Eastbourne Borough v Dartford Fri 7 Apr 2023

[Bkev180]

Again no team spirit no 1 wants to put a challenge in why bring new players in don't even put them on bench sam was obviously injured b4 the kick of why sit him on bench why can't dowse admit he got it wrong instead of blaming players the ref lost control of the game in 1st half there player stamps on napal head ref does Jack shite about it as for there managers reactions to samir challenge was disgusting onto Monday

[rick]

[Mark Sweet]

I agree with Dowse about the midfield, I've said all season (and there were signs of it last season) that we have missed that main man in the middle to take control and be physical in that area of the pitch, which ends up in us losing the midfield battle and puts extra pressure on the defence which we over time will cost us. Not much he can do about the individual mistakes we keep making either.

At least he knows that and recognises it, so whichever league we are in I expect to see some new faces brought in to solve the issue next season.

[The 5th Searcher]

It’s not the first time this season that Dowse has said Conner was to blame for mistakes in the back line & costing us a goal yet he still keeps playing him.
If he’s making so many mistakes which are costing us then surely he should’ve been dropped and the new guy should be brought in or is he injured as well.
This wouldn’t be good news if that was the case as we signed Block as a centre back and after only his 2nd training session he got a bad injury which has put him out probably for the rest of this season, I really hope the new guy appears soon.

[KSTDART]

Here our goal , , Bradbury’s performance definitely a positive from today with a 3rd goal in as many games

[Park Life]

I thought the 1st half was pretty even overall and at HT was pretty happy with how things were going.
Looking back though the loss of Wall and being replaced with Napa did not work and after that we had little threat going forward.
In fact i cant recall a decent effort on target for the entire second half so that was very disappointing.

I have felt this season that the defence seems to take the majority of criticism and whilst i understand that our most experienced players play at the back and can probably take it, i do feel that they have more than played their part and as a team we need to do more offensively and keep the ball better as we very rarely dominate possession for long periods which in turn puts the defence under pressure.

We are a bit inconsistent currently so i'm going to the games not really knowing what to expect or how we are going to play, however the good thing is we know on our day we have the quality to beat anybody in this division so we've got to stick together and back the lads to get the remaining points to finish second as home advantage could play a big part in the play offs.

MOTM - I thought Chin did well again but gave my MOTM to Bradbury as he chipped in with another goal and kept going with not much support.

COYD

[DA Mikey]

Didn’t really feel at any point yesterday that we were in total control - Eastbourne are the same as most other teams we’ve come up against insofar as they only need to get a few passes strung together in order to undo us away from home. At half time, we had been going ok, EBFC hadn’t found their stride at all and we were wondering if we might just chalk up our first win away from PP in three months (yep). Alas, it all turned around within five minutes of the second half and it has to be said that normal service resumed.

Our remaining games are:
Dover, Taunton, Tonbridge, Concord, St Albans and Hampton. We probably need 8/9 points to secure second place, which is possible because three of the six games are at home, then the lottery of the playoffs. Don’t think we’ll be seeing Samir again after his injury today which looked really nasty.

[Tony H]

It seems this win one-lose one trend may be with us for the rest of the season. Let’s hope we can string together two consecutive wins in the play-offs then properly build for next season.

Keep the faith!!

[Babylon]

I wasn't surprised at the result but
Very disappointed
Consistency is crucial at this stage of the season .
It does.not need a mastermind to realise that Dartford are nowhere near consistent
The play offs are a lottery but it does help if you have a bit of form.
Unfortunately we are a yoyo team at the moment so who knows??

[Ajaxman DFC]

I don't know if anyone else has heard anything but I was recently asked by a reliable source if I had heard anything about the proposed developement of Princes Park next summer.
Apparently they had received notice of planning permission submitted by the club for ground improvements.
While this, for any doubters out there, promotes the future ambitions of the club, does it also explain the indifferent performances on the field this season?
The lack of a decent cup run once again only leaves us with the potential of drawing in some extra income from a couple of money spinning play-off ties.
But, with a view to going for it next season, will we just be mugged off at the end of the day and have to endure another farce like we suffered in the play-off final at Weymouth.
It seems the performances, as in the recent 4-0 demolition of Dulwich Hamlet, do just enough to keep the interest going while pouring buckets of cold water over our season inbetween. Especially on the road.
However, I don't think we'll have to rely on witnessing a repeat of the most ridiculous penalty shoot-out I've ever seen in this year's play-off final, should we get there.
We can be more subtle about our exit this time.
Oxford City hardly troubled the Fleet goalkeeper yesterday.
Yet they kept the ball well at times having decent spells of possession. Something we are unable to do, constantly inviting teams onto us.
Should we meet Oxford in the play-offs they will be favourites to go through. I've no doubt about that.

[Dave T]

I have felt this season that the defence seems to take the majority of criticism and whilst i understand that our most experienced players play at the back and can probably take it, i do feel that they have more than played their part and as a team we need to do more offensively and keep the ball better as we very rarely dominate possession for long periods which in turn puts the defence under pressure.

I agree Steve, and if l were Bons or Connor, I'd be getting a bit fed up with being "dug out" for isolated errors, when clearly the main problem is elsewhere. I was watching with a couple of my friends who are Borough fans, and they commented at half time that our two central defenders were as solid as a rock and they would never find a way past them! OK, l accept the goals were down to defensive errors, but the lack of control, fight and passion in the midfield put pressure on the defence.

[Park Life]

[KentC]

Waited to post on the one to not let emotions cloud my judgement.

Firstly I’m really proud of the position we are in the league and how well the team has done to get in this strong position.
However this thread is not about the season so far.

The game… a very painful watch again. Can not string passes together for almost the entire game, some players appear not to give their all, a huge lack of quality in our play across the pitch . Untidy and clueless. I say clueless because I don’t see what the game plan or tactics were. There were no patterns across the pitch and sure as hell we lose the ball on most occasions.
Not for the first time we were bullied, the DFC fans next to me were giving Tom stick for getting involved too much yet if he doesn’t no one does and we get bullied. Tom sticks up for his teammates and the club and I wish there were more like it. I don’t want him to overstep the mark but he’s on his own a lot of the time and I wish more players would show his fight for the cause.
Can no one see how narrow we were for most of it, why is max not out wide to receive the ball to whip in crosses that he’s so good at, most of the time he was more central when attacking and we tried to run through the middle . I am a massive fan of his and we need to use his strengths . We were way too easy to defend against yesterday.

A great point and I totally agree the defenders get too much criticism when they’re under so much pressure coz the rest of the pitch were being outmuscled and bullied off the ball.


Going into playoffs we need some kind of form for momentum.
Someone said we don’t deserve to go up but if we go up then we do deserve to.

A very tough day again a very hard watch and some very interesting posts on here.

Nothing to do with our loss but their falling over every time they have the ball must of set a record. It was relentless through the game. The referee was susceptible to their cheating and out of his depth, had no control of the game and made a poor game worse.
I didn’t think Eastbourne were very good but we were worse.

[ozymandias]

With the likes of Torquay, Aldershot, Dorking W, Yeovil and dare I say it Maidstone all struggling against relegation in the Premier, this season is probably our best chance we're going to get of getting out of the NLS. Next season will probably be a much harder task.
As for the sending off of Jernade, I thought he was unlucky at getting booked for the first yellow.
But once again we stuttered away from home.
Let's hope for a win Monday against Dover, because I don't think that an in form Taunton or St Albans are going to be easy games or away to Tonbridge is going to be anything like a walk in the park.

[DA Mikey]

Dowson’s comment at the end of the interview regarding Meade’s sending off [engendered by EBFC players] is spot on. Jernade must feel extremely hard done by for both those yellow cards - perhaps I will be told by someone more in tune with the rules of the game that the bookings were justified, but I am (just about) old enough to remember players routinely getting kicked up in the air and never like to see cards coming out for ‘tangles’.
No way Oxford City will be favourites unless they are at home, no matter how well they performed in their 3-0 loss yesterday.

[Spike]

First half wasn't too bad, without looking particularly convincing we just about edged it to earn the 1-0 lead. Second half, we immediately threw away the lead with two sloppy goals after which we never threatened to do anything remotely likely to create an opportunity to get close to getting near enough to have a shot at their goal. I can't put a positive spin on it ... we just went through the motions and ran down the clock until it was time to go home.

I'm always positive but I do understand why so many people are bemused as to how we are still in second place. Nevertheless, the fact remains that we are! This suggests that as erratic as we may be, everyone below us is even more so and even less deserving of second place than we are. The simple facts are that a modest 10 points from the last 18 will probably be enough to clinch 2nd place. Our erratic form may still prove to be enough to at least make the semi-finals and with two home games, who knows?

I do agree that, should we have a couple of good days at the right time and find ourselves going up, Dowse will have a massive rebuilding job to do as we are nowhere near equipped for that level at the moment. But things can change and for all the risks, personally I would be delighted to see us playing at that level again. Dowse has experience and I'm sure he knows how difficult it would be but you have to have faith in your manager if you are ever going to succeed. I'm under no illusions, the target would simply be to stay up and doing so would constitute success.

So, as woeful as we can be sometimes, I'm keeping the faith all the while the dream is still alive

[Babylon]

Obviously hoping for a win against Dover but I agree that if we do somehow go up ....boy this squad will need a complete overhaul
Predicting Darts results is becoming a job and a half
I like Doswell but our form is all.over the place for a team in 2nd place.

[Undercover Elephant]

Obviously hoping for a win against Dover but I agree that if we do somehow go up ....boy this squad will need a complete overhaul
Predicting Darts results is becoming a job and a half
I like Doswell but our form is all.over the place for a team in 2nd place.

Have we changed manager, I must have missed that!

[Ring of fire]

Silly boy...

[DA Mikey]

Have we changed manager, I must have missed that!

Some people Havant noticed yet