Page 30 - Bath City v Dulwich Hamlet - Tuesday 24 November 2020 - VNLS

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Dorking Wanderers ago. A fine 3-1 win at Concord on Saturday was marred by
City face another enforced break two red cards for the Surrey club which will probably mean
that Wanderers will not be at full strength for our visit.
following tonight’s match. We should
have hosted Welling United this I assumed that last season’s fixture was our first visit to the
coming Saturday but the Wings’ Meadowbank ground. It was formerly the home of Dorking
squad are presently in isolation, so FC who we faced in a Trophy match at Twerton in 1992,
we will face another blank matchday. winning 2-0 courtesy of goals from Graham Withey and
We are next in action on Saturday 5 Adie Mings. However it was also the home of Guildford and
December when we make the trip to Surrey to face Dorking Dorking United, an amalgamation which included our old
Wanderers, hoping to open our account on the road after Southern League rivals Guildford City. Its website states that
four defeats. the club played at Meadowbank which we must have visited
Remarkably, this is the third date selected for this fixture, in March 1975, when goals by John Fairbrother and Dai
Jones earned City a 3-0 win.
which was originally scheduled for Tuesday 10 November,
but of course our squad’s Covid isolation put paid to that. The above matches were played long before the formation of
A new date of Tuesday 15 December was then announced the present club who started life in the Crawley and District
before the FA decided that the delayed Trophy 2nd Round League as recently as 1999. Amongst the founders was
will be played that evening instead of 5 December when the present chairman and team manager Marc White and he
1st Round will be squeezed in. I hope that you’re keeping has helped the club to a remarkable eleven promotions in just
up! So, very sensibly, the two clubs opted to move our twenty years.
delayed fixture to the vacant Saturday saving City a long Obviously the ground has seen many improvements to
midweek trip. facilitate this rise up through the pyramid and the neat venue
These changes of dates must be frustrating for both Jerry Gill has again been changed since our visit nine months ago
and Paul Williams but also a special mention must be made with the addition of some covered accommodation behind
for Quentin Edwards, our football secretary, who must be one goal. What a shame that our supporters won’t be there
very relieved when each fixture is completed in this strangest to enjoy it…
of seasons. However we will be able to follow the match as usual via
And one small consolation for those supporters who usually the BCIR commentary and may wish to supplement this with
travel to away matches is that the numerous postponements a live stream, details of which can be found at the Dorking
and rescheduling of matches that we are enduring would website.
make it almost impossible to arrange and rearrange
transport. MARTIN POWELL
But I’m sure most of us would like to cheer the team on at
Dorking which will be an opportunity to avenge our defeat
in the play-off eliminator back in July. An 80th minute penalty
converted by Ryan Brunt was City’s only response that day to
first half goals by McShane and Prior for Dorking, who went DORKING WANDERERS RESULTS SO FAR AND
on to lose at Weymouth a week later. Our opponents on THE NEXT FIVE FIXTURES:
Tuesday will find a very different
City team facing them as 11 Sat 3 Oct H Eastbourne Borough FA Cup 2Q 3 - 3
players named in the matchday
squad that day are no longer at Eastbourne Borough win 4-3 on penalties
the Club!
The Wanderers had given warning Tue 6 Oct A Eastbourne Borough National South (3)3 - 0(0)
of their defensive strengths in the Sat 10 Oct H Slough Town National South (2)3 - 1(1)
two league encounters during the
season proper, losing to a solitary Sat 17 Oct A Braintree Town National South (1)4 - 0(0)
Adam Mann goal here at Twerton
and playing out a goalless draw Sat 31 Oct A Hungerford Town National South (0)0 - 2(0)
when we visited Meadowbank in
February. They eventually finished Sat 7 Nov A Dartford National South (2)3 - 2(1)
7th in the adjusted table, 15.6
points behind City. Sat 14 Nov H Tonbridge Angels National South (3)4 - 1(1)
The current season didn’t get off Tue 17 Nov H Dulwich Hamlet National South (0)0 - 0(0)
to the best of starts when Dorking
were knocked out of the Cup by Sat 21 Nov A Concord Rangers National South (1)3 - 1(0)
Eastbourne, but six wins from
eight league encounters sees them Tue 24 Nov H Oxford City National South 7.45pm
currently in second position, with
two games in hand on leaders Sat 28 Nov H Ebbsfleet United National South 3pm
Dartford. Their three home fixtures
have seen convincing wins over Tue 1 Dec H Maidstone United National South 7.45pm
Slough and Tonbridge before Sat 26 Dec H Hampton & Richmond National South 3pm
playing out a goalless draw with
tonight’s opponents seven days Mon 28 Dec A Havant & Waterlooville National South 3pm
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