Darts v Havant & Waterlooville (Sat 10th Aug 3pm)

[Stuart]

I very rarely criticise manager(s) but substitutions today looked insane.

[Jonty]

Wow. This is the view from Arty who has admittedly had a light ale or 20. DFC have sourced a marvellous squad. A massively difficult early fixture list. Played really well for long periods today. Cant wait for the macca cunnington combination. Top players. Dont forget Andrew Pugh. Norman giving his all . Let's hang on in till the managers have their setup back. Personally in RV we have 3 top centre halves it's just the ownership of the Jersey at the moment. But hang on in their as your one of our own loved by us all. Josh and Tom are great players as are you. Just they currently hold the positions.

I agree, on paper we have a far superior squad to what we had this time last season but sadly, we still have the "muddled brothers" in charge. Make no doubt about it, the managers are very lucky boys, had they been at any other club they would have been shown the door last season and this season don't look any better, so far. Let's not also forget that they have probably a top 5 budget and have the best training & playing facilities in our division. The bottom line is, they are fighting for their future's, how can you keep on 2 wingers who failed to get a ball into the box, then take off your only goal threat and keep a game changer on the bench. Yes, they have been a little bit unlucky with injuries but if they carry on with the same set of players & tactics from the off it will end up in tears for them, you need all the creative players players on the pitch if you want to get points.

My son's old math's teach will be watching the situation very closely and I still think that it he is destined to be DFC Manager on e day. For a start, he has won the league a few times, with 2 different teams and has always been on a tight budget! Our manager's need to start thinking straight and stop moaning about injuries, bad luck etc, you make your own luck in this game. They have spent big and need to put some results on the board, anything other than a top 7 position with 10 games gone is where they need to be. Anything else will be a failure.

[DA Mikey]

Yep. All of the above. Taking Cunnington off a mystery. Retaining Wabo and Nasha in the starting XI a mystery. Surely we can’t all be wrong. Fortunately, it didn’t cost us too dearly, but I reckon Wealdstone and St Albans both played the ball around better than today’s opponents. I’m genuinely unsure of what we do about the Bonner / Vint / Hill situation, but for pity’s sake let’s not keep underperforming players in the starting line-up in the hope of proving some kind of point.
Mark Smith MOTM.

[Lincoln exile]

Jonty- Billy Crook made his debut for East Thurrock today

[PJSADI]

First half we shaded it, second half they coped with the conditions better than us, which saw us camped inside our own half for long periods, with no out ball. The 4-4-2 we started with today looked better than the 4-3-3 we played on Tuesday night, with Wabo looking better in a front two, rather than out on the right. He isn’t a winger, but do feel he’ll score a few from a central position.
In regards to the substitutions, it looked to me that Cunnington was blowing quite a bit 70+ minutes into the game, fully understandable considering he had very little pre season I imagine. Thought the same with Luke Allen last Saturday at Wealdstone, who seemed to be struggling for fitness in the second half, and again, he had very few minutes pre season due to injuries. In fact, in all three games so far, I’ve felt that he’s played really well for the first half, but not really noticed him I the second. The more minutes he gets, the better he’ll be I feel.

[Jonty]

Jonty- Billy Crook made his debut for East Thurrock today

Has he signed on for them for the season, it will be disappointing if he has slipped through the net.

[Kentc]

First half we shaded it, second half they coped with the conditions better than us, which saw us camped inside our own half for long periods, with no out ball. The 4-4-2 we started with today looked better than the 4-3-3 we played on Tuesday night, with Wabo looking better in a front two, rather than out on the right. He isn’t a winger, but do feel he’ll score a few from a central position.
In regards to the substitutions, it looked to me that Cunnington was blowing quite a bit 70+ minutes into the game, fully understandable considering he had very little pre season I imagine. Thought the same with Luke Allen last Saturday at Wealdstone, who seemed to be struggling for fitness in the second half, and again, he had very few minutes pre season due to injuries. In fact, in all three games so far, I’ve felt that he’s played really well for the first half, but not really noticed him I the second. The more minutes he gets, the better he’ll be I feel.

Did you see cunningtons face and reaction when he saw his number come up. He wanted to stay on. He was still the bigggest pain in the back side to their back four. The fact that he’s a good player too makes it crazy to take him off. No defender will want to play against him and unless he is injured no one can replace what he brings to the side.

[Rambo]

For 55/60 we played very well and deserved the lead. But the last 30/35 i am sure the wind picked up and it was a heroic battle to stay in the game. The keeper and back four were superb . Hill and Bonner coped really well with the nutcase wearing number 10 . The two full backs really grew into the game and i have nothing but admiration for the back 5.
To be fair the whole team did their best and can be proud of their efforts. Cunnington is very experienced and knows how to get a breather during the game , once he went off we were very unlikely to score again
Charlie is obviously not match fit yet and to be honest and blunt i feel Pughy has lost it and i very much doubt he can play at this level again.
We need our injured players back asap as whilst the last two home games have been promising two points from nine is atrocious

[spike]

It does seem strange that in our first three games, whoever is playing the best has been substituted. There might be valid reasons, but I don't buy this stuff about Cunnington "blowing", he was the best player on the park and we looked toothless after he went off. He won everything again today but for the third game in a row, was completely isolated and didn't get any support. Wabo was largely ineffective, he does little from out wide and if he plays at all, needs to be closer to Cunnington in my opinion.

We weren't awful, there are signs of hope, but I don't buy Arty's suggestion that the disappointing start is all down to a massively difficult fixture list. Just over one season ago we were a whisker off being champions yet now, even though we've significantly upped our budget, we're supposed to be looking in awe at half the division as if we're some kind of rank outsiders who are a massive long shot for a play off spot! This is a great club and I'm fed up with how we sell ourselves short. In this division we are one of the bigger fish and whilst we might not be favourites to win it, we should at least be AIMING for the title and not just aspiring to be mediocre and hoping to sneak into the play-offs through the back door.

Of course, it's far too early to write us off yet and should we ever get anywhere near having a fit, healthy and available squad then things might start to improve, but until then, don't try and tell me that 2 points from 9 is anything other than disappointing.

[Nobby2]

was ben given a free role he was all over the place instead of being out wide on the right,did nothing today he should of been replaced by ryno.
felt sorry for adam being subbed again he come here to get goals he scores then they take him off with 20 minutes to go another stupid decision.
we never done nothing about the windy conditions when the ball from smith kept going off thr pitch on the right side till josh hill shouted to charlie to stay out wide for it but 92nd minute a bit late by then,another thing that didnt take a lot of working out.
luke allen needs noble back to help him in the middle and for christ sake lets get some fight back in the team.