A spirited performance in Wiltshire earned us a 2-0 victory and a third consecutive league win on Saturday afternoon. Newcomer Jose Marquez and Jimmy Muitt were amongst the scoring party, as their duo of second-half goals was enough to add another three points to our season tally.
The triumph came as our second away win of the National League South campaign and extends what has been a tremendous run of form in the last week. It also moves us up to sixth in the table in our bid for promotion.
Salisbury came knocking early on in the game, as Harrison Foulkes was left to clear havoc at the back-post, as a result of Josh Sommerton’s header from a Tommy Willard in-swinging corner.
However just moments later, debutant Jose Marquez got his first highlight in a Wanderers shirt. His curled effort towards the bottom right corner needed to be parried wide by goalkeeper Will Buse to evade an 11th minute opener.
The next 20 minutes consisted of heavy rain and Dorking pressure in Wiltshire, as Marquez continued to intertwine with Alfie Rutherford, Dennon Lewis and Frank Vincent with intent to put us ahead. Although, nothing clearcut emerged for us in the hosts’ penalty area.
Despite our attacking efforts, it was Matty Taylor who almost broke the deficit for Salisbury on the counter attack. The ball trickled towards him in the box, as the forward’s drilled strike forced Foulkes into making another save 32 minutes in.
On the stroke of half-time, a back-pedaling Rutherford tried his luck with a looping header goalwards. But the chance unfortunately whistled over the roof of the net and found us heading into the interval all square.
Half-Time: Salisbury 0-0 Dorking Wanderers
The second half began in a cagey manner, with both sides working to get the ball up the opposite end of the pitch. However, for both cases, each defensive back line stood firm.
Although it wasn’t soon after that we’d find our breakthrough. Dennon Lewis hurled in another enticing cross on 58 minutes, which found Brennan Camp at the back-post who instantly poked the ball back across the six yard box to find Marquez. The Forest Green loanee then slammed the ball into an open Salisbury net to announce himself at Dorking Wanderers and put us a goal to the good. 1-0
The breakthrough was all we needed at the Ray Mac; just 10 minutes later we doubled our advantage, as Camp turned provider again. The full-back’s deflected cross into the box fell kindly for Jimmy Muitt to thump into the roof of the net. 2-0
Despite Salisbury’s pursued efforts to edge one back, we remained compact in defence throughout the late stages and an extensive nine minutes of injury time. Our diligence was then credited with three monumental points on the road, ahead of another busy week of football.
Full-Time: Salisbury 0-2 Dorking Wanderers
We now turn towards another midweek fixture at Meadowbank against Enfield Town on Tuesday night, on top of our away trip to Farnborough next Saturday.
Match Report by Tom Booth