Pitching In Southern League, Premier Division South
Dorchester Town 5 (Gwengwe 36, Koszela 45, Spetch 50, Buse 81, Roberts 90+4)
Tiverton Town 0
Saturday, December 21. 3pm . The Avenue
THIS was definitely not the result that the Yellows were looking for on their trip to the Avenue Stadium. Truth be told, they did contribute to a game of high quality, but some ruthless finishes and more incisive build-up play from Dorchester gave our hosts a resounding win.
Rob Dray welcomed Josh Jones back into the fold as he lined up in the centre of defence; fellow central defender Toby Down was suspended; and Nat Jarvis returned to lead the line.
The Magpies were the first to settle and two efforts from ex-Tivvy striker Olaf Koszela were sighters for a later first-half goal: the first flashed wide and the second warmed Joe Duncan’s gloves.
Some neat approach play from Tiverton with 15 minutes played forced a corner, but the influential wind that blew around the stadium saw the trajectory of Bailey Kempster’s ball in change and bend into Dorchester goalkeeper Gerard Benfield’s arms.
The blustery conditions did not deter both sides from playing some attractive football. A flowing move from our hosts was ended by the conceding of a free-kick on the edge of our 18-yard box. Midfielder Harry Hutchinson rattled the crossbar and it remained 0-0.
A third attempt 33 minutes into the game from Koszela was saved well by Duncan and, fortunately for the Yellows, just evaded two Magpies’ players following up. However, three minutes later, fellow striker Shaquille Gwengwe fired home after a clever exchange of passes from Luke Pardoe and Wes Fogden.
Any thoughts of getting to the interval one goal behind ended when Koszela finally produced a telling finish, volleying home from close range and maybe changing the nature of Rob Dray and his coaching staff’s team-talk at half-time.
At 2-0, the opportunity to turn things round is a possibility, but to concede five minutes into the second period makes that possibility a slim one. Pardoe’s shot was parried away for a corner by Duncan and Will Spetch headed Dorchester further in front from the delivery in.
A darting run from Kempster, prior to Marcus Day coming on for him in the 56th minute, resulted in him unleashing an effort narrowly past the post, and a Joe Parker corner was nodded painfully over by Josh Jones as the Yellows sought to find their way back into the game.
But the clock was increasingly against them. Substitutions in the 69th minute came in the form of Kai Churchley and Tor Swann - Dylan Jones and Jarvis were replaced - but Tivvy’s wounds were to deepen in the 81st minute, when Matt Buse, a second-half Dorchester substitute, thundered a shot past Duncan.
Tiverton were well beaten at that stage and the scoring was rounded off by an added-time fifth scored by Luke Roberts.
We are almost at the halfway stage in the 2024-25 season and Rob Dray’s men will know that good results over the Christmas programme - starting with Taunton at home on Boxing Day at 3pm - will be vital in seeing us push away from the relegation places.
Have a good Christmas, everyone, and see you on the 26th.
Yellows: Duncan, Thompson, Hall, J Jones, Kempster, Britton, Wright, Jenkins, D Jones, Jarvis, Parker. Substitutes: Churchley, Day, Billington, Swann.
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