With our place in the 2Q Round of the FA Cup secured it is back to league action at Tatnam as we welcome Surrey based Chertsey Town on Saturday ko 3pm.
Chertsey have not made the start to the season that they would have been hoping for, having won just one of their opening 5 matches. That win came on the opening day at Tiverton where they ran out 2-1 winners. (P5 W1 D2 L2 5pts) Their last league match was the 3-3 home draw against league newcomers Uxbridge on Bank Holiday Monday.
They narrowly avoided relegation last season, their first at this level, finishing on 47 points, just one point and a better goal difference than Winchester. The Curfews were our last opponents at The Black Gold last season and our 3-1 win went quite some way to securing our own place in the Southern League Premier South. The reverse fixture at Alwyns Lane was played on a very cold and dark January evening and was Pat & Joe’s first game in charge. Unfortunately, they were not destine to start with a win and we lost that match 2-1.
After avoiding relegation, The Curfews decided on a change of manager and brought in Josh Gallagher, who enjoyed a long and successful career in the non-League game as a determined midfielder. He went on to cut his managerial teeth at Raynes Park Vale, where he took the club from Step 5 to the brink of the play-offs at the higher level.
He recently told the club website: “It’s been great to get my teeth into preparations over the past month or so, I’ve been doing my research on the teams and players that we will be coming up against as well as evaluating what we have here and what was needed to add to it.” He continued, “Having people like Toby Little and Jack Mazzone around has been a big help. Both were part of the team last season; Toby has taken on a player-coach role and he’s been able to give guidance on the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents last season, which gives us something to work from even though there are sure to be plenty of comings and goings in terms of personnel throughout the league this summer.
The Dolphins are certainly, enjoying some good form and are one of five teams on 10 points from the 5 matches played. At home we have won one (Hanwell 1-0) and drawn one (Evesham 1-1) with our only defeat being the 4-3 reverse at Bracknell. We are hard on the heels, at this very early stage of the season, of leaders Sholing and Farnham Town who are both on 11 points and along with Uxbridge are the only remaining unbeaten sides.
Pat and Joe made seven changes on Tuesday night for the cup replay including bringing back Corey Jordan who started his career at AFC Bournemouth where he made his professional debut in a 3-2 defeat to Preston North End in the EFL Cup, replacing Tyrone Mings as a substitute. Whilst being under contract with the Cherries, Jordan had loan spells in the National League with Weymouth and Eastbourne Borough. Following his release from AFC Bournemouth, he signed for Gloucester City before swiftly moving on to Aldershot in the National League where he made 62 appearances over two campaigns there.
For the 2023/24 season, Jordan signed for Gosport Borough and worked under Joe Lea and Pat Suraci in a season where they finished comfortably inside the playoffs in 4th place. After a successful season, Jordan signed for Weymouth for his second spell with the club. We are very pleased that he has signed for Poole for 2025/26.
We are still looking for some consistency, but at the same time we are producing some very attractive attacking football which is giving the supporters some great entertainment.
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington.
