Goals were right at the centre of Alex Revell‘s mind in summer 2020 as Marcus Dinanga became yet another striking signing. He joined Femi Akinwande, Inih Effiong and Tyrone Marsh as new arrivals ahead of the 2020-1 League Two campaign; Boro’ looking to right the wrongs of the previous campaign where a lack of goals cost us dear. Dinanga is – as Revs says – someone we’d spotted at the start of the corona-lockdown. And, after he did the necessary while on trial with us, the forward put pen to paper in mid-August.
Hard-working, quick pace and a “fantastic finisher”; you can’t ask much more from one of your strikers. Well, you can actually – and that’s actual, real-world goals; legal tender in a competitive setting. The signs looked promising when he came in; a decent goal return in attack for an AFC Telford United side who ended the 2019-20 season in the lower half of National League North. It couldn’t translate to the Football League, however. The opportunities that came Dinanga’s way, limited as they were, saw the player struggle to make an impact.
Two goals in eight starts and a sub appearance isn’t too shabby. But, for Boro’, goals were at a premium all season and the return needed to be greater. After falling down the pecking order and finding himself out on loan at Chesterfield, Dinanga was among our retained in summer 2021. It didn’t last long, however, as a permanent move to Altrincham soon came about – and a chance to re-cut his teeth at National League level.
Marcus Dinanga: Before Boro’
Fresh from National League North at the time of his arrival, Dinanga was with the Bucks after signing on a permanent deal from Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion. He didn’t really get much of a break with the Brewers. But he did make the most of his time out on loan. The first of these spells was in the Northern Premier League with Matlock Town; netting 34 in the 2016-7 campaign and making the Northern Premier League ‘Team of the Season’.
He was also the league’s Young Player of the Year.
After Matlock, it was out on loan to AFC Telford United; his first spell with the club. While with the Bucks, he finished as their top goalscorer for the 2017-8 National League North campaign. It earned him another step up the following season; a loan move to Hartlepool United taking him into the National League, er, National. Like things can be in football on occasion, however, it wasn’t his most productive period. With half of the 2018-9 campaign gone, the Brewers agreed to let him move back to the Bucks – this time ‘permanently’.