MATCH VERDICT

Ian East

Ian reports back from Dorking

DORKING WANDERERS 0-1 TORQUAY UNITED – 15.03.25

SUMMARY

Well what a fun afternoon that was!

Torquay produced the quintessential perfect away performance to pick up a vital 3 points at fellow promotion hopefuls Dorking Wanderers.

After a bitterly disappointing performance against Salisbury on Tuesday a trip to the leagues top scorers probably wasn’t the ideal game to follow it, especially with the stakes so high, but pressure makes diamonds and Torquay’s response was sparkling.

Paul Wotton made a couple of changes from Tuesday, recalling Finley Craske in place of Jordan Thomas and bringing Oscar Threlkeld back in place of Lirak Hasani to partner Dan Hayfield in midfield.

Dorking started the brighter of the teams without really creating a great chance, Torquay happy to sit in and absorb what the hosts could throw at them while looking to break when possible. In a half of few chances Jordan Young whipped a free kick from miles out over the bar while Matt Jay fired a difficult chance over as well. James Hamon had to be alert at the other end to smother the ball away from Rutherford after Hayfield had misjudged a long ball, but United’s defence held firm.

Despite the goalless first half the game was intriguingly watchable, both teams knowing one mistake or one moment of quality would probably win or lose it depending on how you look at it. Dorking rolled the dice first with an early sub in the 2nd half introducing Rhys Murphy for Rutherford but Torquay’s back 4 were having a superb game to a man to keep the hosts at bay.

Then out of nothing Torquay nearly found the opener a ball in from the left by Jay evaded everyone and bounced off the post before Dorking cleared as United tried to scramble the rebound home. Dorking’s best chance fell to Jason Prior but his weak shot was easily grabbed by Hamon.

The game seemed destined for 0-0 but with 7 minutes to go Torquay found that priceless goal. Substitute Cody Cooke wrestled the ball away from the hosts he linked with Jay and drove forward towards goal winning a corner for Torquay. Jordan Young who’d looked the most likely to be the match winner for Torquay then provided the perfect corner delivery taking out defense and goalkeeper and it was Jordan Dyer who rose highest at the back post to thump home the header that sent the 650 Gulls fans into delirium.

You’d have expected the Alamo after that with bodies blocking things and shots flying in but it never materialised. Whatever Dorking did throw forward was manfully defended by messrs Dyer, Dreyer and Craske as United held out relatively comfortably for an outstanding win on the road.

PLAYER RATINGS

James Hamon – 7: Did everything required of him but had surprisingly little to do.

Finley Craske – 8: MOTM See Below

Jordan Dyer – 8: Outstanding probably should have got my motm for the goal and clean sheet but he was absolutely immense.

Sam Dreyer – 8: See above not an easy task against Dorkings front line which is powerful and experienced but Dreyer was outstanding just like his partner.

Jay Foulston – 8: Such a difference with him in the team, solid defender has a bit of quality too had an excellent game against Muitt which not many do.

Oscar Threlkeld – 6: Thought he got better as the game went on and he made a crucial interception in the box late on where he read the danger well. On the flipside he lost a lot of duels in the middle of the park and wasn’t his best game with the ball but still again worked hard for the team.

Dan Hayfield – 7: One mistake in the first half which led to a half chance but he was generally good and worked really hard in there.

Will Jenkins-Davies – 7: Really busy, never gave them a minutes peace and I thought he had a decent game especially defensively.

Matt Jay – 7: Excellent performance, shows his quality at time with the way he looks after the ball or wins free kicks and he puts a shift in.

Offrande Zanzala – 6: The fight was there but he didn’t get much change from their experienced centre backs. I felt we needed Ozzy to hold the ball up a bit better for us than he did and he was replaced by Cooke a little bit late for me, but again like everyone he gave it his all.

Jordan Young – 7: Looked our most likely player to win us the game. Nearly scored the goal of the season in the first half and then provided a sensational ball in for Dyer’s header.

SUBS:

Cody Cooke – 7: Made a difference when he came on, his run set-up the corner we scored from. He also gave us more presence and we won more aerial duels in the 10 minutes he was on than the previous 80.

Jordan Thomas – N/A:

MAN OF THE MATCH – FINLEY CRASKE

I thought he was outstanding, I’ve had a few doubts about Thomas defensively in the last few games and I have no doubts about Craske in that department. He was superb against whoever Dorking tried down that side, he won his aerial battles (a few of them crucial) as we defended corners or balls into the box. He made crucial interceptions to block Dorking breakaways and there was a spell in the second half where he blocked about 3 crosses or shots in a row. Really excellent performance and I’d like to see him make that position his own now.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Just the whole back 4. Craske Dyer Dreyer and Foulston. They’ve limited Dorking (the leading top scorers) to no real opportunities in 94 minutes in a crucial away game. Superb all of them.

TACTICS

A stout and resilient 4-4-1-1 with Matt Jay tucking in behind Ozzy.

OFFICIALS

They were fine in the main only a few yellow cards I can’t think of anything overly contentious in the game.

OPPOSITION

Massively disappointed but thankfully disappointed with Dorking. After the way we played Tuesday, getting sliced and diced by Salisbury, I thought we were in for it today but they created nothing. They try to play pretty football but they aren’t as good as they think they are and we dealt with them relatively comfortably from a defensive sense.

CONCLUSION

It’s a massive result and gets the season back on track after a disappointing Tuesday night. Defensively we were magnificent to a man and while the game should have probably finished 0-0, we didn’t deserve to win it on the balance of play or chances, but as the away side when you shut out the home side you kind of almost deserve that bit of luck to win it (which is precisely what we’ve got) then you take it with both hands. 650 Gulls fans going home happy after taking 6 points off Dorking this season. Not many will do that, we’ve got to follow it up next Saturday now.