DORCHESTER TOWN 1

Koszela 52

BEACONSFIELD TOWN 1

Bradshaw 51

DORCHESTER Town’s league match with Beaconsfield ended in farcical scenes as freezing fog forced an abandonment after 66 minutes.

A goalless first half saw Leighton Thomas miss a one-on-one for Dorchester after Jefferson Louis had a goal ruled out for offside.

As conditions deteriorated and visibility from the main stand became very gloomy, two goals came in a minute.

Dan Bradshaw’s deflected effort put the Rams 1-0 up before a worldie from Olaf Koszela levelled the scores prior to the abandonment.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 1-1 Beaconsfield Town - how it happened

Dorchester boss Tom Killick made just one change to the side that began the 3-2 defeat at leaders Salisbury last weekend.

Top scorer Shaq Gwengwe was suspended for accumulation of yellow cards, meaning Thomas came into the starting XI.

On the bench, Dorchester introduced new goalkeeper Thomas Percival-Smith into the matchday squad.

He has experience with Hamworthy United, with sources indicating the deal is only short-term.

The only other absentee was Louie Slough, who has been struggling with a hamstring niggle in past weeks.

As a result, Dorchester named only four substitutes against a side they had lost four of their previous five encounters with.

However, with the Rams losing four of their previous five league matches, Dorchester were well in with a chance of victory and threatened at two early corners with headers for Will Spetch and Ollie Haste.

Evergreen striker Louis then had the ball in the back of the net for Beaconsfield seven minutes in, only to see his header ruled out for offside.

Beaconsfield were a constant threat from set-pieces and should have gone 1-0 up on 15 minutes.

Joe Morrison’s effort was blocked by a prostrate Tom McElroy before Asher Yearwood lifted a poor shot over the bar from the rebound.

Dorchester responded when Koszela, full of running all afternoon, raided down the left, cut inside and supplied Thomas whose curling effort lacked power.

His attempt was Dorchester first shot on target but the winger should have opened the scoring midway through the half.

Pedro Borges engineered a clever flicked header to set Thomas away for a one-on-one wit Rowley but, in attempting to lift the ball over the keeper’s dive, he scuffed the shot well wide.

Back came Beaconsfield as McElroy pulled an attempt wide and Louis nodded tamely at Adam Forster.

Play then dipped into a ten-minute lull before Ngalo whistled a 25-yarder wide and Zidan Akers beat Drew Eccott-Young for pace before cutting inside and firing wastefully over.

However, the pre-match fog became gradually worse during the half-time break.

The conditions played their part in both goals, which came within a minute of each other in the second half.

First, Bradshaw’s 25-yarder was deflected and Forster appeared to react late in the murk, only getting a hand to it before watching the ball trickle over the line.

And Koszela’s spectacular effort from 35 yards proved an opportunistic one, sending it high into the fog before nestling into the top corner, with Rowley well beaten.

Play continued for only another 14 minutes, with a chaotic Dorchester chance appearing to be the tipping point for the officials.

Corby Moore pumped a long ball into the box at the Bypass End and Rowley again got nowhere near it before Thomas was twice blocked in a goalmouth scramble.

Referee Paul Barber then had a brief talk with Magpies’ boss Tom Killick and Rams joint-managers Neil Baker and Jon Underwood before blowing his whistle for full-time.

Magpies: Forster, Eccott-Young, Haste, James, Spetch, Ngalo, Moore, Borges, Fletcher, Thomas, Koszela. Subs not used: Toms, Percival-Smith, Waterfield, Turner.

Beaconsfield: Rowley, van Aurich, Neville, Kpohomouh, Bradshaw, Yearwood, Akers, Morrison, McElroy (Gardiner-Smith 60), Louis, Payne (Granville 60). Subs not used: Togwell, Leon, Dymott.

Referee: Paul Barber.