Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Man of the Match

Poll ended at Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:56 pm

Ben Dudzinski
1
3%
Jordan Wynter
1
3%
Connor Essam
2
5%
Tom Bonner
15
41%
Luke Coulson
0
No votes
Alex Wall
0
No votes
Keiran Murtagh
1
3%
Maxwell Statham
0
No votes
Isaac Ogundere
1
3%
Jack Smith
1
3%
Jernade Meade
15
41%
Malachi Napa (Sub)
0
No votes
Luke Allen (Sub)
0
No votes
Pierre Fonkeu (Sub)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 37

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Park Life
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Park Life »

Subs:-
Allen for Wynter
Fonkeu for Wall
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rick
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by rick »

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Park Life
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Park Life »

FT 0-0
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Sleightly Deceptive
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Sleightly Deceptive »

Goodness me! We often laud strikers when they come up with winning performances but that was all about a solid defence and, thankfully, some wasteful finishing from a very sharp Oxford side. One of the most impressive performances I’ve seen at the ‘other end’ of the pitch and it felt like a ‘win’ at the end. Deffo a point won rather than two lost. But what on earth is going on behind the scenes in regard to our strike force? Again we were clearly lacking in attack. I get that there are no ‘class acts’ available at this stage of the season but we deffo need at least one striker. I’d say two! We really need a force up front for the play-offs. Right now, I don’t think we’re anywhere near the best of the play offs bunch. Difficult choice of defender for MOTM - but I agree with the match sponsors, for once, and I hope Bonzo enjoys his bottle of Heineken! (That did make me laugh when someone said it behind me!)
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Park Life
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Park Life »

We gave away possession so cheaply on so many occasions today we should be pleased we came out of the game with a draw.
Rarely troubled them and i can only remember one effort on goal in the first half and struggling to recall a decent attempt second half.

Oxford looked a good well organised side and controlled large parts of the game but as has been the case so many times this season our defence stood firm. We are still short on attacking options and could do with some reinforcements but i worry whether we will be able to add anyone to help us at this crucial time of the season.

MOTM has to be a defender as they earnt us the point today, i gave it to Jernade Meade as he put in another good performance.
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by KSTDART »

I don’t like it when we play 1 up front , there seems to be to much emphasis on playing the ball up to Wall to hold it up . We then end up bypassing the 5 men in midfield and the ball ends up coming straight back at . I think we need another striker urgently with Charlie being injured so we can go back to a 442. We get the ball down and play a much better passing game in that formation.
Now to the Ref , I hate that c*nt with a passion! We know we are going to be playing against 12 men as soon as we see him . Wall could not go near the ball without him blowing his whistle , he gave them everything and ignored fouls on our players .
I will look at this as a point gained with H&W losing , onto Weymouth next week .

MOM Tom Bonner , leading by example.
Mark Sweet
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Mark Sweet »

That was a tough watch.

It's safe to say we didn't play well enough to say we deserved to win the game, Oxford were definitely the better team over the course of the game and will feel disappointed to only leave with a point. I thought last season they were one of the best teams we played against at Princes Park and they weren't far off that again today.

It's clear we are missing that firepower up top. We don't have that 20+ goals a season striker that we have had in previous seasons and I don't recall troubling the goalkeeper today -We barely had shots on goal. In addition there wasn't enough movement in attack to cause their defenders any real problems they just dealt with our long balls and we made it easy for them. Murtagh didn't have his best game in that number 10 role.

I also think our problem today was in midfield. We had both Wynter and Smith in the holding midfield positions and we were constantly losing the midfield battles and letting them play through us. I would've liked to see Allen brought on earlier.

We missed Samir today, his creativity and ability to hold onto the ball and create something out of seemingly nothing could've got us the 3 points today but we'll never know. Hopefully he's back next week.

Havant lost so it's a point gained rather than 2 dropped and we remain on this unbeaten run but we have to improve if we're even thinking about securing 2nd place.

I'm giving my MOTM to Essam. Could've gone either way between him and Bonner as both defended superbly.
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Park Life
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Park Life »

IMO a very good interview from Dowse:-



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The Duke
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by The Duke »

Dowse and the posters have summed todays game as I saw it , my MOTM was Jermade Meade , Oxford played some slick pacy football but with some great defending couldnt finish so we got a good point especially with teams around drawng or losing

I was very impressed with the Oxford City Centre Back No19 [Carroll ] who was a class [ footballing] act and surely could/will play at a higher level !!!!

The Referee was useless and the players just did what they liked and he did f...k all about it !!!!!!!!!!
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The Duke
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by The Duke »

Dowse and the posters have summed todays game as I saw it , my MOTM was Jermade Meade , Oxford played some slick pacy football but with some great defending couldnt finish so we got a good point especially with teams around drawng or losing

I was very impressed with the Oxford City Centre Back No19 [Carroll ] who was a class [ footballing] act and surely could/will play at a higher level !!!!

The Referee was useless and the players just did what they liked and he did f...k all about it !!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by rick »

Match Report by Chris Palmer

Captain Tom Bonner earned the Man of The Match award in this battle, as Dartford earned a hard-fought point against fellow play-off protagonists Oxford City in the freezing cold shadows of Bericote Powerhouse Princes Park.

Before the action got underway, the extremely sad news of the passing of long-standing supporter and servant of the club, Terry Skelton, was announced. At the sound of referee Mr Andrew Humphries’ whistle, a minute’s silence was humbly respected by the 1,018 supporters in his honour.

Whilst the love and respect was shown by everyone towards Terry and his family, there certainly wasn’t any love lost between the two sides as proceedings got underway. Yet, whilst this was an entertaining ninety minutes, clear-cut goalmouth opportunities proved few and far between as both defences refused to give an inch.

In fact, the visitors were prepared to go one step further, by taking as long as possible in order to slow the game down… tactics that began early in the first forty-five and sparked many boos and jeers from the Dartford faithful, followed by ironic cheers when “injured” players got up.

Nevertheless, Tom Bonner and Co didn’t allow the Hoops to get to them, and came close to taking the lead in the 16th minute. Tuesday night’s Man of The Match, Keiran Murtagh, was the Dartford player to receive the ball inside the Oxford box, and only a last-ditch block by a determined defender prevented him from scoring in consecutive games.

The hosts made another excellent attacking move in the 27th minute, as Luke Coulson found Alex Wall deep inside the opposition half. And, despite being pressed into the left channel, Wall was still able to get his shot off from a tight angle, but was unable to test goalkeeper Adnan Kanuric.

The Dartford striker then found himself unfairly booked by Mr Humphries following a 50/50 challenge with Lewis Miccio (31), before an excellent interception by Kanuric prevented Isaac Ogundere from collecting a wonderful ball over-the-top, which would have left him with an open goal if the goalkeeper hadn’t have been successful in his challenge.

The second-half offered much the same, as both sides cancelled each other out. Although, the visitors did actually begin creating a few opportunities themselves as early as the 46th minute.

Josh Parker was the danger man and, tried his luck from distance after noticing Ben Dudzinski off his line, only to see his effort fly wide of the post. Alfie Potter then tried his luck three minutes later, but his fierce drive failed to even test the Dartford goalkeeper.

Dartford manager Alan Dowson was the first to make a substitution. In fact, the Darts were the only side to use their substitutions on this cold afternoon, and the first took place after 59 minutes. Issac Ogundere was replaced by Malachi Napa, before Luke Allen and Pierre Fonkeu came on for Jordan Wynter and Alex Wall in the 81st minute.

Arguable, one of the moves of the game took place in the 65th minute which left Jack Smith racing towards the Hoops’ box, only to be taken out by Lewis Miccio right on the edge of the area. The Oxford player would consider himself fortunate that he wasn’t issued with his marching orders, as Mr Humphries was rather lenient in showing him a yellow card. Luke Coulson took the set-piece, but couldn’t keep his strike down unfortunately.

Jernade Meade then made an excellent block to deflect Lewis Coyle’s shot behind for a corner (68), before Alex Wall fired straight at Adnan Kanuric after great work by Malachi Napa (70).

As the game opened up slightly, Josh Ashby sent a fierce drive across the face of goal (72), before Aaron Williams-Bushell saw his effort deflected behind by Ben Dudzinski (79). The resulting corner found Josh Parker at the far post, but he sent his header the wrong side of Dudzinski’s upright, as the visitors finished the game slightly stronger.

The Darts weren’t to be denied a result though, as they remained solid in a game where neither side could break the other down.

The result sees Tom Bonner and Co remain on their current unbeaten run of games, as well as maintain a firm grip on second place in the National League South table. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Ben Dudzinski recorded a third clean sheet in four games since joining the club from Oxford City. Long may his good form continue.

TEAMS

DARTFORD: Ben Dudzinski, Jordan Wynter, Connor Essam, Tom Bonner (c), Luke Coulson, Alex Wall, Keiran Murtagh, Maxwell Statham, Isaac Ogundere, Jack Smith, Jernade Meade.

SUBSTITUTES: Dan Wilks, Kristian Campbell, Luke Allen, Pierre Fonkeu, Malachi Napa.

OXFORD CITY: Adnan Kanuric, Lewis Miccio, Josh Ashby, Andre Burley, Lewis Coyle, Reece Fleet (c), Zac McEachran, Josh Parker, Alfie Potter, Aaron Williams-Bushell, Canice Carroll.

SUBSTITUTES: Jack Davies, Joe Iaciofano, Jayden Carbon, Alex Grantham.

By Chris Palmer
rambo
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by rambo »

Oxford we’re a good team , in fact better than us but neither team looked as if they could score in a month of Sundays. I was very happy with a point so the battle for second place goes on.
Dowse moan that we kept giving the ball away. If that annoys you Dowse tell the players not to play stupid long balls 10 yards further than the most forward player. If the odd long ball falls to our player he has no team mate close so the whole punt upfield is a waste of time and in seconds thd ball is back in our half
We need a striker , any chance of Marvin coming back
Motm Bonner
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Grassbank »

Two closely matched sides only ever came close to ending the stalemate with the intervention of the referee. Oxford played him like a fiddle and he constantly fell for their theatrical dives, booking Dartford players in the process. Thankfully, they carried no more goal threat than we could manage and the cars in the car park were more at risk than the scoreline. Dartford's most promising attack was halted by a blatant body check on the edge of the penalty box by the last defender. The referee looked pained to have to show an Oxford player a yellow card. It should have been red! In the final five minutes numerous free kicks were awarded to Oxford, giving them the chance to launch the ball into our penalty area. Still they failed to test the net guardian. I think the case could be made to add the two keepers to the attendance figure. They both had very little involvement in the match.

On to Weymouth next week. They scored five today. We have only scored four in our last four league games. I feel that we need some inspiration up front and a shoot on sight policy.

Still second and looking good for the play-offs. Much still to play for.
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Harry »

Poor performance overall, but a decent point from a strong defensive display.

We were without our most creative players and it showed, considering that was not our strongest eleven and how poor we were in an attacking sense we should be delighted with the result against a team in good form and likely to be in the play offs.

Results went in our favour today, the Weymouth scout filming pretty much every corner, and set play would have learnt very little.

Personally didn't think the ref was as bad as some on here made out and had a reasonable game, we aren't going to get every decision go our way. It is inevitable Alex will pick up bookings in the way the game is currently refereed.
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Park Life
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Park Life »

BRASSNECK
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by BRASSNECK »

Harry wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:21 pm Poor performance overall, but a decent point from a strong defensive display.

We were without our most creative players and it showed, considering that was not our strongest eleven and how poor we were in an attacking sense we should be delighted with the result against a team in good form and likely to be in the play offs.

Results went in our favour today, the Weymouth scout filming pretty much every corner, and set play would have learnt very little.

Personally didn't think the ref was as bad as some on here made out and had a reasonable game, we aren't going to get every decision go our way. It is inevitable Alex will pick up bookings in the way the game is currently refereed.
Harry the ref was awful he couldn’t wait to book wall for a good tackle on the theatrical number 3.
I sound like a ebbsfleet fan moaning about the ref. :D
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Sleightly Deceptive
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Sleightly Deceptive »

Yeah, the referee was very poor. Whilst we are on about refs, I can’t understand why we are nearly always on the receiving end of crap refereeing performances. I mean if refs are crap for one side, then they’re, generally, seen to be ok to the other side. Why don’t we get a ‘rub of the green’ occasionally?

I also think that the dearth of referees at grass roots means that the County FA’s are ‘promoting too early’ to ‘Senior’ football and that when they get beyond the ‘Supply Leagues’ and ‘Contributory Leagues,’ they’re often found wanting and being seen to be so clearly ‘out of their depth.’ It’s very worrying. The past two seasons have become noticeably worse than ever before. Goodness knows what crap the Isthmian and Southern Leagues are fielding if their ‘best’ are coming up to the National League.
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by tommytollbooth »

Yes Oxford were a neat outfit but we were toothless upfront, give Pierre Fonkeu a chance to lead the attack with his pace. Alex Wall God bless him is a booking waiting to happen with his size and aggression most opposition defenders throw themselves to the ground and wait for the Ref to give them a freekick. Tom Bonner MOM what would we do without him.
Tony H
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by Tony H »

I said before the game (those that were with me would confirm) that we’d stop them scoring but would have bugger all up top to get a goal ourselves - nil all. So, we defended very well, and offered pretty much nothing the other end. Stalemate! For me, despite what many think about our performance, that was a very good, well-earned point.

I found Dowse’s post-match interview very odd. “We we’re only alright in defence, better on Tuesday night”, “bad day” and “we need a talker”. What about I’m closing in on a striker!? Mr Dowson - did you not know that Maidstone released a striker the other week (Christie Patterson)? And why don’t you like Dan Roberts? I do like Dowse but that interview yesterday 🤷

We’re still good for 2nd spot (nobody will catch Ebbsfleet - I said that a month ago!) We have some tough games to come.
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ozymandias
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Re: Dartford v Oxford City Sat 25 Feb 2023

Post by ozymandias »

When I saw the starting 11 I thought that if we can contain City it had 0-0 written all over it. Any one of the four substitutes would have livened up our 'attack, in fact Dan could have done it.' Surely Pierre would have worked better with Alex and given Oxford something to think about. But I saw no adventure from Dowse's selection.
Still, Havant slipped up again and if we'd have taken the chances in this game as well as previous games we'd have been out of sight as regards Havant.
Never mind, it is what it is.
Our ball player and creator of chances is suspended and really, we have no one to take his place.
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