Sunday 5th November 2023 Dartford Dev 1 Crawley AFC 2 scorer: Chloe Brian
London & SE Regional League Cup, 2nd Round, played at Princes Park Community 3G pitch
Manager: Dan Edwards, Coaches: Rhys Terry and Steve Sales
Team: Hickson, Thomas, White, E. Brian, Nash, Potter-Scarborough, Pearce, Hinkley, Healy,
Reader, M.Smith
Subs (all used): Culpitt, A.Adams, Killick, Rowsell
There was to be no cup upset in the League Cup 2nd round match with Crawley AFC who play in the division above. The Premier Division side came back from an early shock to finally overcome a determined Dartford side that continued to search for that equaliser right up to the end.
The first goal-scoring chance of the afternoon fell to Crawley. After six minutes it was only due to a great save from Talisha who kept Crawley from taking the lead, and then from the rebound a shot from the 6-yard line was blazed over the crossbar.
And then two minutes later Darts took the lead. A beautifully placed corner from Emma Healy that was delivered into the 6-yard box just under the crossbar and first Amy Reader connected with the ball but saw it rebound off the post, then the ball fell to Chloe Brian who guided the ball home from inside the penalty box.
On 17 minutes Darts had a big let-off when Crawley hit the post and then from the rebound struck the crossbar.
But Darts had their efforts on goal too, a 25 yard effort from Molly went over the bar and a good long shot from Adele were both not far off target.
In the 22nd minute a brilliant strike from the edge of the penalty area brought Crawley’s equaliser. At one point your reporter thought Talisha had brought off a miraculous one-handed save but instead it just crept inside her left post, the shot was so powerful.
Either side of the half-an-hour mark Darts had chances. Both Molly Smith’s long range free-kick came close and then Amy Reader’s shot was too high, but not by much. These were good efforts.
HT 1-1
Crawley had an early chance to take the lead with their striker clear of the defence with just Talisha in the way. Full marks to ‘T’ as she stood her ground and in the end the striker attempted to lob the ball over her but it also cleared the bar.
The winning goal for Crawley came in the 57th minute but there was an incident immediately beforehand that led to the goal. A defence-splitting pass came through on the outskirts of Darts’ penalty area and Talisha came out fast to smother Crawley’s chance and a hefty clash happened between striker and ‘T’ who was left stranded on the ground. The ball fell very kindly to a Crawley striker, following up, and knocked it into the empty net.
Generally speaking, I must say, that goalkeepers normally come off worse in these 50:50 challenges and more-often-than-not the challenge is deemed to be a foul on the keeper. But on this occasion, there was no reprieve for Darts as the referee allowed the play continue until the goal was scored.
Once Alicia came on she added some more impetus to the Darts’ midfield and she assisted on a couple of occasions with great through-balls but these were not capitalised upon.
One of these chances fell to Elise who made inroads towards the Crawley penalty area before being crowded out by three defenders but still managed to get the ball out to Chloe on the right wing who broke into the penalty area and unleased a terrific shot which just hit the side netting near the right-hand post. That move merited a goal but it was not to be.
FT 1-2
Summary:
Dartford can hold their heads high with a positive showing and they weren’t that far away from pulling back a goal to give them an equaliser, but Crawley were no mugs and had built their side on the strength of an impressive hard-tackling back four. To their credit though, Darts got in plenty of shots, especially from outside the penalty area, but today, the goals didn’t quite come. Darts’ defence, by and large, held the Crawley attackers quite well and there were periods where an onlooker wouldn’t have been able to decide which was the Premier Division team of the two. So well done Darts – inwards and upwards!
A proud performance from the Darts as they battled hard and looked to even the score right up to the final whistle.
Report by Tony Brown