Dartford v Aveley - Tue 27 Feb 2024

[Park Life]

1-1

[Park Life]

Pen Aveley

[Park Life]

1-2

[Park Life]

Sub:-
Romain for Box

[Park Life]

FT 1-2
We keep making mistakes which prove costly again.

[rambo]

Oh god

[Mark Sweet]

An absolute disgrace that they've lost that, Burman included.

1 up and pretty much in control, what does he do? Take of our striker who was one of the best players tonight and puts on a f*cking tree trunk.

Switched off on a corner again and they make easy work of it, then a rush of blood by Billy gives away the clearest pen you'll see all season

Up until the first goal we played well but playing well and then doing that isn't going to keep us in the league

The 2nd goal goes in for Aveley and what happens? Exactly the same as Chippenham. These gutless bottlejobs crawl back into their shells and don't even manage a chance stray passes and balls lumped out of play

Irving and the board have a lot to answer for too. Blame the quality of the squad all you want but even Dowse was getting wins with them. What is the point of sacking a well established manager and then leave Burman in charge got months who hasn't managed in years. 1 win against Dover, an absolute farce. Should've kept Dowse and saved their money

Every result went against us tonight mainly Welling winning who actually had a plan when sacking their manager and look to be flying to safety.

We will be an isthmian team next season, and we won't be coming straight back up let me tell you that for free

I'll get stick for this post I'm sure but I'm fed up, we are sleepwalking into relegation

MOTM Clifford.

[Hitchin Dart79]

Think most of what you say is correct. Air of inevitability about that equaliser the longer it stayed 1-0 and then once that goes in we all had a feeling what may happen! Agree with you to an extent-Dowson had to go-but surely even in the weeks leading to his dismissal the board could and should have identified his replacement??

[Lars Resort]

What makes me laugh is there are a few on here expecting Truro and Taunton to have a blow out because they have a backlog of games.
We keep losing which helps them get above us by simply drawing a few games.
As said, damage was done ages ago. I don't think there's a lot anyone can do to keep us up.

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Bloody flipping stinking hell pooh! What the absolute f*ck was TB doing with that double substitution with twelve VERY LONG minutes to go and US looking the more likely to score next! I shit you not, I immediately ‘called’ a 1-2 defeat. There are witnesses. Sadly. Why TB? Why? What on earth was Wall going to contribute? The ONE time he got off his feet for a header it was about a second too early and looked like a comedy act. The next one, he actually stooped out of the way!! If that’s all we have, play with ten for gods sake! f*cking fuming! I really though we’d get out if this mess but to lose in that fashion was criminal when we’d played our best football for ages. For 78 mins. Sorry, but TB got it wrong all day Saturday and made a calamitous decision from a winning position tonight! Negative? Don’t care. Am saying it as I see it!

[MickW]

One nil up and the game under control - Aveley not really at the races then Rooney goes off injured and with no spare central defender we have to change shape.
We looked like a team who had never contemplated being in that position and lost all momentum.
None of the subs improved our position.
The only consolation, if there is one was that Manny showed he should be a regular pick.
I'll be glad to see the back of this season.

[Grassbank]

How did we throw that away.

We had worked hard all evening and were well worth our lead before we switched off and left as player unmarked. All the hard work wasted in a moment and then worse was to come. Sadly, shirt pulling by the Aveley full back was not seen, but the mad challenge by our keeper was. Once again there was an element of bad luck for us with our opponents getting the benefit of doubt from the man in the middle, who I thought had a reasonable match. After the second goal, we could not get past the half-way line, our confidence was so low.

Where will the next point come from? I would not like to predict, but I am certain that our current tally is not enough to guarantee safety.

I fear that relegation would be an absolute disaster and hope that we can produce something to make sure that there are at least four teams below us when the final whistle is blown on our last game of the season.

[oranj]

79 minutes into a good performance we switch off at a corner, leaving an Aveley player unmarked on the edge of the box, who is then able to take a touch and find the bottom corner. Almost instantly our full back doesn’t deal with a high ball and Terrell gives away the penalty. Basics have let us down again. And unfortunately, teams who can’t get the basics right don’t avoid relegation.

We had more than enough chances to be two goals up at half time. Unfortunately only being one goal up with 10 mins to go isn’t enough, which has been the case all season. It’s incredibly tiresome watching the same scenario play out time and time again.

[DA Mikey]

Oh for a team of Coulsons and Boxes. Both of these guys ooze skill in attack and seek back when our opponents press. There is no doubt that tonight’s substitutions rocked the (reasonably steady) ship; Rooney is probably not best suited to CB, but was doing a decent job there and his removal saw Aveley exploit a tumult at the heart of our defence. Again, there was a shout for a shirt pulling offence at the car park end right before Terrell’s rush of blood - as we saw it from 100 yards away - to concede the penalty, so yet more bad luck there, but as oranj points out it is utterly tiresome to see the same thing happen over and over.
I believe we have now taken just four points from the last 27 available so it is beginning to require a miracle with our tough run-in to stay up. Perhaps it will come down to the state of a pitch in Somerset, who knows.

[Park Life]

Bloody frustrating again as tonight mirrored a few of our recent performances where for a big chunk of the game we were pretty good as 4-5-1 clearly suits the players we have and we matched Aveley for virtually the entire game. BUT.........
We can't seem to maintain this for 90 minutes as invariably we make a vital mistake (which we have done in a lot of recent games) and at this level you will be punished and we have been again tonight. This will continue unless we can get a few additions in those key positions and bloody quick, otherwise i fear we may be making the same mistakes for the rest of the season which may well cost us dearly.
The injury to Rooney and his substitution meant we had to reshuffle and this really effected us and again highlighted the lack of options we have in certain positions, but it's not "unlucky" if you keep making costly mistakes.
Really gutted tonight as it's another game where we were so close to getting something so the players have to keep believing and plugging away but i feel we need those additions NOW to give us that little extra we need.
Although we lost some good performances tonight and MOTM for me between Shomotun and Coulson.

Fingers crossed for some news this week on new player(s) or manager which would give us a lift for the vital run in.

[KentC]

As some of alluded to the reaction to the corner when they scored their first cost us.
Let’s be clear, they have two players standing there over the ball, one of our players ( I can’t remember who) trots over, doesn’t sprint. So now it’s 2 v 1 , well he may as well if stayed where he is the because we should have 2 as well , no one called it, ball gets played sideways next to a man completely unmarked on the edge of the box. Couple of seconds later it’s a goal.
This is unacceptable, lazy, disorganised, obvious, I don’t know, you could go on.
This is a massive screw up from our own players. No organisation at all, all very quiet and disorganised.
Either TB is not telling them the right things or they’re not listening, it’s scandalous how we allowed the second goal to happen and shameful.
If we’d defended the corner correctly and actually organised ourselves properly and everyone completely switched on we more than likely don’t give away that goal and possibly still win, instead they had the momentum now and a long ball not dealt with puts them in to get the chance that leads to a penalty.
We’re a complete shambles and it’s right in front of our eyes.
Something is fundamentally wrong here, if this happened in kids football it would be poor and the manager would be angry, this happening at this level is inexcusable.

Can’t believe how angry I am. We have thrown this away and we’ve f****d up this result.

Shambles

[Jonty]

Once again, I cannot fault the effort from the team, they gave it everything against a very organised side. By not extending our lead when opportunities arose was always going to be a problem. Both goals were avoidable and those individual errors cost us the points and I have come to the conclusion that this group of players will take us down unless we get an influx of new signings or a new manager in ASAP. This is no fault of TB, last night he was let down again by a couple of individuals, which will continue until new faces come on board.

On a lighter note, it was good to talk to Skip again and I should also mention Pete Sampson who made his pilgrimage to PP on Saturday. We might not be doing so great on the pitch but at least things are much better on a social level again. I will be looking in regularly as a decision needs to take place immediately. Whether that is with wholesale changes to the team or a new manager to put those changes in place.

[Park Life]

Late twist dents Darts’ survival hopes

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/s ... rd-302509/

Dartford remain dangerously close to the National League South relegation zone after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on Tuesday night.

Caretaker Dartford boss Tony Burman admitted Tuesday’s home defeat to Aveley was a “bitter pill to swallow”.

Dartford remain dangerously close to the National League South relegation zone after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on Tuesday night.

The Darts, still under the management of caretaker boss Tony Burman, appeared on course for a welcome home win after Fumnaya Shomotun’s second-half opener but two goals in a four-minute spell turned the game on its head as play-off chasing Aveley snatched three points.

Dartford had Olly Box back to full fitness so he came into the starting line-up with Luke Coulson revelling in a new role as a second striker. Not for the first time, everything good about the Darts came through their captain.

The first chance of the night fell to Aveley after Jordan Wynter conceded possession cheaply, Kenny Aileru advanced but shot wide from 25 yards after ignoring possibly better options.

Dartford responded and the impressive Shomotun’s right-wing cross was nodded just wide at the near post by Ibby Akanbi.

Then Coulson, who continually found space where little appeared to exist, collected a long ball from keeper Billy Terrell and set up Akanbi but he didn’t have enough height on his lob and keeper Jonathan North - despite not being the tallest himself - was able to make the save.

Another Shomotun cross then created confusion in the Aveley defence and Box turned in Jack Smith’s shot but his celebrations were quickly halted by the offside flag.

Aveley had their best opening midway through the first half after Paul Rooney was caught out at the back but Eduino Vaz’s left-foot shot was well kept out by Terrell.

Darts were creating the better chances, though, and Tyrell Miller-Rodney’s shot was beaten away. Then Terrell’s long free-kick caught the visiting defence napping to pick out Akanbi in the box but his shot was blocked behind for a corner by Siju Odlusi.

Coulson and Akanbi combined to set up Box, who forced another decent stop from North but the Darts headed into the break goalless.

No doubt Dartford fans were waiting for Aveley to punish them for failing to find a breakthrough in the first half and the opening goal nearly arrived on 52 minutes. Vaz got ahead of Wynter in the box and pulled the ball back perfectly for Odlusi, whose goalbound shot was cleared off the line by Rooney. Then Arjanit Krasniqi fizzed a 20-yard free-kick inches over the crossbar.

Just when it looked like the visitors were going to gain a measure of control, Dartford took the lead. Shomotun cut inside on his left foot and arrowed a low shot beyond North into the far corner on 54 minutes.

Aveley immediately swapped to a back four and introduced Kai Brown to their attack.

Coulson’s lovely footwork nearly created a second goal as he appeared to have the ball on a piece of string before exchanging with Smith, only an untimely heavy touch denying Coulson a clear sight of goal inside the box.

Tyrell Miller-Rodney was booked for a challenge on Brown just past the hour mark before Coulson ran at the Aveley defence before seeing his left-foot shot deflect into the arms of the grateful North.

With defensive options already limited, Dartford’s cause was not helped for the final 20 minutes when they lost Rooney to injury. It prompted another reshuffle at the back.

Aveley’s Brown saw his shot deflected wide of the near post but the visitors drew level from the resulting corner. The ball was worked short for substitute Nana Keyi, who scored with his first touches as he drove low into the far corner beyond Terrell with 10 minutes left.

Darts then pressed the panic button as they left themselves one-on-one at the back when they launched their own free-kick into the Aveley penalty area. The visitors promptly broke and, having outmuscled Tom Clifford, Brown was upended in the box by Terrell.

Odlusi sent the Darts keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot and Aveley had a second goal in four minutes to turn the game on its head.

Aveley nearly added a third in stoppage time but Terrell made a smart stop to deny the lively Brown, who had been sent clean through on goal.

The result leaves Dartford just four points above the bottom four, and the teams immediately below them all have games in hand.

Dartford: Terrell, Wynter, Rooney (Maloney 69mins), Adebowale, Clifford, Smith, Miller-Rodney, Coulson, Shomotun, Akanbi (Wall 79mins), Box (Romain 89mins). Subs not used: Wray, Barzey.

Aveley: North, RIng, Vaz, Odlusi, Jones, Gibbs (Brown 57mins), Krasniqi, Terry, Coleman De Graft, Carr (Kelly 66mins), Aileru (Kyei 78mins). Subs not used: Ogunrinde, Eze.

Referee: George Warren.

Attendance: 801.

[Park Life]

Home defeat tough to take for Dartford

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/s ... rd-302509/

Caretaker Dartford boss Tony Burman admitted Tuesday’s home defeat to Aveley was a “bitter pill to swallow”.

The Darts were in control for large parts of the National League South clash. But they pressed the self-destruct button once again, conceding two goals in a mad four-minute spell.

“It’s the same old story, unfortunately,” said Burman. “I’m so disappointed that we’ve lost the game.

“I think it’s team mistakes not just individuals and people have got to take responsibility and try to organise things across the backline. We’ve been punished and that one is a bitter pill to swallow.

“We’ve tried to address it and it hasn’t worked. It’s been there all season, it’s been a lack of concentration.

“They’re where they are for a reason, they’ve got a togetherness about them and get balls into good areas.

“We’ve played better going forward but at the same time you’ve got to win games and we’ve got to pick up points.”

Dartford’s cause was not helped by an injury to centre-back Paul Rooney with 20 minutes remaining. His presence was sorely missed and the subsequent reshuffle clearly upset a threadbare home side.

Burman admitted: “I think Rooney and Manny (Adebowale) did well and when Rooney’s come off we had to reshuffle and instead of doing just one (change) we had to do two or three.

“It didn’t help the situation at all. The lack of concentration in the last 12 minutes is not acceptable, we have to say that. It keeps happening. We have worked hard and it really hurt.

“That’s what happens when you’re at the wrong end of the table. I could stand here and give so many excuses. Results have just not been good enough.”

Burman, who has picked up just one point in four home games during his temporary spell in charge, felt it was an improvement in many ways.

“It’s probably the best we’ve played at home,” he noted. “We’ve done well away from home in a lot of the games but we haven’t got that over my dead body attitude and it takes time to get that.

“It’s a difficult situation that we’re in and if there’s anything to go wrong, then it’s going wrong here at the moment. It’s a tough time, it’s very disappointing that we find ourselves on the losing side.”

Report: Dartford 1-2 Aveley

[rambo]

Gutted with that result and things do look bleak with some very tough games coming up
Must not lose focus and belief as we do have winnable games coming particularly in the last five or six
I still believe we can get 49/50 points but the players fans and Tony must remain focussed and positive