Chris Flood celebrates his first goal for Dorchester
DORCHESTER TOWN
1	Regan Coward
2	Kyle Critchell
3	Neil Martin
4	Mark Jermyn
5	Nathan Walker
6	Gary Bowles
7	Nick Crittenden		45
8	James Coutts
9	Ryan Moss
10	Chris Flood
11	Steve Devlin
Substitutes
12	Jayden Stockley		45
14	Jamie Frampton
15	Rico Wilson
16	Jake Smeeton
17	Jamie Gleeson
WELLING UNITED
1	Mitchell Walker
2	Jamie Coyle
3	Jack Obersteller		42
4	Andy Sambrook
5	Graeme Andrews
6	Jack Parkinson		46
7	Joe Healy
8	Lee Clarke
9	Lewis Cumbers
10	Andy Pugh
11	Loick Pires
Substitutes
12	Jordan Johnson		42
14	Liam Bellamy
15	Anthony Acheampong
16	Jamie Day		46
REFEREE
T. Wood (Quedgeley)

Saturday 29th January 2011
		Dorchester Town	3
		Bowles 20, Crittenden 24, Flood 38
		Welling United	3
		Clarke 5, Cumbers 31, Pires 68

Coward's agony

by Rob Meech

Dorchester Town tumbled closer towards the Blue Square Bet South drop-zone after being held to a 3-3 draw by Welling United.

An incident-packed affair at the Avenue Stadium saw the two sides share six goals and finish with 10 players apiece, with Gary Bowles sent off for the hosts.

While spectators received full value for money, Ashley Vickers will wonder how his charges let a golden opportunity to record their first win of 2011 slip through their fingers.

One man who literally let the ball slip through his fingers was gloveman Regan Coward, to whom blame was attached for Welling’s three goals.

He endured a forgettable afternoon between the sticks and has surely never made a more calamitous mistake than that which enabled the visitors to draw level at 2-2.

Bowles, Nick Crittenden and Chris Flood all hit the target for Dorchester, but their goals were enough for just a share of the spoils.

And the upshot is the Magpies are now level on points with third-bottom St Albans City – out of the relegation zone by virtue only of their superior goal difference.

Manager Vickers made one alteration to the side that lost 1-0 at home to Basingstoke Town on Tuesday night, with Flood replacing fellow loanee Jayden Stockley up front.

Within five minutes Dorchester were behind when Lee Clarke pounced on a handling error from Coward and fired the ball home from close range.

The county town outfit sought a swift riposte and after a thunderous drive from midfielder James Coutts had sailed narrowly over the woodwork, parity was restored.

An inswinging free-kick from Steve Devlin was met by Bowles, whose deft header six yards out beat gloveman Mitchell Walker at his near post.

Just four minutes later the hosts were ahead after excellent hold-up play from Flood enabled Critten-den to sidestep one challenge and finish crisply.

A punch of the air from Vickers underlined his delight, but soon afterwards he no doubt felt like punching a brick wall in sheer disbelief as Coward served up a goal on a plate.

An innocuous ball out of defence was running straight through to the keeper, who instead of clearing his lines, tried to marshal it into his box.

However, he inexplicably spilled the ball and it was seized upon by Louis Cumbers, who accepted the straightforward task of rolling it into an unguarded net.

Vickers looked on aghast from the dugout, but a shell-shocked Coward must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when Dorchester re-established their lead seven minutes later.

Crittenden wriggled past one defender before crossing for Flood to head in – via the underside of the crossbar – his first goal for the Magpies.

The pendulum had now swung back in the home side’s favour, and they were handed another boost when Joe Healy was shown a red card for flattening Nathan Walker.

A free-kick had been awarded to Dorchester and when Walker went to grab the ball, Healy lashed out and was rightly given his marching orders.

However, the premature exit of Crittenden affected the Magpies’ balance and shape, with Stockley forced to operate on the right flank instead of in his favoured attacking position.

Chances to extend the advantage went begging for Dorchester, who paid a heavy price for the profligacy when the visitors levelled once more on 68 minutes.

Coward could only flap at a free-kick from Welling player-manager Jamie Day, and Loick Pires was on hand to head home the loose ball.

Despite their numerical disadvantage and having offered little in the way of attacking threat, United were suddenly back on level terms with some 20 minutes to play.

Next it was Dorchester’s turn to be reduced to 10 men when Bowles lunged into a late two-footed challenge on Pires, for which the referee had no hesitation in brandishing a red card.

An acrobatic save from Coward denied Jamie Coyle while at the opposite end, skipper Mark Jermyn so nearly applied the final touch following a defensive mix-up.

It looked as though Flood was to cap a man-of-the-match display with a dramatic winner on 90 minutes when he skipped past three defenders.

His subsequent shot took a wicked deflection and seemed destined to nestle in the net, only for Welling’s custodian to somehow pluck the ball out of the air with one hand.

Andy Pugh almost snatched all three points for the visitors, but despite securing a draw against a top-six side, the alarm bells will now be ringing that little bit louder for Vickers.

	MATCH STATS
13	TOTAL ATTEMPTS	7
6	ATTEMPTS ON TARGET	4
7	ATTEMPTS OFF TARGET	3
0	HIT WOODWORK	0
6	CORNERS	3
0	OFFSIDES	2
14	FREE-KICKS CONCEDED	9