On Saturday January 17th Hampton & Richmond Borough welcome Dorking Wanderers to Beveree for our first home match of 2026.
The Wanderers come to TW12 sixth in the National League South and have not played since the 3rd of January where they drew 2-2 away to Tonbridge Angels.
Before the draw, they lost to league leaders Worthing in their last match of 2025, which they ended very strongly, winning four league matches on the bounce.
Marc White’s Dorking are a free scoring side netting 43 in the league which is tied with Hornchurch for the third best return in the league, however at the other end of the pitch they have not been as effective, conceding the most goals in the top ten.
Amidst an injury crisis, Dorking have brought in two players to help bolster their ranks ahead of Saturday.
31-year-old striker Paul McCallum has joined on loan from Eastleigh for the rest of the season, where he was National League top scorer in 23/24 scoring 31 goals and was named their player of the year. So far this season he has made sixteen league appearances for the Spitfires, scoring one goal. He did not feature when we hosted Eastleigh earlier this season in the FA Cup.
Dorking’s second addition is young midfielder Harry Sidwell on loan from AFC Wimbledon who played the first half of the season at Dagenham & Redbridge, making 17 appearances including 76 minutes at the Bev in their defeat in August.
Alfie Rutherford misses Saturday’s clash with a severe ankle injury, and others including Josh Taylor who suffered an ACL injury against Eastbourne Borough at the beginning of December, and Jordan Norville-Williams, will also miss out.
Charlie Carter, Dan Pybus, Jordan Williams, Luke Moore, Jason Prior, Jose Marquez are all doubts, and Niall McManus is currently recovering from injury, playing his first minutes in a while when he came on in the 89th minute against Tonbridge Angels on the 3rd.
Despite their depleted forces the Wanderers still have players to be aware of heading into the weekend.
Striker Patrick Casey has four goals in three starts since joining Dorking in December on loan from Charlton Athletic. The 20-year-old scored 42 goals for Charlton’s Under-18 and Under-21 teams in one season.
Also, the experienced pair of Jimmy Muitt and Dennon Lewis are returning from injury and have 12 goals between them this season so far.
We last played Dorking in the second game of the season, earning an impressive 3-0 victory, protecting a 1-0 lead after going ahead courtesy of an own goal, and scoring two late on to seal the victory including arguably our goal of the season so far when Reece Grego-Cox lobbed Harrison Foulkes from 40 yards out.
It will be a tough test on Saturday, but the boys are eager to get back to winning ways and secure the first three points of 2026.
Make sure you are there to support Alan Dowson’s men, secure your ticket NOW!
Up the Beavers!
By Jack Lonergan