Dartford v St Albans City Sun 7 May 2023 @ 12.30

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Have to agree with that Ajax. And regarding your third point, they just don’t seem to know what is & isn’t a foul & get conned too easily by blatant cheating of the utmost shithousery which seems to becoming the norm now!!

Myself and Tony H are coming out of retirement! We’ve had enough!

[M1 South]

Is it possible to referee after 5 x pints of Moretti I wonder??

[Taunton Dart]

Is it possible to referee after 5 x pints of Moretti I wonder??

They'll still probably be better than the current clowns song the job....

[M1 South]

Have you seen SD & Tony H?? I think they were the 2 x linesmen in the Wembley White Horse final?

[Spike]

The three things that sums up our season are as follows:

1. Too many soft goals conceded.
2. The ratio between chances created and converted unacceptable.
3. The general standard of refereeing in the National South piss poor.

Those points are all true Ajax, but in my honest opinion, if we are going to look back over the season to find reasons why we didn't go up, the elephant in the room has to be recruitment and the fact that there has been, all season, obvious areas of weakness within the squad. I appreciate this was, to some extent, down to Dowse arriving late to the party, but even allowing for this, I think it's fair to say that most of us were still a little disappointed with the squad at the start of the season. Having said that, there's no denying that Dowse did a fantastic job restoring harmony and rebuilding morale and certainly got everyone at the club working together again. Tactically he seems very astute and his substitutions and tactical changes have often paid dividends. However, in my view, his biggest achievement was getting a barely above average looking squad to finish in second place. I'm not knocking the players as they got 2nd on merit and deserved it more than anyone else and in doing so, I feel they significantly over-achieved. So all things considered, Dowse has done a bloody good job overall and with a little bit of luck, even with our faults, we might still have nicked that promotion. Dowse now has the time he didn't get last year to bring in a some quality players to add to the ones we already have, and to assemble a squad that can mount a serious challenge again next season. That being the case, I think we should be optimistic.

[The 5th Searcher]

That was definitely a cast iron penalty for handball, 100%.
How the referee never gave that I don’t know.

[Sleightly Deceptive]

That was definitely a cast iron penalty for handball, 100%.
How the referee never gave that I don’t know.

I know!

[Dave T]

The three things that sums up our season are as follows:

1. Too many soft goals conceded.
2. The ratio between chances created and converted unacceptable.
3. The general standard of refereeing in the National South piss poor.

Those points are all true Ajax, but in my honest opinion, if we are going to look back over the season to find reasons why we didn't go up, the elephant in the room has to be recruitment and the fact that there has been, all season, obvious areas of weakness within the squad. I appreciate this was, to some extent, down to Dowse arriving late to the party, but even allowing for this, I think it's fair to say that most of us were still a little disappointed with the squad at the start of the season. Having said that, there's no denying that Dowse did a fantastic job restoring harmony and rebuilding morale and certainly got everyone at the club working together again. Tactically he seems very astute and his substitutions and tactical changes have often paid dividends. However, in my view, his biggest achievement was getting a barely above average looking squad to finish in second place. I'm not knocking the players as they got 2nd on merit and deserved it more than anyone else and in doing so, I feel they significantly over-achieved. So all things considered, Dowse has done a bloody good job overall and with a little bit of luck, even with our faults, we might still have nicked that promotion. Dowse now has the time he didn't get last year to bring in a some quality players to add to the ones we already have, and to assemble a squad that can mount a serious challenge again next season. That being the case, I think we should be optimistic.

Agreed Spike, particularly your point on recruitment. I also found it a little odd when Dowse took a swipe at a couple of players for being "comfortable in the treatment room" and "not wanting to play 45 games". When he signed Wall and Sheringham at the start of the season, a few of us questioned their fitness records in recent years!!!

My view is the lack of a 20+ goal striker cost us dearly this season. Also, other that Bons and Connor, we had no strong central spine to the team this year, and l hope that a tough ball winning central midfielder and a proven goalscoring striker are top of Dowse's shopping list this summer.

Having said that, l do feel Dowse is the right man for the job, and he certainly exceeded my expectations with the squad. But he really needs to get his recruitment right for next season.

[Mark Sweet]

The three things that sums up our season are as follows:

1. Too many soft goals conceded.
2. The ratio between chances created and converted unacceptable.
3. The general standard of refereeing in the National South piss poor.

Those points are all true Ajax, but in my honest opinion, if we are going to look back over the season to find reasons why we didn't go up, the elephant in the room has to be recruitment and the fact that there has been, all season, obvious areas of weakness within the squad. I appreciate this was, to some extent, down to Dowse arriving late to the party, but even allowing for this, I think it's fair to say that most of us were still a little disappointed with the squad at the start of the season. Having said that, there's no denying that Dowse did a fantastic job restoring harmony and rebuilding morale and certainly got everyone at the club working together again. Tactically he seems very astute and his substitutions and tactical changes have often paid dividends. However, in my view, his biggest achievement was getting a barely above average looking squad to finish in second place. I'm not knocking the players as they got 2nd on merit and deserved it more than anyone else and in doing so, I feel they significantly over-achieved. So all things considered, Dowse has done a bloody good job overall and with a little bit of luck, even with our faults, we might still have nicked that promotion. Dowse now has the time he didn't get last year to bring in a some quality players to add to the ones we already have, and to assemble a squad that can mount a serious challenge again next season. That being the case, I think we should be optimistic.

Agreed Spike, particularly your point on recruitment. I also found it a little odd when Dowse took a swipe at a couple of players for being "comfortable in the treatment room" and "not wanting to play 45 games". When he signed Wall and Sheringham at the start of the season, a few of us questioned their fitness records in recent years!!!

My view is the lack of a 20+ goal striker cost us dearly this season. Also, other that Bons and Connor, we had no strong central spine to the team this year, and l hope that a tough ball winning central midfielder and a proven goalscoring striker are top of Dowse's shopping list this summer.

Having said that, l do feel Dowse is the right man for the job, and he certainly exceeded my expectations with the squad. But he really needs to get his recruitment right for next season.

On the first point you could argue that both Wall and Sheringham were both signings as a result of Dowse coming in late, and were the best available at the time. Not knocking them, they both scored important goals throughout the season. I'd be very surprised if both were retained for next season.

I fully expect a large turnover this summer as Dowse makes the squad his own but like everyone else fully believe he is the man to take the club forward and will support his signings as everyone should.

[Sleightly Deceptive]

I’m certainly looking forward to Dowse making his mark on the 23/24 season squad. I have a feeling it will be quite substantial.

[Dart of Herts]

It took a couple of days to bring myself to watch the highlights. In 12 seasons following the Darts this was the first playoff game I’d actually made it to.

Disappointing goal to concede. Flat-footed defending from Smith who should have booted it away before it reached the goalscorer. That’s very easy for me to say in hindsight though.

I didn’t see in real time either at the match or on the highlights whether it was a handball in extra time. It was only when slowed I could see that it was. Apart from that I actually think the referee controlled the game well.

Still upset but I actually fancy our chances next season even with Torquay and Yeovil in the mix

COYD

[The 5th Searcher]

Not only did the referee miss the clear handball but he completely cocked up by not giving their central defender a straight red card when he pulled Harvey back who was clean through on goal.
He was the last man and should’ve walked but instead the ref bottled it and only gave a yellow.

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Not only did the referee miss the clear handball but he completely cocked up by not giving their central defender a straight red card when he pulled Harvey back who was clean through on goal.
He was the last man and should’ve walked but instead the ref bottled it and only gave a yellow.

The referee was poor from start to finish. As usual, all about him. The same buffoon that spoiled the game in our win at Slough!

[rick]

The referee was poor from start to finish. As usual, all about him. The same buffoon that spoiled the game in our win at Slough!

According to my records, he was the ref at this match:

Chelmsford v Dartford Sat 3 Dec 2022 FT 1-0 Att 881
Booked: Rodari, Carruthers
Team: Mair, Wynter, Carruthers, Essam, Bonner, Murtagh, Rodari, Statham, Fonkeu, Sheringham, Odaudu
Subs used: Allen, Wall, Coulson
Bench warmers: Young, Campbell
Match Official: Ruebyn Ricardo

The ref at the Slough match was: Farai Hallam

[Sleightly Deceptive]

The referee was poor from start to finish. As usual, all about him. The same buffoon that spoiled the game in our win at Slough!

According to my records, he was the ref at this match:

Chelmsford v Dartford Sat 3 Dec 2022 FT 1-0 Att 881
Booked: Rodari, Carruthers
Team: Mair, Wynter, Carruthers, Essam, Bonner, Murtagh, Rodari, Statham, Fonkeu, Sheringham, Odaudu
Subs used: Allen, Wall, Coulson
Bench warmers: Young, Campbell
Match Official: Ruebyn Ricardo

The ref at the Slough match was: Farai Hallam

I sit corrected Rick. Thanks. Nevertheless he was ‘right up there’ with Hallam! I missed that Chelmo game. But, oddly enough, the best ref I’ve seen at this level was the dude at last seasons 0-0 draw, against ten men for most of the game, at Chelmo - despite us not being awarded a blatant pen!

[Watling Man]

Let’s archive this thread now - time to move on and looking at what lies ahead.