Following 2 disappointing first round exits, Dorkinians 3rd team were allowed a third crack at the whip, a chance to put things right, and put things right they did.

It took the visitors a while to get going, looking somewhat shakey at the back on what was a testing pitch on the day. Farncombe enjoyed the majority of the possession in the early exchanges, however it was Dorkinians who broke the deadlock. Steve Cross with some excellent composed play cutting in from the right, beat his man and squared to Hodgson for a simple finish to give the away team an early lead, albeit against the run of play.

Farncombe looked to hit back and a promising run through the middle from their captain and defence splitting pass found their striker through 1-on-1 with the excellent Whitmarsh who saved with his legs. A let off for the visitors. As the half went on, Dorkinians found their feet and began to play some nice football.

The 2nd half arrived and the home side looked to be tiring, Hodgson and the impressive Oram causing big problems to the full backs of Farncombe. Having looked to be struggling to get back into the game, a penalty was awarded to the home side, much to the anger of the Dorkinians back line, as Bangs hadn’t looked to have done a lot wrong. The eventual man of the match Whitmarsh dived well to his left and gathered what was a tame effort from the Farncombe forward, and at this point it looked as though it might be Dorkinians’ day. “I’ll buy you a pint later,” whispered the relieved Bangs.

The game then became stretched and a punt forward found Stone in a battle with 3 defenders, and after some impressive skill, he managed to engineer some space to lob the ball over the keeper to secure Dorkinians’ passage into the 2nd round with a 2-0 win.

A much needed win for the 3rd 11, and a hopeful turning point in a recent poor run of form.