We need to talk about Sam Dalby

[Wanderlust]

Scored a great header and then……nothing.

There have been two recurring themes in conversation about him:

1. He isn’t getting the right kind of service. Well I’m still not convinced he’s that lethal when he does, although TBF his opportunities have been few and far between but it has to be a very specific kind of service as he’s not very mobile.

2. Get him on to hold the ball up when we need an outlet. From what I’ve seen he has the touch of a rapist and the ball just bounces off him or he misplaces the lay off. And he is slow  getting to the ball in the first place compared to Burstow. If Burstow is knackered and we’re under the cosh, wouldn’t we be better off sticking someone quick and annoying like ACD to chase down clearances into space rather than have Dalby get into a wrestling match on the few occasions the clearance actually comes in his direction? Or a combo player with a bit a pace and strength when required like Taylor?
 

There was a moment during McAtee’s cameo yesterday when we were defending our box and McAtee brought the ball down with an incredible touch, slipped it to Dalby and ran into space for the return - and Sam passed what should have been a routine ball straight to a Luton player. Frustrating.

So what’s the story? Do we change the way we play to suit him better? Does he need to improve his fitness, speed and touch to fit the way we play? Is he carrying an injury? Or do we write him off as a poor signing and move on?

[wakey]

11 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Or do we write him off as a poor signing and move on?

Jesus wept.

Dalby's been unlucky in the timing of his injury / missing pre-season / Burstow's performances restricting him to cameos.

Plus the game situation on a few of the recent times he has got on hasn't suited - he wins his fair share of headers but nobody anywhere near him to pick up the pieces.

Lad'll be desperate to impress and stake his claim, and that probably doesn't help.

I reckon he'll be fine, just needs a little patience.

That said, I'd want to see him grab the chance Tuesday / next week when he should get back-to-back starts.

[Big E]

I am not writing him off but it’s very CMG folk pretending he’s done bits since he has arrived. Apart the from the goal he’s added very little.

no pre season and injury set him back. That being said it is December tomorrow. So surely he’s up to speed now 

[Farnywhite]

He was brought in as the main striker in the summer luckily we were able to get burstow in late in the window otherwise we would of been in the shit we’re getting towards the half way mark and seen almost nothing from him needs to step up this month and prove himself with a few starts and 90 minutes starting next Saturday good opportunity for him 

[Deanu]

He's not really done anything but then again it's pretty unfair to judge him so far, he'd missed all pre-season playing catch up & has pretty much been coming on to do a bit of donkey work in limited minutes so he's not had chance to even get in any sort of rhythm so far. If he has a spell in the team & racks a few consecutive starts together then we'll see 

 

[L/H White]

Hopefully he comes good, but he's a cart horse unfortunately 

[Wanderlust]

13 minutes ago, Deanu said:

He's not really done anything but then again it's pretty unfair to judge him so far, he'd missed all pre-season playing catch up & has pretty much been coming on to do a bit of donkey work in limited minutes so he's not had chance to even get in any sort of rhythm so far. If he has a spell in the team & racks a few consecutive starts together then we'll see 

 

Yup - that’s pretty much where I’m at with him - hence asking the question. I keep hoping it’s the next game when he comes good, but that can’t go on forever.

[Leyther_Matt]

I want to like him, I really do. But he’s getting an incredible amount of minutes for incredibly little return. I think the best we can hope for is the odd addition to his goal at Huddersfield and move in to a Wilbraham-like cult figure status, but that feels a long way away just now.

As we seem to just use Dalby as a like-for-like for Burstow, I’d love us to have a go at getting Lyndon Dykes in January from Birmingham. He’s keen to get away so he gets regular games ahead of the World Cup, would be likely in our wage pool given the talk of him going to the Scots Prem and would arguably be an upgrade on Burstow, never mind Dalby. 

[TM Trotter]

There's nothing about him that is an improvement on Vic.

Bitterly disappointing signing. 

[Big E]

Nobody wants him to fail. If he fails we fail. he’s returning exactly what his career stats say he would return. 

[Kane57]

1 hour ago, TM Trotter said:

There's nothing about him that is an improvement on Vic.

Bitterly disappointing signing. 

Which still makes him better than Vic

[Dr. Feelgood]

2 hours ago, wakey said:

Jesus wept.

Dalby's been unlucky in the timing of his injury / missing pre-season / Burstow's performances restricting him to cameos.

Plus the game situation on a few of the recent times he has got on hasn't suited - he wins his fair share of headers but nobody anywhere near him to pick up the pieces.

Lad'll be desperate to impress and stake his claim, and that probably doesn't help.

I reckon he'll be fine, just needs a little patience.

That said, I'd want to see him grab the chance Tuesday / next week when he should get back-to-back starts.

Except he has no real history of success in previous clubs apart from a very purple patch last year for Dundee Utd.

Full record, by age 25, is 200 league games, 35 goals ... 15 of which were in Tayside.

[Zico]

Given his goal scoring record this side of the border his stats for us do not surprise me and I'm glad we've got a goal scorer with a good touch in Burstow which keeps Dalby on the bench 

[Stig]

1 hour ago, Kane57 said:

Which still makes him better than Vic

Just having a big player in the team is so refreshing after the last few years of being bullied that I'm not ready to write him off at all.

I've said it before, but when he comes on I'd have little spells there ACD goes on the left and the left winger (Gale, Tutu, Cissoko) goes to the right and tell them to get crosses in primarily. Don't see what there is to lose, but it might get more of the opportunities where he scored last season in Scotland 

[Tombwfc]

He needs to show something, anything, before I'd worry about changing what others do to suit his supposed strengths. 

I wouldn't rule out him scoring the odd important goal here or there when we're chasing a game, but we badly need another option up front.

Generally he's looked exactly like a bloke who would've been fourth choice target man at Wrexham. 

[ph31]

His goal v Huddersfield has been something of a turning point in our season so far. It was also an excellent finish and the way he grabbed the ball thinking about 3 points rather than 1.

Agree that he has been disappointing and largely ineefective when coming on. He'll be getting some more game time in the next few weeks and I'd love it if he can bang a few more towering headers infront of the away end.

[Zico]

14 minutes ago, ph31 said:

. He'll be getting some more game time in the next few weeks 

Aye, let him start the next two

[Big E]

Fingers crossed the goals come in the cup games. 
 

We can’t be there or there abouts and folk pretending our season turned on his goal. 

 

[gonzo]

We will be signing Hardie in Jan anyway.

[RONNIE PHILLIPS]

18 minutes ago, gonzo said:

We will be signing Hardie in Jan anyway.

Better than resting on our laurels i suppose

[Jol_BWFC]

Can’t really expect him to shine if we’re not playing to his strengths (because we’re playing to the strengths of others). ACD, Gale and JO-T are cutting in from the wings or running to the byline and cutting it back along the deck, not putting in so many crosses.

Occasionally a cross will come in (eg Hudds) and Dalby comes into play, but if we start asking ACD to pump in high balls from the wing, we’re not making the most of ACD’s ability to run at defenders.

Maybe in cups games when we have other wingers, Dalby might get better service.

Edited November 30, 2025 by Jol_BWFC

[only1swanny]

Stats wise 

Dalby has a goal for us every 210 mins of football, 

Burstow has a goal every 200 mins of football

When you consider that Dalby hasn't had a run he's doing OK. He's not had the chance to establish himself in the team.  

[DirtySanchez]

10 minutes ago, only1swanny said:

Stats wise 

Dalby has a goal for us every 210 mins of football, 

Burstow has a goal every 200 mins of football

When you consider that Dalby hasn't had a run he's doing OK. He's not had the chance to establish himself in the team.  

Stats wise 

Burstow has scored 7 goals 

Dalby has scored 1

[Johnnyrotten]

5 hours ago, Big E said:

Nobody wants him to fail. If he fails we fail. he’s returning exactly what his career stats say he would return. 

Not to turn it into a tallest dwarf competition, but Burstow had scored 5 goals in 78 games prior to coming here.  Nobody would look at either player's stats and think they're going to be full of goals.  At the moment they are both living down to the expectation in terms of looking like scoring, and Forss has gone from being a shoe-in championship standard striker to something a few pegs down.  If McAtee started the next game I'd feel like it was an improvement but that's not to say it won't change, that's for SS to sort out either within the squad or in January.

[desperado]

2 hours ago, ph31 said:

His goal v Huddersfield has been something of a turning point in our season so far. It was also an excellent finish and the way he grabbed the ball thinking about 3 points rather than 1.

Agree that he has been disappointing and largely ineefective when coming on. He'll be getting some more game time in the next few weeks and I'd love it if he can bang a few more towering headers infront of the away end.

This ⬆️ 

Big week for Dalby - Bradford and Swindon will hopefully be productive for him.