Dorkinian’s travelled to Caterham to face the league leaders without their regular keeper on a chilly Saturday morning. Despite the deceptively casual warm up, Dorkinian’s started the brighter side and went ahead early with a break down the right-hand side that ended in a clinical strike into the roof of the net from Nikko. The lead wasn’t maintained for long as the troublesome Caterham winger used his pace to break free and beat Rhys (the stand in keeper) to his right, having got a hand to his strike. A blow to the visiting side shortly followed as Rhys picked up an early injury and had to be replaced. A quick reshuffle saw Will between the sticks and a solid performance across the pitch from the visiting side saw spells of them soaking up pressure and creating chances on the break. The most notable being Arthur BS whose marauding run down the wing saw his goal bound effort cleared off the line. With chances squandered at both ends, the score line remained 1-1 at half time.

Thanks to the magic of Sian (the teams newly found matchday physio), Rhys was fit to return to action in the second half. Nikko continued to threaten the Caterham defence with his pace and early into the second half broke away in a magnificent solo run to get ahead of the Caterham defender and unleash a powerful strike to beat the oncoming keeper to give Dorkinian’s the lead. Dorkinian’s started to take control of the game when again Nikko got the better of his man and looked to have been scythed down in the opposing penalty area. The referee had a different view and waved away claims for a penalty. Not long followed and the Caterham defender’s frustration got the better of him. This time the referee pointed to the spot. Will stood up to take the penalty and casually swept the ball (just) past the goalkeeper to take the score to 3-1. The goalkeeper perhaps disappointed not to have kept it out. As the Caterham heads dropped, Dorkinian’s pushed for another. Further pressure from Dorkinian’s resulted in a corner. The Caterham defence could only clear as far as the predatory Will, who finished well into the corner to surely put Caterham’s chances of getting anything from the game out of reach…..

The last 12 minutes of the game started get scrappy and the discipline the Dorkinian side had kept all game started to fade. A couple of incidents gave unnecessary free kicks away which allowed Caterham to spend more time in Dorkinian’s half. A powerful run from Caterham’s rapid winger saw him finish with an excellent strike into the top right hand corner of the net, leaving Elias with no chance. At 4-2 the Puma’s got their tails up and pushed for another, which they managed to get 7 minutes from time. A nervy end to a well competed match but the Dorkinian’s back line, who had been marshalled by Samuel and strengthened by the new addition of Haidyn, stood firm to take 3 points in an enjoyable encounter that ended 4-3 to the visiting side, leaving them a point off top spot.

Man of the match was a difficult call for coach Andy as Nikko, Leo, and Haidyn all threw their hat in the ring. Nikko’s performance, and resilience from being kicked all over Caterham, afforded him the deserving honours.