Good half & bad half for Magpies

Regular contributor and Dorchester Town fan STUART VOSS of The Same Old Few podcast, gives his opinion on the Magpies’ season of two halves.

In my pre-season preview, I said I’d take a twelfth place finish and a cup run, after some recent dire seasons. Well, thirteenth and no cup run was what we got. Still a marked improvement, but it could have been a lot more. An excellent first half of the season found us in the playoff positions in late January and had us hoping for an exciting finish to the season, but our form fell off a cliff. So, although we’ve made undoubted progress from this time last year, it did leave us feeling a bit deflated come the final day.

Plus points were the new signings who fitted in well with, Shaq Gwengwe, Jordan Ngalo and Kieran Douglas particularly impressive in my opinion, our home form was hugely improved, and Charlie Gunson was excellent all season. However, our goal difference was awful and was in the minuses even when we were in the top five, away form was woeful, and our capitulation in the latter half of the season was really disappointing after such a good start. All in all, it’s still a vast improvement on last season, albeit with a slight asterisk given how we showed such early promise before reverting to old habits. Keep the core of this squad and make some good additions and we can further improve next season. Up the Magpies!

Seven Juniors turned out in the rain at Luckfield Lake for the second round of the DDAS Junior championship. Changeable conditions made the fishing unpredictable, forcing the juniors to target the smaller species in most pegs. The sun did come out in the middle of the day as did some very nice-looking roach and perch.

Fishing close in with maggots seemed to be the best method and Austin Scott-Kennedy looked odds-on to win the day until reigning champion, Jack Copp, pictured, rolled the dice to try to catch some carp. He managed to find two hungry fish boosting his weight by 19lbs. Former champ Oliver Smith had a steadier day by quietly sneaking some good fish without many seeing. The rain returned in the end, but not that Jack noticed. He was the winner, weighing 23lbs 9ozs, second was a worthy Austin ScottKennedy weighing 13lbs 3ozs, and Ollie was third weighing 6lbs 14ozs. The top three all win vouchers to Alan’s Angling in Dorchester. Our next event is at Todber Manor on Saturday, May 13. Please see ddasjuniors.co.uk for details.

Dean lands Chesil Champs

Dean Francis scooped the coveted Chesil Champs, landing a super small eye ray to pip leapfrog Mike Taylor. The 48th running of the tournament took place between Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock, and the Dragon’s Teeth, Abbotsbury, with the 69 entrants finding conditions very challenging.

Dean, who runs the

Facebook group Fishing Tales and Friends, has been sea fishing for around four years but only started match fishing in the past year. Dean said of his win: “It’s a dream come true, winning the Chesil Champs. It was my first time fishing the match and being 48 years old and winning the 48th champs is very special to me.”