Dorchester Town season review 2022/23

Dig a little deeper beyond the canvas, though, and the Magpies may well exhibit a shade of disappointment.

Their eventual placing of 13th seemed unthinkable given how well Dorchester had played throughout the first three quarters of the season.

The Magpies were perched in or around the play-off picture as recently as February.

They took four wins from the opening five games.

READ MORE: Dorchester Town 'ruthless' in Met Police victory

They secured an impressive home victory against promotion contenders Truro, going on to take 11 wins from 21 games at the Avenue.

Charlie Gunson's blockbuster proved the winner against Truro (Image: DOM TANCOCK)

However, a mid-season slump from late January to late March robbed them of that coveted top-half place and exceeding their eighth spot in the 2012/13 season.

It remains their best finish for ten years.

In those fateful two months, Dorchester won just once in 12 matches as they slipped from fifth into the clutches of mid-table.

This season still remains a huge uptick on campaigns gone before, though.

Dorchester had been fighting tooth and nail against relegation in four of the past five terms and were rock bottom when the pandemic forced an early curtailment of the 2019/20 season.

It is easy to forget just how much the Magpies have suffered in the past when taking this season into account.

In Glenn Howes, James Wood, Brian Churchill and Steve Dodge, the Magpies have a coaching setup hungry for success.

Their aspiration is to move the club forward, away from the doldrums of those past seasons.

And, from speaking to manager Howes, he is far from satisfied with 13th.

Back-to-back wins against Hendon and Met Police in the final two games of 2022/23 have injected some positivity going into the summer.

Dorchester won the final two games of their season (Image: IAN MIDDLEBROOK)

Yet, Howes is still mindful of his team being only on the first floor on an escalator ride up to what they hope will be the top of the league skyscraper.

We asked Howes for his thoughts on the recently completed campaign.

He told Echosport: “We’ve had a few meetings behind closed doors and a few weeks ago we were on the back of several defeats on the run. That’s not how we wanted to finish the season.

“Even though we were safe, we could look at mid-table mediocrity and we didn’t want to accept that.

“Credit to the players, because you have to have that motivation and desire to want to go and win a football match, whether there’s anything at stake or nothing.

“We’ve shown that in the last month or so. The Poole Town result was really upsetting.

Poole Town beat Dorchester 6-1 at home (Image: IAN MIDDLEBROOK)

“Bar that, the players have given absolutely everything. It was really important that we finished the season on a high.”

While Dorchester’s blip this season has deprived them of the top-half finish they arguably deserve, Howes did concede progression has been made on previous seasons.

He added: “We’ve definitely progressed. In terms of our points total and position in the league, it’s been a massive plus on what the club has delivered for a number of years.

“For us as a team, and a group, it’s not enough. It really isn’t. We have to be in that mindset that we set out this season to finish in the top half.

“We failed on that. To finish in the play-offs among those big boys is a tall order and a big ask.

“In some respects we feel we’ve failed. We’ve hit two big blips and we’re going to review that.

“But there are a lot of positives to take from this season. You can’t forget this is a young group of players, they’re a new team.

“Invariably, as a whole, they’ve performed and kicked on but they need to build from here. Then it can be deemed as a successful season.”

Cast your minds back to the end of the 2021/22 season, where Dorchester simply wanted to avoid a relegation fight.

Mission accomplished on that front. The next assignment is to finish in the top half.

A good measure of that will be to begin beating the best sides.

Of the top seven, Dorchester only defeated Truro this season.

There is work still to be done and Howes knows it only too well. A fascinating 2023/24 term is therefore in prospect.