Herne Bay 'Double-header' - Mixed fortunes

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TonyDart
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Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:52 pm

Herne Bay 'Double-header' - Mixed fortunes

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Match Report – Dartford FC Women’s Development 2 Herne Bay 0
South East Counties Women’s Football League played on Sunday 5th March 2023
Weather: Grey, cloudy and cold
Manager Rhys Terry; Coach Dan Edwards
Dartford: Lauren Owen; Robyn Smitherman, Tilly Rowsell, Chloe Hall, Annie White, Lauren Bullen, Emily Woodhouse,
Georgia Culptt, Aimee Ascott, Sabine Ghag, Alex Foulds,
Subs: Amy Brooks, Alex Fagan, Lizzie Nugent, Beatrice Ogundele, Brittani Rumble (all used)
Scorers: Aimee Ascott and Lizzie Nugent

DARTS FACED HERNE BAY IN A'DOUBLE-HEADER' - HONOURS WERE SHARED WITH A WIN EACH

First match of 60 minutes – Dartford 2 Herne Bay 0

On a day of mixed fortune this first match turned out to be a well fought-out affair with Herne Bay more than holding their own during the first half and their performance did not display any traits that would lead the spectator in believing that they were in the lowly position of second from bottom.

In the opening minutes Alex Foulds fed a ball through to Emily Woodhouse but the angle was too tight to get her shot on target. Good interceptions by the Bay defenders continually frustrated the Darts’ forwards and other times the searching ball to the wings were often a little over-hit.

On ten minutes Darts had their first shot on target when Alex Foulds beat her marker and shot for goal, which was on target but safely held by the keeper, Aimee Ascott delivered two beautiful crosses into the box but each time the Darts’ strikers were outnumbered in the box.

On 21 minutes, Aimee latched on to a good ball into the area, whereby she beat the goalie to the ball but a defender managed to clear off the line.

Three minutes later, Chloe Hall seemingly came off the worse in a clash of heads but afterwards was soon up and raring to go

The first goal came in the 27th minute when a very forceful clearance from Annie White turned defence into attack and her pass found Emily who quickly passed on to Aimee who confidently scored past the advancing goalie.

HT( on 30 mins): 1-0

Darts did manage to get going well in the second half and one of the highlights of the match was the continual enthralling battle between Alex Foulds and Bay’s tigerish no. 3, both players coming out of the game with a lot of credit.

Four minutes into the second-half, Robyn intercepted and passed outside to Alex who beat her ‘man’ and delivered a great ball into the 6-yard box but Emily just couldn’t get a connection on it for what would have been a certain goal, and then seconds later, with the ball still live in the area Emily produced an excellent over-head kick which was on target but went straight into the arms of the goalkeeper.

All substitutions happened in the second 30-minute period and on 12 minutes the result of playing some good football, the ball rebounded off a defender and fell nicely for Lizzie Nugent who shot first time but the ball whizzed across the face of the goal just passing the wrong side of the far post.

Dartford were now well on top and there was lots of build-up action, lots of shots - some on target, some off target – and resulted in Darts’ second goal from Lizzie Nugent.

A nicely placed corner from Aimee Ascott found Lizzie at the far post and she tucked the ball away to increase the lead. This was on 16 minutes.

Georgia fired in a fierce-looking shot but straight at the keeper, and later Georgia found Lizzie with a neat pass but the goalie blocked this effort

Darts had control for long periods of the second half although some of the flowing play was lost with the wholesale changes, but on the whole Darts did a good job in a match of good quality and entertainment value. As much as Darts tried, they couldn’t break the Bay defence to add any further goals.

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The ‘return’ match of 60 minutes – Herne Bay’s home game – Herne Bay 1 Dartford 0 p/at Princes Park

Dartford team: Lauren Owen; Brittani Rumble, Aimee Ascot, Chloe Hall, Annie White,
Lauren Bullen, Emily Woodhouse, Georgia Culpitt, Sabine Ghag, Beatrice Ogundele, Alex Foulds.
Substitutes: Tilly Rowsell, Robyn Smitherman, Amy Brooks, Alex Fagan (all used)
Teodora Dimova (not used)

This proved to be a totally frustrating experience for the Dartford team after Herne Bay scored in the first minute of the second half. Lizzie Nugent, carrying an injury, didn’t play any part in this match and her presence was missed up front.

Herne Bay did a much better job than in the first match, and after their surprise goal within 30 seconds of the restart, developed a “what we have we hold” battling stance.

Aimee delivered a series of really great corners and crosses and perhaps the closest Darts got to scoring was a shot from Annie White which was goal-bound until the goalie clawed the ball away from under the bar.

The game was marred by a serious injury to Lauren Bullen in the second half, and after this upset, Darts certainly didn’t perform at their best and Herne Bay rejoiced at being the first team to beat the Darts in a league match this season.

There was no disgrace in defeat – these things happen – and there is no such thing as “three certain points,” - you just have to be winning when the referee blows his whistle for time.


Two records have been set this season:

The longest run of league and cup games without defeat – 17 games (from the start of the season on the 4th September 2022 to 12th February 2023).

The longest run of straight league wins – 12 (18th September 2022 to 5th March 2023)

Report by Tony Brown
Sorry, no photos
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