Heartache for Dorchester

DORCHESTER narrowly failed to finish off an excellent season with promotion to South West One East at Windsor.

The county town outfit outscored their hosts by two tries to one but conceded too many penalties in their own twenty-two, which allowed the Windsor full-back to kick them to defeat.

Conditions were far from ideal with the playing surface very sticky and a stiff wind blowing across the pitch.

As expected the early stages were cagey with two early penalties for the hosts to one from James Baker.

Once again Dorchester had the upper hand in the scrum and lineout but on this occasion they were unable to take full benefit due to the muddy conditions underfoot.

A third penalty was kicked by Windsor as Dorchester paid the price for playing too much of the game in their own half.

Twenty minutes in and a speculative cross-field kick from the home fly-half was picked off by the ever dangerous Matt Read, who made ground down the right hand touchline before kicking infield. Idris Croft was on hand to beat two defenders to the catch and crossed for the opening try.

Baker failed to judge the wind and the conversion was narrowly missed.

The hosts quickly hit back with a try of their own although there was more than a hint of crossing in the build up and Dorchester were justifiably aggrieved when the referee took no action and allowed the score.

The successful conversion made the score 16-8 at half time.

Dorchester were playing up the slope in the second period but did benefit slightly from the gusty conditions, which Rich Bament started to exploit, kicking into the left-hand corner.

When he launched another penalty into the same corner, Dorchester won the line-out and drove for the line.

They were held up inches short but following a couple of probes, replacement lock Lee King proved to be unstoppable from half a yard. Baker’s conversion then narrowed the gap to a single point.

This proved to be as close as it got with Windsor controlling the ball well and keeping play in the Dorchester half.

As always Dorchester’s defence was outstanding, not allowing the hosts’ a sniff of another try.

However, they did concede another penalty in front of their own posts and also lost Lee Harvey to a harsh yellow card. The penalty was kicked and minutes later the home fly-half slotted a drop goal to open the gap to seven points.

That appeared to have sealed it for the hosts but Dorchester worked themselves one last chance to level the scores.

Another penalty was put into the corner, the lineout was won but somehow the Windsor number eight managed to pilfer the ball and the game was lost.

The visitors were bitterly disappointed to lose but can hold their heads high.

Winning away at Windsor, a side that but for a five-point deduction would have won their league outright, was always going to be a tall order.

They can, however, look back on a season of great progress and hopefully look forward to even better things in the future.

Dorchester: Warren, Chalker (Pengelly 70), Cottell, Skidmore (King 45), C Mitchell, Miners, Newsome, Vivian; D Gower, Bament; Baker (Fry 60), Harvey, Croft, T Gower (Clark 65); Read