The Dart(s) Board

To say today was a disappointment would be an understatement, especially after going 1 up against a team that hasn't scored all season.

I'm still trying to stay positive, if we learnt anything from last season it's that the season isn't won or lost in the first 10 games as long as we can get some results! But Ebbsfleet do look very strong.

Hopefully today was a one off and Dowse can get the lads going for next week. Worthing will be a huge test as they are still unbeaten.

Fair comments from Dowse, perfectly entitled to say it exactly as he see's it, little point in fronting up to a post match interview and giving glib "manager speak" responses.

Lennylenny wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 6:42 pm Please keep up , I know reading can be difficult, I said chestnut were the whipping boys not Taunton,

You did. It was in that post where you said said you wouldn't be posting on here any more.

If there's one thing that comes across in Dowes's post match interviews then it's his utmost respect for the fans. At this level without the fans you have no club.
Therefore, if there are players who are not up to the task or are under achieving they shouldn't be allowed to hide.

Cannot comment on the game as I missed my first game but seen every other game including preseason games.

I’ve said to many people this team does not excite me like Kingys did,, we have gone from many players to a very thin bare squad in my opinion,, and our bench players do not seem to have an impact when they come on, not sure if Alex Wall is fit or just not interested , Kieren I feel gives away to many balls and to honest if not a little harsh I’m not sure what Charlie will bring to the team when fit.

We are behind with player recruitment just hope we are not to far behind even though I did see JBA is a free agent would love to see him back at the club, I do worry that we do not have the budget this season but also noticed when I was at Bath we seem to have a lot more backroom staff this season so maybe some of the budget has been used on them, but then again I have been told numerous of occasions the budget is the same/bigger than last season.

Hopefully Dowse will get it right and I will be fully behind him like I have been since the mid 70’s supporting this club, I was a Kingy supporter and many people have said after talking to other people it was the right decision but I don’t know them reasons so I can only see it that the club sacked a fairly successful manager who more or less guaranteed play offs each season and it bloody hurts to see other local clubs starting the season well but then again so did we last season and if I remember rightly Maidstone and Dorking did not and both got promoted so still lots of points to play for but we just need to a few adjustments.

Wanted to wait until today and post rather than a knee jerk reaction.

I don’t like to single players out but for me Kieran had his worse game in a Dartford shirt, give the ball away far to much for my liking and not for the first time.

Dowse needs to get out and get some players in that can change the game coming from the bench, as I understand it the budget is under spent so room to bring in a few players.

Luke Allen was MOTM yesterday.

Someone mentioned Alex Wall, for me I don’t think it’s a case that he isn’t interested he is not fit, he missed most of the pre season so hasn’t had any real game time so not going to be at the races but not sure how you put that right, when Kingy was around we organised some friendlies during the week but we don’t have the depth in the squad at the moment to do that so we can get players fit that need game time.

Just a mention to Dan Roberts he tried hard but yesterday it never came off!

And as we know you need to go on a run and can end up top, but we are a long way from that, mid table at best at the moment.

See you Saturday!

I for one would love to see JBA back at the club?
I thought he definitely signed for Aldershot though??

M1 South wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:58 am I for one would love to see JBA back at the club?
I thought he definitely signed for Aldershot though??

My understanding JBA is a free agent and I thought I read somewhere he was at Maidstone preseason but they obviously did not sign him

Is Cameron Broadie injured?

Park Life wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:44 pm

Jonty wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 7:42 pm This season was always going to be a challenge as we are several weeks behind the curve of most teams with the change of management, plus a reduced playing budget.

Jonty me old mate, agree we have a fair bit of catching up to do but hope it's sooner rather than later because today we were..............not very good.

As for the budget, i would check with your sources and i will do the same but i'm pretty sure you couldn't be any further form the truth.


Listened to Dowses interview again and you cant say he's anything less than honest.
However, perhaps an interview right after the final whistle is not always the best time after a performance like today's as i think a lot of this should only be said behind closed doors.
Which is why i will wait until i comment on today's game.

To be fair PL, in the grand scheme of things the difference in budgets between last season ain't big. I was told that it was the same as last season, less the amount paid to the previous management team's severance payment.

The good news is that Dowse still has around 15-20% of the budget still to play with and that a couple of the current squad are on as a pay as you play basis, which ain't a bad thing as it stands. Its quite clear that a couple of players need moving on, especially one of them from last season. Our biggest issue appears to be the depth/quality of the squad, which I hope our manager can find a solution to ASAP.

I wasn't at the game yesterday but I have to agree with you on Dowse's post match comments, I found it hard to watch as he named those players who played poorly, which is something that should stay within the dressing room. He certainly appeared different to his earlier light hearted interview's. Catch up with you next Saturday PL, with the expectation of some positive news on player front.

I've been to all the games so far this season and this was the first one i went to quietly confident of getting a result, how wrong was I.

What a disappointing display from the team and a big drop in performance levels from Tuesday night.
I can't remember the last time we gave away possession so often with misplaced passes and we created hardly anything to make it a day to forget. Our goal came about as a result of a poor back pass and hesitation between their defender and goalie which Rodari took full advantage of and i can only recall one other decent attempt on goal. We didn't control any periods of the game and were pretty ineffective all afternoon.

My expectations for this season haven't changed and they are the same now after this game as they were at the start of the season so it's not sour grapes, but i think Taunton are the weakest team we have played so far and i think they may be in a relegation battle all season, don't forget they hadn't scored a single goal before playing us!! They're a nice friendly club but would have been good to have been able to get a cold draught beer in the bar rather than semi cold cans, then we could have drowned our sorrows better.

We have a core of good players but i've already stated my thoughts on the quality and depth of the squad so i'll leave Dowse to sort that.

MOTM a real tough one and imo only two players are worth a mention. Wilksy for taking a heavy knock early on but carrying on and putting in a decent display and Luke Allen who kept trying to create something with his runs form midfield. Gave it to Luke in the end.

Special mention to our fans who turned out in decent numbers again and gave good support to the team.

So now I’ve had time to think I’ll start with the positives: Rodari scored another goal so hopefully that should give him even more confidence.
Luke Allen, by far, was MOTM and could’ve had a goal from long distance.

Negatives:
It was a terrible performance, couldn’t keep possession, aimless long balls, zero chances.
Subs were ineffective.
We’re dragging along some bodies who simply aren’t good enough for this team.

After listening to Dowses interview he knows what he wants and knows what we need. Let’s hope this week and in the coming weeks it can be put right. It’s still early in the season so I hope this performance was a one off. I can accept losing but not in yesterdays manner.

Onto the next one, COYD!

Dowse seems very sure he knows what the problem is and will aim to fix it very quickly
However if he knows now after only four games why did he start the season with a weakness in the squad
Can he fix it quickly bearing in mind most players are fixed up with clubs and may not want to move
The two full time clubs are in the toptwo positions already so we know our target is 3 to 7 , anything below 7 is a disaster so no pressure then

Probably because he thought he had a half decent squad Rambo. You have to admit you don't know just how strong your squad is until you start to mix it with the rest of the Division. I hope he has the know how to get some good players in because we certainly need a bit of stability and strength in the side.
If we went to Taunton thinking we were going to win the game it was entirely the wrong attitude. But one would hope he wouldn't let them get away with it if that's how the side approached the game.
Let's face it, we are nowhere near the squad we had last season and it shows.
Worthing Saturday, I would hope for a response but I can see no easy games on the horizon.

There is a bit of knee-jerkery going on after this IMO. It’s understandable as we were poor, but Saturday’s game could easily have ended 0-1 but for a five minute self-destruct. Yes, we weren’t very good on the day, but had we played at the same standard as we did in the previous three games, we would have won quite comfortably, so no more than a bad day at the races for me.
To say this squad is nowhere near last season’s is a bit odd, since only the left half has changed in the back five, Coulson and Carruthers have looked decent in the middle and Rodari and Fonkeu have six between them in four which ain’t a bad start. Perhaps we are a bit light out wide and on the bench.

We certainly haven’t started as well as last season - that was always highly improbable - but Dowson is just four competitive games in to his DFC reign so still very early days.

Clutching at straws here but don’t think Rodri should have been given offside in the first half when he scored as the ball came off their man??
Not a good second half from us regardless anyway!!

At the time, standing behind the goal, I thought that it was the wrong decision by the officials - however since my days as a referee so many things have changed around the 'off-side laws' that I now have no clue what is going on. Taunton player clearly played at the ball and put it right in Rodari's path so.......

Having said that the two games I have seen (Bath & Taunton) have seen a solid display with Tom and Connor marshalling the defence really well but there has been an alarming lack of potency going forward. Need some more passion......like the manager and our two central defenders have.

I agree with you on Coulson, Carruthers, Rodari and Fonkeu. Luke Allen and Oduadu also Mickey.

Watching the highlights it does seem that we pressed the self destruct button Saturday.

Having seen the highlights I thought we played some good stuff and no need for major alarm bells as surely two very experienced [ quality] players like Bonner and Murtagh cannot possibly repeat their obvious f... ups for the goals !!!!!!!