart on his sleeve and admire his passion but the team should always be put ahead of the player

Killick is the manager and it was his decision. Devlin's job was to abide by that decision and then turn his attention to supporting the rest of the team

Unashamedly, I will admit that he is my favourite Poole Town player, but today he not only let me down, he let his team and ultimate!y himself down

He's a big man and a big player and I reckon he'll know this already and will have apologised to everyone - we all have weak moments and it's how we react to those moments that can define a season

I've spent way too much time on this already but quite frankly apart from this and the absolutely inevitable Hemel second goal that came on 71 minutes there is very little else to talk about

The goal came from a route 1 long ball, flicked on for Mackey again who had the coolness of thought to slot easily past Thomas 0-2

The last 20 minutes Poole, who had done very little as an attacking force, just had nothing left

Right near the end you could hear Gillespie shouting "stop them taking the p**s out of us" because that was what was happening

Just walking around the pitch, keeping the ball moving and letting all players wander wherever they wanted Poole just couldn't get a sniff

It was an ending that just hurt, and Killick will earn every penny of his wages if he can pick this team up for 2 midweek away games

Final Score 0-2

Summary : When game after game was postponed we all agreed that this alone would put off any chances of automatic promotion

You would have to be superhuman to play 3 games a week while continuing as a plasterer / brickie  etc and so it proved today

However, despite this damning report - there is a positive to be spoken about

Hemel are the runaway leaders and will get promoted automatically this season. Poole have hundreds of home games left and although tricky, none will be as difficult as this game as no other side are as good as them in this league

We must, MUST, draw a line under this performance (not result) and move on knowing that we are capable of beating any team that lines up in front of them from now on

Tiredness will be a factor, squad rotation will be key and I have no doubt Poole will end the season in a play off spot

What is essential though, is when those pay-offs start we have a full, injury free and rested squad in order to fulfill the dream of back to back promotions

Star Man - Stephen Fakley - you may not have heard of him but he is the guy that selflessly left the dismal first half early in order to get the beers in. Undoubtedly the best service I witnessed from any Poole resident today :-)

#dolphins 2 v 0 #totton

The night started badly. I got to the carpark and it was all different - I fear change

Instead of stumbling across a bumpy, unlit, muddy field I was forced to walk along a well lit, tarmac path. Bloody outrageous!! I knew bringing that Mitchell into the fold would be the ruin of the club.....

I then ran into a very friendly steward who told me I'd missed the turning for the turnstile

But that couldn't have been true - I looked down that murky, black-hole-of-Calcutta alley and surely that couldn't be the welcoming way in??

I cautiously walked in, ready to be knifed at any point, turned round the corner and it was .....Pippa in the turnstile, turned round the wrong way

Another change - note to self - bring a torch and a big stick next time :-)

By the time I'd seen the bar moved too I did need a drink but don't worry, I'm over it now.....

Totton started the brighter but it was Poole that took the lead after just 4 minutes in unlikely circumstances

Bennett chased a slightly over-hit ball pumped over their defence and the keeper was able to get there first. With the whole world to aim for, the keeper smashed it at Bennett and the ball ricocheted towards the goal.

Bennett had the momentum and so got there first, knocking it in from 2 yards

Poole Town 1 v 0 Totton

A collective sigh went round the ground - this is what the faithful had been waiting for - a nice early goal and a hopefully convincing performance

Well, one out of two isn't that bad, is it?

On 13 minutes their number 8, a constant speedster threat, thumped the ball from distance and Whisken, mistaking the football for a basketball presumably, slapped the ball down and cleared it

The Totton crowd went berserk as no penalty was given. I (and my friends) winced and chose not to look their way - for me the distance between players was too great to say it was ball to hand, so discretion on our part  was the only way forward

Devlin almost rubbed salt into the wounds just 4 minutes later as his mazy run took him past all and sundry and as he was shown onto his right foot, he curled a delicious shot just past the left post

This though, was very much against the run of play as Totton were first to every ball and but for a fantastic last ditch tackle from Whisken their 8 was through on goal straight from the goal kick

That was a theme of the evening - the long ball to a pacey attacker caused problems - really weird considering how dominant the CB's are in the air

Despite having to live on scraps and soaking up a lot of pressure, it was Poole who created the next chance on 28 minutes and Preston ran down the left and fired in a low cross right across the goal

Bennett was charging in but just couldn't reach the ball and it flew to safety

Their 8 was then put through on 30 minutes and but for a heavy, heavy touch would have been through on goal but Thomas was there to clear up his mistake

Just 4 minutes later, though, 8 was charging at goal again and his shot was deflected over the bar

From the corner, the ball was half cleared but was rifled back at goal and if it wasn't for the fact their 7 was so slow to move it actually hit him on the line, surely that would have been the equaliser

Inexplicably the ref gave a corner, and from that the ball was headed at goal and looped over Thomas, only for Martin to spectacularly hook it off the line with a Pele like scissor-kick

How were we still in the lead?

Devlin had had enough of not getting the ball by this point and went on a 1 man crusade knocking players over to get the ball back and was penalised time and again

I've compared him to Archie Gemmill before, maybe Paul Scholes was more apt at this moment

Still Thomas stood resolute though and Poole saw the half off still leading 1-0

I'd hoped for a Killick hair dryer improvement in the second half but it took only 3 minutes for Thomas to have to use up yet another top drawer save, diving to his left from a long range shot

Nothing seemed to gel for Poole and on 58 minutes Devlin was substituted for Charles. He didn't look happy as he took his shirt off as he left the pitch- starved of the ball all night we could all feel his frustration

I hope Mrs D hid the dog before he got home....

We were hoping for inspiration and just 4 minutes after the substitution it came in the form of a marauding Prezzo

As he tore through the defence their 6 fell to the ground like he'd been harpooned - get up you girl - the ref wasn't impressed either

This gave Preston the time to pick out Bennett in the middle with a low cross and after a defence bamboozling turn, sent the keeper the wrong way, tucking it into to left of the goal

Well thank God for that 2-0 - although as I sit here now completely sober I still don't know how

No, that's not true - it was due to having a keeper in excellent form, and a striker more clinical than the opposition - simple

On 73 minutes Bennett was passed through on goal to complete his hat-trick but as the ball was rebounding off the post we all noticed that the ref was booking Charles - no idea why but it wouldn't have counted anyway

There was still time for "superman" Thomas to pull off 2 more fine saves before Bennett chested the ball down to Charles in the box on 82 minutes and he swiveled and crashed it against the post

The result was already flattering enough - that would have been just taking the p*ss

Final Score 2-0

Star Man : Thomas - a wonderful 90 minute long performance. He dominated the box and made enough saves today to win 4 matches

Summary : Poole win 2-0 and the star man was the keeper - I think that says it all. With fixtures relentlessly coming thick and fast and each player also having to do a "proper" job - tiredness may well derail the Dolphin juggernaut

Totton were a much better side than the league table suggests and will surprise many teams before the end of the season but still Poole had enough to get the job done

Good teams have to do this - win ugly - and this was as ugly as a robber's dog

#Dolphins 0 v 0 #Hungerford

As a part time supporter it's been a while since I saw Poole at home - to be fair it's been a while since ANYONE has seen them at home

The pitch was still a swimming pool at the Tatnam and so Wimborne were gracious enough to lend us their ground for the night - so for me it was almost my first away match

I have to say I was very impressed with both the bar and its stock - I hope the next time I'm actually at the Tatnam I'll be able to say the same

The ground was also very impressive although I wouldn't like to have to make too many cross field runs as I was never much of a fan of hill running - but I'm being churlish ......

The game started with Poole determined to look like the "home" team with Davies on the right and Devlin on the left causing both fullbacks problems

The game's first chance fell to Chiedozie as he was put through on 4 minutes

The world's smallest keeper gasped in frustration as he was never going to finish the sandcastle he'd started in the goal mouth but still bravely came out and tipped Chiedozie's fierce shot around the post

The fact that the ref didn't give the obvious corner didn't endear him to the RWA, shall we say

The pressure on Hungerford was relentless and perhaps we got a glimpse of what was to come on 10 minutes as a Devlin free kick fell to the in form Spetch and twice his shots from close range were blocked by desperate defenders throwing themselves in front of the ball

It was going to take something special to beat this well drilled side and even my helpful hints of "just aim high" didn't seem to help

Before the game the referee was seen polishing off 2 double cheeseburgers and they came home to roost on 23 minutes as he was forced to stop the game for 6 minutes for a "comfort" break

Sure he said it was to replace a contact lens but that doesn't explain the Benny Hill run off the pitch - I kept looking for the bald man he was going to slap .....

The last 10 minutes turned into the Bennett show

First he turned brilliantly at the edge of the box to make himself a yard of space but his shot just went over the bar - maybe they had heard me after all....

Then he was put through after  great run and only a fantastic last ditch tackle stopped him pulling the trigger.

Finally, from the resulting  corner Spetch rose the highest and he saw his header cleared off the line and the ball fell to Bennett - quick as a flash he smashed the ball into the gaping net on the left only to see the ball thump against the post

Close but no cigar - Half Time : 0-0

Poole started on the attack again and their job seemingly got easier on 50 minutes as their rotund number 5 finally got fed up of getting no ball by scything down Davies

Maybe it was frustration, or maybe it was the beard - beards anger some people I've found...

Anyway it was a straight red - surely this was the edge we needed?

What I'd like to say now was that Poole started passing Hungerford off the pitch to tire them out before applying the final killer blow - I'd like to, but I can't

What actually happened was Poole slowed the game down, had loads of possession but none of which was in the final third.

Hungerford were well drilled and organised and sat back en masse and the speed at which Poole played meant that no gaps were found - in fact for some of the game, despite it looking like a training match of defence against attack, you'd be hard pushed to notice they were a man down

It took until the 68th minute for Poole to muster a shot as Spetch's free kick nearly took my head off and 7 minutes later his header again just went wide

The keeper just wasn't getting tested - the only way he was getting his kit dirty was if he dropped his post match hot chocolate down him

Devlin then had a shot that was visibly repelled by the obvious spell the keeper had put on the goal and then the unthinkable almost happened

With just 7 minutes to go their 11 was suddenly through and Buchel pulled off a lovely low save to rescue the "home" side

The last 5 minutes and the extraordinary extra 6 minutes of injury time (where did he get that from) were spent hoisting a lot of high balls into the box, just hoping for the ball to fall our way

It didn't and the game ended a disappointing 0-0

Summary : Lots of possession, quite a lot of chances, very very few shots on target - that was the defining factor.

Hungerford, despite playing with 10 men for 40 minutes were organised and tireless and Poole just didn't have the guile to break them down, or the luck in front of goal - although if you can't hit the target, luck doesn't really count for much

Star Man: Spetch - these run outs with higher league teams have clearly rubbed off and he popped up all over the pitch

#Dolphins 2 v 0 #StNeots

I’m starting to become a sort of regular now at the Tatnam and I have now witnessed a ceremony I thought was only folklore

As two fans came in they were welcomed warmly as obvious firm favourites and as they approached the bar door I was advised to “wait for it….” but I had no idea why

As they opened the bar door the bar regulars all joined in with a rousing chorus of “Hi Hooooo”  - that kept me chuckling for the whole game – so nice to see banter amongst friends where no malice was intended and none taken

I also very much enjoyed a phrase I never thought I’d ever hear – “you get into Dylan and I’ll get the flag”.

Alex was Dylan for the day and to see him desperately trying to keep the costume trousers up as he marched across the pitch is another sight that I won’t be able to forget in a long time

The teams lined up and St Neots had clearly got the wrong end of the stick. This was billed as a game of football – not a basketball/rugby cross.

Their numbers 4 and 6, the two centre backs, were absolutely enormous and built like brick out-houses – I hoped that we’d taken note of this and had plans to keep the ball on the deck

Poole were the brighter starters and with Preston on the left and Brooks on the right the Saint’s full backs were all over the place and crosses rained in from both left and right

Trouble was, they were all up in the air and let’s face it, there was only ever going to be one team winning those battles

On 9 minutes the penny had clearly dropped for Preston as he beat his man easily again and crossed the ball back low for Charles.

Charles hesitated though when a first time shot was called for and although the ball ran to Preston, all the off balance winger was able to do was weakly shoot at the keeper

Just 4 minutes later though, Poole put this right

Preston again cutting in between 2 defenders, proving that both big men have the turning circle of an oil tanker, ran to the by line and as the ball came back to Cann, at the second attempt he smashed the ball past the keeper from close range 1-0

Despite excellent possession and play from Poole, not enough balls were played over the St Neots mountainous defence to turn them which meant that they were able to keep Poole at arms’ length, allowing Poole only long range opportunities which rarely troubled the keeper.

With 2 minutes to go the St Neots number 10 became the crowd favourite as he took a spectacular tumble in the box and got exactly what he deserved – a yellow card

I’m sure he took heed of the gentle “encouragement” he received to get up and continue playing

Half Time 1-0

The second half started very much as the first had ended with Poole being on the front foot and it didn’t take long for the home side to double the lead.

A left cross, low into the box (Poole were learning) had Brooks and the keeper running at the ball and with an ear-shattering crash of broken glass, the keeper’s bottle broke and Brooks got there first.

His instinctive stab hit the keeper, bounced back at Brooks and as the ball ricocheted left Brooks was first there to knock  the ball into the empty net

This strike seemed to wake the visitors up and with the Icelandic looking number 7 pulling the strings in the middle, they suddenly became a threat

Just 4 minutes later Poole were glad that the whistle happy ref didn’t play any advantage as a cross from the right was put in, only to be called back for a free kick just outside the box

From that free kick, a curling shot from their number 11 bounced off the top of the bar with the keeper nowhere near it  - 2 let-offs for the price of 1

This heralded the best 20 minutes for St Neots with Poole mostly hitting on the break.

A Spetch headed goal was ruled out with 15 minutes to go as a foul on the keeper was given, much to the bafflement of players and crowd alike and from then on the visitor’s threat was over.

Somehow, even though it was a clear reprieve, it knocked the wind out of them

Cann had the last 2 chances of the game, both put on a plate by the marauding Preston but both times fierce shots were equalled by the quick reactions of the keeper.

Final score 2-0

Summary – A deserved victory but for me it was a bit disappointing how many high balls were put in against the Peter Crouch tribute back 4 – a total contrast to Tuesday when the ball didn’t get above grass level

When the ball WAS at feet, the play was a joy to watch with excellent passing and movement with all looking comfortable on the ball

Star Man – Preston – Absolutely unstoppable on the wing and was the start of everything good

#Dolphins 3 v 0 #Holt

So here we were again, another cup match – what a surprise. A pre-match Killick interview had more than hinted that the team would be “rotated” but I was pleased to see that a good proportion were still first team players

I was even more pleased that Dibba was playing and that he was captain, although I do suspect that was just so that we could all hear the tannoy announcer saying “skipper Dibba” – I did hope that we’d have a Cat in the Hat match but unfortunately that was where the rhyming ended

As the team lined up with Taff and Lowes  in the middle of the park it did rather look like it was “take your son to work” day but as the old adage goes it’s best to have a blend of youth and experience – although never have the boundaries been pushed so far……..

The game started with Poole very much on the front foot. As early as the 2^nd minute a lovely flighted ball from Taff sent Charles through but he was just beaten to the ball by the keeper

Preston and Elliott were having a lot of success down the wings but it was down the middle that the break through happened

On 14 minutes Taff picked up the ball half way into the Holt half and ran at the defence. As defenders came towards him he rolled back the years and he jinked, bobbled and juggled the ball past them all and passed the ball into the bottom left corner as the keeper ran out : 1-0

The crowd even believed that he’d fully embraced modern culture as they marvelled at his robot celebration – although in truth it was just him getting up from the floor as smoothly as he could…

Five minutes later Poole had their first scare as a long Holt ball was inexplicably punched out, at waist height, by Thomas in goal which caused some confusion before Dibba cleared away

It was, though,  just a temporary jitter as Elliott’s low cross 2 minutes later from the right found Charles in the middle who easily turned his defender and drilled the ball into the bottom right corner : 2-0

On 36 minutes Elliott almost added a third as he cut inside from the right and unleashed a ferocious  shot that was destined for the top left until the keeper, at full stretch, tipped the ball onto the bar

The last moment of note came just before the whistle as a misplaced ball from Taff had him shouting “come on that was a good ball” – at least that’s what I thought he said as his voice rose to such an alarming octave throughout the sentence I wasn’t surprised to see the ground surrounded by stray dogs at full time….

Preston and Clarke came off at half time for Davidson and Swindlehurst and rather than slowing the game up, Poole pressed forward even more.

Wave upon wave of Poole attacks crashed against the Holt defence but stubborn defending kept  Poole at bay

For me, the difference between this game and previous games I’d witnessed was the passing – all along the deck and always going through the midfield

For that play to work, you need a midfielder that can run, tackle and pass and in Lowes I believe Poole have found that player in Lowes. On top of these attributes his balance on the ball was superb which made it all but impossible to knock him off the ball.

He was involved in everything good going forward, from forcing the keeper into a fine low save to his left after riding several tackles on 65 minutes, to threading a ball through to Charles on 70 minutes for the keeper to make yet another fine save (surely Holt’s MOM)

With just 5 minutes to play in an unbelievably scoreless second half, Swindlehurst burst through on the left and used the runners in the middle as dummies before shooting hard at the near post, only for their substitute keeper to make a fine save.

From the corner, who was there, rising like a spawning salmon at the far post but Taff, who headed the ball in from close range

Leg speed is great, but sometimes it’s the speed between your ears that counts and being at the right place at the right time paid dividends – giving Poole a deserved 3-0 win

Summary – That was the best I’ve seen Poole play for a long time. Passing, movement and enthusiasm . I hope that some of the regulars rested for today were taking note as there were players out there really staking their claim.

Lowes is a Devlin mini-me, the Byerley/Charles combination worked well  and with Spetch being trialled at Pompey it was important that the back 4 gelled – which they did very impressively

Star Man – Young Taff – scoring 2 and excellent display of tackling and passing,  showing that his hunger for the game hasn’t diminished one bit

#Dolphins 1 v 1 #wtfc (Poole win 5:4 on Pens)

 So here we were for the Red Insurance Cup – nope – I’d never heard of it either. It’s “appeal” was clearly limited as despite local rivals Wimborne being the visitors, the crowd looked very sparse.

We watched Cummings warm up until he tried the tricky manoeuvre of pulling up his socks and he tweaked an aging hamstring.

What we needed was a level-headed, steady, pillar of a defender to take his place at left back. Killick turned to the obvious choice, Cann.

Poole started well with Elliott getting plenty of ball, and success, on the right. Cann and Davies both had early opportunities, the first being struck over the bar on the volley and the second a good side step and low shot well saved by the keeper.

Then on 13 minutes, Wimborne had their first attack.

Davidson got hold of the ball on the right and charged forward. As he approached the box he cut inside and fired the ball past Thomas in goal to put the visitors ahead 0-1

What we were all expecting was a fierce response from the home side but it seemed we had 2 halves of a team instead of one coherent unit

One half of the team seemed content to hoof the ball up front and just hope something happened. The other, wiser half, played through the strength of the team, the midfield, to move the forward.

Trouble was, Poole couldn’t seem to make its mind up which course to pursue and as a result did neither very well. Players’ touches seemed heavy and final  balls never quite made it to the intended recipient

Wimborne, one league below the hosts, bossed the first half with a lot of good play down both wings with both Poole full backs seemingly happy to let their wingers cut inside and have a shot but Thomas was equal to all that was thrown at him.

In fact, it was Poole that created the next best chance on 30 minutes as Steve “Archie Gemmill” Devlin danced past 4 defenders and as we all shredded our programs to recreate that Argentina ticker-tape experience he was just nudged as he shot and the ball tamely dribbled into the keeper

Less than a minute later, their number 9 burst through the defence and skilfully rounded the keeper. All he had to do was knock the ball into the empty net. Actually, that wasn’t all he had to do, he also had to take the ball with him. A step he seemed to forget and when he moved back to regain the ball, enough of the defence were back to snuff out the danger.

Wimborne finished the half the stronger, and despite a late chance when both Byerley and Elliott swung at the ball and clipped the bar from 12 yards out, Wimborne were worthy of their lead

Half Time 0-1

The second half started after the quickest half time ever (referee clearly on a promise) and Killick’s half time talk had obviously had an effect.

Preston had clearly been marked as the main outlet and he started to terrorize their right back

This had the knock on effect in that the more the defenders moved towards him, the more space was created for the rest of the team.

Cann saw this space on 55 minutes as he used Preston as his dummy runner  and charged forward. A one-two at the edge of the box gave him the chance to shoot but off balance, the keeper saved easily

A minute later, Preston skipped past his marker as he slipped and fired a cross from the left. Byerley came charging in and smashed the ball low only for the keeper to make an unbelievable point blank save with his leg – sending the ball wide for a corner.

He almost hit the ball too well, a scuff would probably have scored – maybe this wasn’t going to be our day

Just as we were all wondering how close the ball had to be before it would go in, we found out.

On 62 minutes, Preston again burst through and sent a defence splitting ball out wide to Elliott. He crossed low and hard into the box and from fully 4 inches Byerley smashed the ball in.

In fairness, it hit the roof of the net so in some respects maybe it was just as well it wasn’t 5 inches out :-)

I did feel sorry for Wazza though as he couldn’t give us all the goal scoring routine he’d been practising for months as his studs got caught up in the net and he lay there like a trussed up chicken

At that point the tannoy announcement was that if the game was level at full time, the game would go straight to penalties.

At the time I couldn’t work out whether the game being extended was a threat or a promise. It was the former.

As the regulars got subbed out the play, somehow, became even more disjointed from Poole and Wimborne resorted to the long ball hit and hope.

The one ray of class shown was by Turner as he fought to regain a ball, then turned his defender inside out before unleashing a venomous shot, well saved to the keeper’s right.

Full Time 1-1

All of a sudden there was a skirmish to my left. Brett Pitman had heard the word penalty and the only way Charlie Daniels and Cummings could stop him from taking them all was by wrestling him to the ground and sitting on his chest

Wimborne started the penalties and with Cann, Preston and Turner all scoring easily to keep the scores level at 3-3, the pressure was mounting.

This proved too much for the 4^th Wimborne penalty taker who went for power and rammed the ball down the middle, only to find that Thomas hadn’t moved and the ball struck him for the vital save

Elliott put Poole 4-3 up for the first time and once Wimborne had levelled the score with their final penalty, it was up to Byerley to take the final one

Up he stepped and coolly slotted the ball to the keeper’s right to win the game 5-4

Summary – A poor quality game that no-one really deserved to win. At half time a friend told me he’d seen worse – I’m still not convinced that wasn’t the drink talking. Poole looked so much better when playing the ball on the deck through the middle but unfortunately the rush to get the ball forward stopped this from happening as often as it should

Star Performer – Dibba – I was so pleased when I saw he was playing as normally, with him in the team the report usually just writes itself – but today he was an absolute rock. Commanding in the air and assured on the floor – best game I’ve seen him play by a country mile

#dolphins 0 v 0 #burnham

I was really looking forward to today – I hadn’t seen Poole Town for a few games and I’d marvelled at their powers of recovery from seemingly hopeless positions

My question to the RWA faithful was, have they got team spirit unrivalled in the league, or have they just been lucky…..?

When asked, bearing in mind that most were wearing a beer overcoat, I’d hate for any of them to take a Jeremy Kyle style lie detector, such was the sweating and shifty eye movement

To be fair, most said (and this mustn’t go back to those in charge) … a tad lucky

I personally was pleased to see Cummings announced in the squad, although that was slightly tempered when I saw his hair. I looked for the earring, tattoo and Harley parked in the car park but they all must be booked for later on….

Also, while I’m at it, Cummings in midfield? What’s that all about? Maybe the Gaffer could see something I hadn’t spotted while I’ve been supporting going to Dean Court, who am I to judge?

I’ve been doing match reports for a while now. I’m not presumptuous enough to think they’ve got any better quality wise, but they’ve certainly become easier to write

You look at what happens, in an unapologetically biased way, then you write it down. It’s simple.

When I’m at the Tatnam, I’m red and white, and will always try to tilt the report in our favour - let's face it, I can't even  be bothered to learn the opposition names.

Today, however, has been a real trial.

Never have I written so little during a game. I have stories of missed opportunities such as when Chappo’s phone was found, unlocked, yet Alex proved too strong to yield to the mounting pressure to text all from the phone about Chappo’s coming out….

Ah well, to the game….

Burnham’s away kit was dazzling in fluorescent yellow very reminiscent of Borussia Dortmund so at least we wouldn’t get confused as to who to pass to…. Or so I thought. At worst they wouldn’t be missed if they had to cycle home

In the first half, Poole had ONE chance. Count that again, ONE

I’m not saying that it wasn’t a good chance, I’m just querying that as the side at home against a team with only 2 wins this season, ONE BLOODY CHANCE!!!

It was a good chance, however, on just 7 minutes – which promised so much more than was delivered during the rest of the game

A Cummings free kick was smashed, point blank, by Spetch, a hero in the previous game, only to be miraculously saved by the keeper. He was a big old unit, as my mate Flakey said, but it was still a great save

That was it. The other 44.5 minutes I was struggling to see what was going on as the play was ALL at the other end.

Burnham were the first to every ball and where, on the very odd occasion they were second, they tackled like terriers and won the ball back

You really did struggle to recognise that Poole were the home side

Saying that, the defence were excellent and Hutchings had little to do.

When Poole did get a break and the lively Preston did get a cross in, it was easy fodder for the keeper

Half time 0-0

What I want to do now, in true Disney style, is say that the Gaffer bo***cked the players and they rose to the challenge

In fairness, they were a little better in the second half but still nowhere near what I’d seen before.

The “highlights” of the second half were two sending off, Oliver with a straight red for what looked like a head butt (if you saw the Larry Olivier performance of their player) and their 6 for a cynical foul on Preston right in front of me

The rest of the half it was same old same old…. Poor passing and poor movement

I was still in the bar (drowning my sorrows) as the game restarted so as I don’t know when it restarted exactly I can only say that at 16:43 Poole had their best chance as Gillespie nudged a near post cross wide

That’s it FT 0-0

Summary – The poorest performance I’ve witnessed at the Tatnam. No cohesion, no passion, no quality. I think I must have the answer to my first question – Poole Town, on this performance, must have been very lucky in past games

Today they could have easily lost. The defence deserves some credit as it was a clean sheet and Gillespie was full of running but if this is what the side looks like without Devlin I hope to God he’s back soon

Maybe I’m doing Burnham a disservice – today they were the better side and I believe will recover from a slightly shaky start to the season – for me that makes the day a little easier than just saying Poole were rubbish…

Star Man – Spetch – Resolute in defence and was on the end of the best chance to get a very undeserved victory