Chippenham Town v Dartford Sat 7 Oct 2023

[Fred OLness]

One would like to say ' who needs Bonner' but we're only half hour in.

We do.
Badly.

[Lennylenny]

Well done lads so so so pleased , fantastic result

[Park Life]

A much better performance today and a well deserved win.
We played with three in centre mid and Harvey up top on his own and that worked well. We didn't go as direct today as we have been and kept the ball on the deck playing some good football.

Can't recall ever seeing an opponent (their RB) give away two very similar first half penalties but Harvey took advantage calmly slotting both away. Their keeper also made a bit of an error for the other first half goal but make no mistake we caused them a few problems, created a few decent chances and could have scored more.
Second half Johnson had a decent chance which was just about kept out by their keeper and a few minutes later they pulled a goal back. They then had a bit of possession before we re-grouped and Johnson finished the game with a good goal.

Johnson had a good game but MOTM for me between Harvey and their RB
Gave it to Harvey in the end as he was a handful for them all game.

[rick]

Match Report by Chris Palmer

https://www.dartfordfc.com/match-report ... artford-4/

Dartford registered a third consecutive win in all competitions, as a spot-kick brace from Harvey Bradbury set them on the road to victory at Chippenham Town.

As the 600+ crowd got comfortable at The Thornbury Surfacing Stadium, both sides took a little time to get into their strides. However, apart from Matt McClure seeing his 8th minute strike rebound off of Mitchell Beeney’s chest, the Bluebirds offered very little besides a couple of free-kicks.

The Darts, meanwhile, were unlucky not to edge themselves in front after ten minutes, when a swift counter-attack saw Harvey Bradbury get beyond two defenders. But, Will Henry rushed out to close the gap, leaving Bradbury with the only option of chipping the goalkeeper… only for the ball to fall the wrong side of the post.

The striker had another opportunity soon afterwards, with Luke Coulson finding him with a neat pass. Once again, though, his effort was wide of the target (15). Bradbury wouldn’t rue those misses though, as he was given a third opportunity to score six minutes later…

A Coulson ball into the Chippenham danger area saw Joash Nembhard fouled, prompting the referee, Mr Tom Ellsmore, to award a penalty. Bradbury took responsibility, and duly sent Henry the wrong way to give the Darts a 21st minute lead.

A touch of deja-vu occurred three minutes later, albeit involving different personnel. As another ball into the Chippenham box caused disarray for the Bluebirds’ defence, Eddie Jones brought down Moussa Diarra, and Mr Ellsmore pointed to the spot again. Bradbury stepped up once again and, going left this time, fooled Henry to dive the wrong way!

Alan Dowson’s side were now in full control, and their confidence soared because of it. As they set about adding to their score, they caused Chippenham all sorts of problems, and it wasn’t long before the hosts were hit by a double whammy…

Firstly, Aaron Amadi-Holloway pulled up with a suspected hamstring injury while chasing Brandon Barzey. He was replaced by Nat Williams in the 36th minute, before Dartford extended their lead sixty seconds later via a howler from goalkeeper Will Henry.

Freddie Grant passed the ball back to his goalkeeper, as the Bluebirds tried to build from the back. But, Henry was too slow to react to the looming figure of Barzey. The Dartford player stole the ball from him, before tucking it home into an empty net… his first goal for the Darts, and probably the easiest he’ll ever score (37).

The hosts finished the half strongly, but finished the half with a three-goal deficit to try to claw back… and they started the second-half well, yet almost fell further behind after just four minutes.

Harvey Bradbury was involved once again, only he almost turned provider on this occasion as he intercepted a pass, before finding Josh Johnson with a neat ball. The latter, who had arrived on loan from Oxford United for an initial month once again, saw his low strike saved by Will Henry (49).

Owen Windsor then managed to get on the end of Tyreke Johnson’s cross to pull a goal back for Chippenham in the 52nd minute, before Matt McClure missed a golden opportunity to cut the deficit further (55).

That spurred the hosts on, as they saw a lot of the possession in a bid to try to get something from the game. However, the Darts were looking relatively solid this afternoon, as well as a constant threat in attack.

Alan Dowson made just the one substitution this afternoon, and that took place after 73 minutes when Brandon Barzey made way for new signing Lucas Depise.

The Bluebirds, meanwhile, would make one final change in personnel, as Will King replaced Tyreke Johnson in the 82nd minute.

As we return to the action, we reach the point where Dartford put the game out of reach for definite. And the goal came via Josh Johnson, who restored the three-goal advantage with a delightful screamer from distance (75)… a contender for goal of the season, let alone goal of the month! And the assist? Well, that came from Harvey Bradbury, who’d stolen the ball from Nat Williams, before finding his teammate with a neat pass.

The only blot of Dartford’s afternoon was the fact that they finished the game with ten men, as Maxwell Statham was shown a second yellow card, followed by a red with ten minutes remaining. The fact that Mr Ellsmore was “card happy” throughout the ninety minutes left this as no surprise to be honest.

Nevertheless, the visitors rarely looked threatened despite being a player light, as Chippenham ran out of ideas and time… the closest they came to scoring a second goal was when Matt McClure tried his luck from distance with a curling drive, which flew narrowly over the top of Beeney’s crossbar (90).

The result sees Dartford climb to twelfth in the National League South table, just four points shy of the play-off positions, and there’s still an awful lot of football to be played.

TEAMS

CHIPPENHAM TOWN: Will Henry, Eddie Jones, Freddie Grant, Aaron Amadi-Holloway, Luke Haines, Tyreke Johnson, Jake Evans, Matt McClure (c), Owen Windsor, Luke Spokes, Caine Bradbury.

SUBSTITUTES: Craig Fasanmade, Will King, Marcel Lewis, Nat Williams, Alex Avenell.

DARTFORD: Mitchell Beeney, Jordan Wynter, Sam Odaudu, Baris Altintop, Luke Coulson (c), Maxwell Statham, Brandon Barzey, Josh Johnson, Joash Nembhard, Harvey Bradbury, Moussa Diarra.

SUBSTITUTES: Lewis Manor, Manny Adebowale, Lucas Depise, Jayden Boulton, Manny Idem.

Chris Palmer
--------

Rick: Looking at the internet it's Lucas Nsiona Defise. So Defise, not Depise as per the club's official match report.
That's what I put in the Man of the Match poll.

[DA Mikey]

Well done Darts, Dowson and the hardy travelling support for a great result yesterday. No such thing as a free lunch, but sounds like a bit of Chips giveaway there. The result is important on the field, but also off it, since a loss would’ve probably been down to the Tom Bonner situation in many people’s blinkered eyes.
Please don’t let the behaviour of some masked online idiots prevent you from joining in on here. I’m not sure who I’m talking to or about, since social media (this forum aside) has no draw to me whatsoever, but it is clear that some people are being affected by it. Never seen anything like it since school days and that was back when the old king died. I mean, really.

Anyway, great three points DFC.

[Babylon]

After an indifferent start to the season we seem to be improving and hopefully the play offs are back on the agenda.
As for the Tom Bonner business.
who knows what has gone on.
We might find out what took place one day but he is now an H&W player and it is all a bit of a mystery at the moment.
If he does play against us in our forthcoming fixture, I won't heckle him because he was a great servant to the Darts.

[ozymandias]

After losing Essam/Bonner, Dowse brought in his own lads and with the exception of Statham and Sam the two guys in the middle of defense has been the problem for him.
Bringing Diarra in has, for me, settled the situation somewhat and his link up with Joash is bearing fruit. I hope that is not jumping the gun.
I have said I am not a lover of Dowse's football and he's been through the mill lately. But he has stuck to his guns. Hopefully we are finding a way through the doubt of his capability of getting the team where it belongs.
I won't comment on the Bonner' situation, that's for another thread and it seems pretty lively.
But for me a win is a win against opposition that are normally a tough crack to nut.
Long may it continue.
COYD'S

[Lennylenny]

Think credit where credit due , we should be focussing on a fantastic result for dowse and players. Hampton next, as for Tom if he don’t want to play for us more room for someone who does. I wish him and King all the best except on 21st

[The Futures White]

After losing Essam/Bonner, Dowse brought in his own lads and with the exception of Statham and Sam the two guys in the middle of defense has been the problem for him.
Bringing Diarra in has, for me, settled the situation somewhat and his link up with Joash is bearing fruit. I hope that is not jumping the gun.

Interesting to note that only Chelmsford have conceded less goals (10) in the league than Dartford (11) so far this season.

[M1 South]

Surely you mean less??

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Fewer.

[The Duke]

Listened to the match on Darts commentary and enjoyed it as we played well and some decent football with a very good 4-1 result , sounds like Josh Johnson was doung a great job in midfield and a cracker of a goal , hope we can now go on a run of wins and get into those playoffs

Those who went : any comments on the new guy , initialy on bench Lucas Defise , is he a winger/striker ????????????

[The Futures White]

Surely you mean less??

Nice to see that someone is alert!

[Park Life]

Those who went : any comments on the new guy , initialy on bench Lucas Defise , is he a winger/striker ????????????

To be fair mate he wasn't on for long so couldn't really judge. But he was a straight swap for Barzey so guess he's a wide right player.

What doesn't help though is not knowing who these players are and what positions they play. There was an announcement on Josh but nothing on the other two lads. It's really poor that we travelled two and a half hours to watch our team and have players in the match day squad who we have absolutely no idea who they are. Its not fair on the supporters or the players in question. I don't know whose responsible at the club for this but they need to step up or step aside, it's happening all the time.
Other than that it was a good performance and result at a ground we've not done great at recently.

[Spike]

On the way down the mood in our car was far from optimistic. TBH a defeat seemed the most likely outcome although we did hold on to a glimmer of hope for an ugly win like the one at Aveley. What we did not expect was a great performance, an exciting game a win and 4 goals. This was our best performance of the season by a country mile and I'm very pleased for Dowse as this will take the pressure off at least for a while. We created loads of chances and although we had 2 pens and a keeper error go our way, the result was well deserved. Bradbury was outstanding up front and Johnson (my MOTM) superb on the middle. Best day of the season so far.

[Park Life]

[Park Life]

[Park Life]

Well i got that wrong for the first pen. I thought at the time it was the RB who gave it away but it was the number 5 who tripped Joash.

As for the red card on Statham...... WTF was the ref doing.

[DA Mikey]

Statham red card was ridiculous, however I’m quite sure that Chippenham will feel the same way about both penalties. Perhaps next time “we always get s**t refs” rings out around Princes Park, we would do well to hearken back to this game. The third goal was a gift too in all honesty.
Looked like we deserved the win though.

[KentC]

I’ve been critical of Dowse and I think fairly but I am pleased for him, pleased for the players and pleased for us.
Excellent result and by what I’ve read performance.
Great job including those that travelled.