24/02/2007 - Braintree Town 3 Dorchester Town 1

There was a nice symmetry about visiting Cressing Road on Saturday, even though I had planned to go to Thurrock for a tick.

The Iron were playing Dorchester Town who I had visited last weekend on my south coast holiday and so I thought it would be interesting to see how the Magpies would fare against a Braintree team who are still challenging for a place in the Conference South play-offs.

Oddjobs around the house and the impending visit of the gasman meant that I couldn't stretch out to Thurrock and I ended up leaving for Cressing Road at about 2.55pm.

I would have made it in before kick off were it not for the fact that a lot of rain had left the car park half unusable and I had to turn around and park down a side street.

Anyway it was still nil-nil when I got in although just after I took up a position on the terrace, Braintree took the lead.

Left back Mark Jones picked up the ball about 35 yards out and let off a low shot which wormed through a crowd of players and slipped past Dorchester keeper Simon Evans who really should have done better.

Ten minutes later and Chris Sullivan was on hand to score Braintree's second, an excellent run followed by a curled effort which beat the Evans comfortably.

And then on 37 minutes, club captain Brad Quinton effectively ended the match as a contest with a third.

The bizarre thing was that in nearly all areas of the field apart from in front of goal Dorchester were the better team.

Their passing was fluent, their range was superior to the home teams, but their attack lacked that killer edge which Braintree displayed.

Into the second period and it was more of the same, possibly more so as Braintree had definitely taken their foot of the gas.

And the Magpies were rewarded with a well worked passing move which ended in a Justin Keeler side foot into the net on 63 minutes.

This was the shot in the arm that Braintree needed to raise their game and the final 30 minutes was played out which both sides failing to threaten in any great shape.

06/02/2007 - Braintree Town 1 Kidderminster Harriers 3

17/02/2007 - Dorchester Town 1 Basingstoke Town 2

The trip from our campsite in Wareham to Dorchester was an absolute 20-minute doddle, the weather was good and there was none of the trepidation experienced on the previous rain-lashed journey to Eastleigh or the rained-out disappoinment of an aborted midweek visit to Sherborne.

On the way we saw the lads of Bere Regis warming up for a Dorset League Division One match against Cranborne (1-1 apparently) as we slipped around the town's by-pass with bigger fish to fry in the Conference South.

The approaches to the Avenue Stadium in Dorchester are through a Tesco car park and indeed the supermarket giant was apparently responsible for the stadium development which is a magnificent edifice in keeping with the surroundings.

Parking on the far side of the ground near the terraces entrance we walked around to the imposing stadium front and slipped into the bar for a little light refreshment and to study the programme with an hour to spare before kick off.

Once into the stadium we opted to stand rather than sit and were joined by two banks of vociferous supporters - both home and away - who initially were standing at the same end.

Indeed the stewards had to marshal the Basingstoke fans away after kick off as the friendly banter started to degenerate into ritual abuse, but the 'Stoke fans were content to disperse to the other end of the arena in order to give the home keeper some stick instead.

There is no doubt that the Conference South can provide some half decent football, unfortunately the match which unfolded in front of us was the other half, as both teams struggled to make any real impact in dominance or goal threat.

Dorchester - the Magpies - had the best of the first half but spurned the chances which they managed to craft and I contented myself with trying to get a few elusive good action shots.

Into the second half after a bacon roll which could well have been a slice of shoe leather, and a hot chocolate which was all hot and no chocolate.

Not five minutes after I'd mentioned to my Dad that we could do with a goal - an away one at that - and my wish was granted.

Basingstoke had been soaking up the pressure and hitting Dorchester with a couple of neat counter attacks and this was the case as they took the lead midway through the second half.

The Dorchester faithful started moaning and groaning and calling for changes and the Magpies swiftly made a double substitution which bore fruit, when one of the men who came on was brought down outside the box.

The resulting free kick was whipped in and fumbled by the Basingstoke keeper with a Magpie forward gobbling up the rebound.

But just as the game looked as if it would peter out as a one-all draw, Basingstoke pulled off the best passing move of the match to grab an all important winner.

Three crucial points heading back to Hampshire which sees Basingstoke now within one win of escaping the drop zone.