Wingate & Finchley Sat 18 Jan 2025

[KentC]

And the run continues.
Well done everyone involved.

Onto Saturday, hoping for a good crowd.
Let’s get noisier and more vocal as an entire stadium and make it as difficult as possible for Ricky.
Tough game for is yes but they will know playing at PP is one of their toughest games too.

[Lars Resort]

I'm enjoying this run at the moment because it is so nice to have positives on here and not the negativity of certain types.
Long may it continue.

[Spike]

I think you know a referee is out of his depth when BOTH sets of fans are booing him. This guy totally lost control of the game in the second half and got major decisions completely wrong. The sending off was ridiculous, partly because Okoye had delayed the throw-in by little more than a few seconds, but mostly because the Wingate official off the bench appeared to be deliberately distracting him by standing too close. Then to add insult to injury, Callum Jones was deprived of the most blatant penalty which would have probably taken Darts to a 3-1 lead and sealed the game. Darts fans were understandably upset and the atmosphere was very hostile towards the referee, but never threatening. The fact that he tried to escalate the problem by going over to ask the Wingate bench to send some stewards round to where the Darts fans were mostly gathered behind the goal, just proves what a numpty he was. Fortunately the Wingate officials had the sense not to act upon this as it would have only further antagonised the travelling fans and worsened the situation. The steward who I spoke to thought it was unnecessary and admitted Darts fans had done nothing wrong and that he felt the ref had lost control of the game and was making the situation worse. There was never any threat to the referee's safety or anything like that, despite his best efforts to inflame the situation.

Putting all that aside, Darts yet again found a way to win. This was arguably one of our most satisfying victories of the season as it surely was a classic example of triumph over adversity. Ade Pennock clearly enjoyed it as he was properly giving it large with the fist pumping and celebrating at the end. We could so easily have felt sorry for ourselves and rolled over after the horrendous refereeing errors but the lads didn't do this, instead they defended resolutely and managed to bring home the 3 points. This was an immense win, so satisfying to watch.

MOTM: Callum Jones, who managed to surpass even his own standards working his socks off throughout.

[Lars Resort]

So, this makes winning games an even greater achievement. Not only are we winning ugly in adverse weather conditions but we are now having to play against second rate officials.
Which just about sums up Ade and the lads performances since October and how far we have come as a team.
I just hope the officials are top notch on Saturday against Riccay as obviously this going to be a very important game not just for us but them also.

[Spike]

Another good turn out from the Darts fans, only negative on the whole day was £7.50 for a bleeding small Hot Dog

In all honesty, the sausages at their tea bar were a bigger rip off than Wembley stadium prices. The bloke in front of me ordered 2 sausage rolls and a Bovril. They'd "sold out" of sausage rolls (at 2pm!) so offered him 2 sausages in rolls which he accepted until they tried to charge him £18. He walked off and left his Bovril and food on the counter. Apparently they are "fresh sausages served in a brioche bun" hence the outrageous price. Despite the fact that they didn't take PayPal so I couldn't pay for it in 3 instalments, I did try one. It was okay but nothing special ... and it wasn't a brioche bun either. If you're going to present a sausage as if it's cordon bleu cookery at Michelin star prices, you can't just lob people a 4 inch banger in a bun.

[Park Life]