Rebels denied by Dorking 'worldies' as Davies eyes big response in derby at York Road

Scott Davies. Photo credit: Zak Rana

--

Player manager Scott Davies felt the Rebels went ‘toe-to-toe’ with one of the best sides in the National League South during Saturday’s frustrating 2-1 home defeat to Dorking Wanderers.

The home side had the edge on their high-flying rivals for much of the contest and took the lead through Ruben Shakpoke’s first half finish, but they failed to take their chances and Dorking hit back with ‘worldie’ strikes from Charlie Carter and Dennon Lewis.

Speaking after the game, Davies tried to separate the performance from the result and hopes his players can take some confidence from how well they played into their Boxing Day clash at local rivals Maidenhead United.

In general, the Rebels have been playing reasonably well of late, but results haven’t followed suit and Saturday’s loss leaves them two points from safety in 22nd place.

It’s not been the ideal lead into Friday’s clash with the Magpies, with Davies expecting a ‘cauldron-like’ atmosphere at York Road.

It’s the first league clash between the two teams in more than 25 years, and Maidenhead heads into the game off the back of a five-game unbeaten streak hoping to reclaim one of the play-off places.

However, Davies believes his players are more than capable of rising to the occasion.

“Arguably, on paper, we have the biggest game of the season on Boxing Day,” he said. “It’s going to be an unbelievable atmosphere, and we’ll be going into a hostile atmosphere as well.

“A bit of a cauldron. But I’m looking forward to it, the lads will get up for it, and I don’t think our performances, probably since Horsham, have been bad.

“We’ve performed well over the past month, and we’ve not conceded anywhere near as many goals as we were earlier in the season.

“Against Macclesfield we conceded one goal in 90 minutes, today (Saturday) we conceded two screamers, Dagenham we kept a clean sheet. There are things we can do better for sure, but we have a lot of young lads in the team who are doing the best they can.

“But if you look at their goalscorers today, Charlie Carter and Dennon Lewis, they’ve got loads of experience and sometimes they just take that breath in front of goal and that helps them find their spot.

“I’m disappointed because I never like losing a football match, but I don’t think we disgraced ourselves today at all. Marc White just said that he hates playing against us.

“It’s been a frustrating 2025, but we know we’re up against it in this league. We’re playing monsters in terms of budgets and resources, but we know we can compete in different ways, and we’ve done that quite well over the past three years.”

Saturday’s home display against Dorking was much better than the result would suggest. Had they managed to grab a second goal when well on top of their visitors, the result would surely have been very different, but Davies was satisfied that his team were able to limit Dorking to a handful of half chances.

“I thought we went toe-to-toe with arguably one of the best sides in the league and that we had the better chances,” he told Connor McNeish for sloughtownfc.net. “The second goal was always going to be crucial in the game and we didn’t get it.

“They’ve then hit two worldies but there are obviously ways we can prevent that. Me going to the first one and the second one we’ve just got to get to the ball quicker. That’s two games, the Macclesfield game as well, where there’s been a great strike and we didn’t get to the ball.

“People will say, let them shoot from there, but you can’t. You’ve got to do the basics of football and get to the ball and shut your man down.

“Basil (Tuma – on loan from Reading FC) going through, 10 minutes before their goal, was a big moment. It was disappointing he didn’t score but his overall performance was very good, so there’s no blame towards him. He brings bags of energy and quality. He’s coming from a League 1 club. At times he makes it look easy when he goes passed people. He’s really bought into what we’ve asked him to do alongside Bougnis as well. Basil will be disappointed he didn’t get his goal. He pulled off the shoulder today and it was just a shame the keeper has made a great save. Against good teams, you need to bury them and give yourself that breathing space.

“Overall, we’re hugely disappointed in terms of the result, but performance wise we limited them to very little. I can’t remember too many clear cut chances for them. But they scored from two great strikes from outside the box and that’s what good teams can do to you.”

Davies was also impressed with Tuma’s strike partner and goalscorer on Saturday, Shakpoke, revealing he wouldn’t have brought him off if he hadn’t picked up a yellow card.

“I thought he was very good, but we had to take him off because he gets a cheap booking,” added Davies. “His finish was very good, he’s 21 years old and I think he’s going to be a hell of a player, that’s the truth.

“He probably needs to get fitter because he hasn’t played as much as some of the other lads this season, but we need to make sure we look after him at the same time. He’s been a great addition to the squad. I think he’s going to be a real bright spark from now till the end of the season.”