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Dartford manager Alan Dowson says 4-3 National League South defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough nearly left him dumbstruck
Luckless Dartford boss Alan Dowson admitted he was almost lost for words after his team’s defeat last weekend.
Injury-hit Darts lost 4-3 at Hampton, whose goals included a ridiculously soft penalty and a fortunate deflection off visiting keeper Mitchell Beeney.
On the other hand, Dartford got back into the game from 2-0 and 3-2 down and then missed two golden chances to go ahead, including when Harvey Bradbury’s penalty was saved.
Having lost on-loan Josh Johnson and Jordan Wynter to injury before the game, Dartford could only play Paul Rooney and Archie Woods for 45 minutes while Luke Allen’s gametime on return from injury was also limited.
“It was the hardest interview straight after the game as I didn’t really know what to say,” said Dowson.
“I couldn’t say we were unlucky but when I look back and watched the game over again, we really were unlucky.
“I didn’t know what to say afterwards, I’ve been doing interviews for 20 years but I’m never tongue-tied, even if I do come out with daft things at times.
“But I looked back at it on Monday and all I could think was that we battered [them] the whole game and how we lost it I’ll never ever know.
“I was so frustrated at the end because we’d played so well.
“We got two goals back, then had the penalty against us which was a scandalous decision. We should have had another penalty.
“I couldn’t believe we lost that game of football, the battling was there, the attitude was there, the determination was there. I came away thinking how the hell have we lost that?
“Once we scored I thought we’d go on. Even in the first half we missed two chances, in the second half we missed a penalty and another chance. It was nearly impossible to lose but somehow we found a way to do that.
“We’ve got to get on with it. I feel that we’re getting everyone together, everyone put a shift in, but at the end of the day I can’t say we’re unlucky as we’ve conceded four goals.
“The free header was sloppy but there was a penalty that never was and even their second goal, they hit the post and it hit my keeper’s back and went in - we never get that sort of goal at the moment.
“I feel for the players now as performance-wise it was very good.”
“It was massively disappointing and heartbreaking to get beaten but I’m sure we’ll bounce back as our performances have been getting better and better. That was probably our best performance but we ended up losing 4-3.
“I’m always critical when we concede four goals, of course I am, but I’m looking at it and thinking that’s hard to take.”