Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Man of the Match

Poll ended at Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:40 pm

Dan Wilks
0
No votes
Samir Carruthers
0
No votes
Connor Essam
0
No votes
Tom Bonner
11
65%
Luke Allen
0
No votes
Alex Wall
0
No votes
Keiran Murtagh
0
No votes
Maxwell Statham
5
29%
Isaac Ogundere
1
6%
Jack Smith
0
No votes
Pierre Fonkeu
0
No votes
Luke Coulson (Sub)
0
No votes
Malachi Napa (Sub)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 17

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Park Life
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Park Life »

Fred OLness
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Fred OLness »

DA Mikey wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2023 10:04 pm Make you largely right Mark Sweet. Statham, Coulson and Smith have been great additions to the squad under Dowson, but more recent acquisitions have been less effective and as for Murtagh, well, I got pulled up a couple of times for fingering him as a weak leak last season and nothing has changed since. As I say, there is good mixed in with the bad this season and as others have stated, second spot is better than we all expected at the beginning of August. The goalkeeper situation is a very strange one though.
Been saying for ages that Murtah is not up to it Mike.
Mark Sweet
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Mark Sweet »

Park Life wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:41 am
Honest from Dowse. He knows what we're missing and doing wrong and seems confident about new signings coming in this week. Hopefully they help us in the final push
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Park Life
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Park Life »

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ozymandias
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by ozymandias »

I can see what some say about poor passing. Jesus. :shock:
BRASSNECK
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by BRASSNECK »

ozymandias wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:54 pm I can see what some say about poor passing. Jesus. :shock:
No he was poor on crosses.🤪
KentC
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by KentC »

Mark Sweet wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:10 pm
Park Life wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:41 am
Honest from Dowse. He knows what we're missing and doing wrong and seems confident about new signings coming in this week. Hopefully they help us in the final push
Why should we be happy with 7th.
If our previous manager said that he’d get slaughtered and no I am not sticking up for him or living in the past.
I just find that comment a big concern.
We should be targeting 2nd and nothing less, if we don’t reach it then it won’t be through not trying.
That’s the attitude to have
KentC
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by KentC »

Park Life wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:12 pm
Top class commentary
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PeteSamson
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by PeteSamson »

KentC, regarding 7th place, I took it that Dowse was referring to the situation/outlook at the beginning of the season, given that he came in late and was playing catchup in putting together a side, not that we should be happy at finishing 7th now. He is obviously wanting us to finish up in 2nd place, but also acknowledging that Ebbsfleet look nailed on to finish as champions.

Seeing those highlights, we were lucky to get a point and the goal we conceded on the stroke of halftime arose out of 2 errors, the initial poor pass by Keiran and the sliced ball from Essam conceding the unnecessary corner from which Hungerford scored. But they are the sort of errors we have been making over the several recent games, and that is just from the highlights that I watch. So, a decent, honest appraisal and interview from Dowse for me.

COYD
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JCJ
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by JCJ »

Missed the last two game’s through illness so cannot really comment, but what does concern me is the struggle Dowse seems to have getting new players in.

Surprised he said in his interview that Charlie is not to far away from making a return, I heard from several people he is out for the season.

I was a Kingy supporter but that is in the past and think Dowse has done well this season especially after the start we had this season, I feel we can finish 2nd or 3rd this season which is an improvement on last season.
I hope he can get the players through the door he wants and we can go on another run of games unbeaten
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Park Life
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Park Life »

First chance I've had to post on last nights game and must admit going to Hungerford is (for various reasons) the game i look forward to the least, i wonder if the players feel the same as well.

For those of you who couldn't go but have been there before will know exactly what i mean as it was pretty much the same as previous years. A tough game in difficult conditions and as we were not at our best and have not done great there previously, in the end a point was welcome.

Dowse had a tough enough job on his hands anyway without losing two players very very late in the day with injuries, this must have thrown his preparation and pre match plans completely up in the air. So taking that into account and that most of the chasing pack didn't take advantage our position has improved slightly.

Thought Dowse's interview summed up our current position well and agree with most of what he said, so hopefully we can get on a good run again and finish the season in style.

MOTM a tough one as nobody really stood out but i voted for Maxwell as at the last minute he had to play in an unfamiliar role at LB but adapted well.
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Spike
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Spike »

I was initially bemused at Dowse's team selection until I was later told that that Meade and Wynter had both turned up on the night and only then declared themselves as injured. That couldn't have helped Dowse's preparation for the game and sure enough, it wasn't pretty and there were not too many positives to be taken from the way we played. Someone famous once said that the biggest crime in football is to give the ball away ... that being the case then we have a team full of criminals as they spent the night gleefully gifting the ball to our opponents. Thankfully, Hungerford spent a lot of the time gifting it back and at times it did look a bit like the two teams were making a feature length John Smith's "Ave it" commercial. Nevertheless, we didn't lose and miraculously all the other results went our way and once again we finished the night in a slightly stronger position than when we started it by virtue of the fact that despite being in exactly the same position, we are one game nearer to the season's end.

I must confess, this entire season has left me completely baffled. At the start I thought the squad that Dowse had put together was disappointing and likely to finish around mid-table, with just an outside shot at creeping into the play-offs. However, after a sluggish start, we went on a phenomenal run and stormed up the table achieving results that massively exceeded all my early season expectations. Christmas was just about the best I've ever seen in over half a century and if you'd asked me before kick-off in the home game with Hemel, I'd have really thought we had a shout at the title. Unfortunately, the last few weeks have seen us fall away, taking just 10 points from the last 27 and now it's all about jostling for position in the play-offs. It is inexplicable how what is largely the same group of players can be so good and put together such an impressive run and then follow it up with such a disappointing one. Nevertheless, they have proved they can do it once so there's no reason why they can't come out of this slump and finish with another run of victories at the time when it matters most. Ebbsfleet are playing in their own competition at the moment, but we are not second by accident, the players have earned that position over the season so far, so let's not keep beating ourselves up when the teams below us would all love to be where we are. Let's all try and be a bit more positive and get behind the players and try and get that all important second place.

As the man says ... KEEP THE FAITH.
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DA Mikey
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by DA Mikey »

Top man Spike, giving it the old ‘Al Pacino’ again :)
Tony H
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Tony H »

DA Mikey wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2023 5:33 am Top man Spike, giving it the old ‘Al Pacino’ again :)
Agree! Love the Bon Jovi reference too Spike (proper music DAMikey 😉).

Our loss of consistency also baffles me and as I’ve said in recent posts, that poses a significant challenge to Dowse.

The fact that other teams failed to capitalise on our lack of consistency the other night (and last Saturday) isn’t so much a surprise to me as I don’t believe this division is as strong as recent seasons, particularly last season. All teams in the top half (except Ebbsfleet) are dropping points on a fairly regular basis, even Braintree have drawn a few games in their good run.

Nothing is lost at this stage and all’s to play for. KEEP THE FAITH!
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ozymandias
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by ozymandias »

I wish I knew how to highlight things on here?? I would highlight Spike's second half of his post.
Isn't that what a few on here have been saying for weeks? and yet some of us get put down.
Nice one Dean, I have just seen your post.
Can you believe that free kick of Samir's? Even he's losing the plot. :o
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Spike
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Spike »

ozymandias wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2023 9:17 am I wish I knew how to highlight things on here?? I would highlight Spike's second half of his post.
Isn't that what a few on here have been saying for weeks? and yet some of us get put down.
Ozy, being disagreed with is not being "put down", it's just people expressing different opinions. I'm not entirely sure which bit of the "second half" you mean, but I think that any disagreement is largely a question of balance. Whilst there was undoubtedly a widely held lack of optimism for the squad at the start of the season, many of us are happy to concede that we underestimated Dowse and the players, and that they have done very well to get to 2nd in the table. There are some though, who seem to focus exclusively on the negatives, giving no credit for the many successes that put us in second place. You don't go on a run of 11 games (10 wins and 1 draw) unless you are a decent side. Of course we have some obvious areas that need strengthening and I'm not suggesting we gloss over the bad performances, but if we are going to criticise we do need to take a balanced view and look at the big picture. That picture being with 10 (hopefully 12) games to go, and with our substantial lead over our rivals, this is significantly better than anyone expected. It's worth remembering that every single one of the teams below us have dropped more points than we have, so I choose to remain optimistic about the play-offs.
Hitchin Dart79
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by Hitchin Dart79 »

ozymandias wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:19 am Hitchin, you'd like to think we'd go on a run of some sort wouldn't you? Again, we've got away with murder, another below par performance and but for a late goal at Oxford our 5 point gap stays the same.
Is it going to last? Farnborough's a big ask on that point, as said they play well away from home. Have we got the means to stop their little game on Saturday?
Last night's result not a surprise.
COYD's. Hope it's not too bloody cold Saturday.
. Ozy I have no idea what will happen. Dartford about as consistent as spurs at the moment-just hope we regain the scoring touch in the run in.
KentC
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by KentC »

I don’t believe I am critical, I hope I do not come across that way in fact I think if you look at my posts this season and beyond they’re generally praise.
But are we now saying you can only criticise if you balance it out. That’s like saying you can only praise if you balance it out.
Spike you and a few others on here I could read your posts all day long and this forum would not be half as good without you guys, not only do articulate well but you’re informative too, just like the few others mentioned.
Gotta disagree to a point here though, if we’re shite then I see no issue in calling it and it has been a few times recently.
Doesnt mean I’m not really proud of our players and Manager as I think 2nd place would be one hell of an achievement and as you say we’ve shown we’re good enough.
You need to be able to criticise over a game it doesn’t mean you don’t still have huge admiration for the players and management and what they are doing over a season
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ozymandias
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Re: Hungerford Town v Dartford Tue 7 Mar 2023

Post by ozymandias »

I agree. I for one thought that Dowse came across a bit of a clown when I first saw him. But I seem to remember there were a few Woking lads on here that were singing his praises.
By Christmas I was hooked and if we don't go up this season then Dowse will hopefully be getting his lads in next. Not that I have anything against any of the lads in the squad. As said, it's been a hell of a ride so far.
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