FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round - Dartford v Maidstone Sat Nov 18 2023

[KSTDART]

We were more than a match for Maidstone hitting the woodwork in the first half and having two clear cut chances in the 2nd . Unfortunately Rodney was indeed a plonker smashing them both over the bar .
Over all the performance was still heading in the right direction with Luke C looking back to his best . Out new keeper looked solid and the defence handled everything until the 94th minute.

[Dart of Herts]

Hilarious to see the w*nker with the flag get nicked by the Kent Constabulary.

I like the flag personally... can't comment on the individual

[MickW]

Diarra the pick though I thought everyone worked hard and we should perhaps have won.
Took Alex off just as we were getting some momentum which I think was a mistake as whilst Maonr can win the odd ball in the air, he is.not much if a goal threat.
Maidstone got lucky at the end though I didn't fancy us if it went to penalties.
Once again we fail in a cup competition so the rest of the season looks a bit bleak unless some dramatic change occurs.

[Spike]

Personally I thought it was a decent game and I feel for our lads as they put in a good shift and didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

[KSTDART]

Hilarious to see the w*nker with the flag get nicked by the Kent Constabulary.

I like the flag personally... can't comment on the individual

Not my flag(s) that go behind the goal , it was someone with a hand held flag .

[Park Life]

IMO there wasn't much between the two sides and whilst we did get better second half i'm struggling to recall their keeper having to make a decent save. TBF i don't think Ryan did either but he had a pretty decent game and will be disappointed he didn't get a clean sheet.

I heard the same comments at the end of the game which i've heard far too often, "we were unlucky", "the better side", "lads gave everything"......... but in all honesty i think we've got an average unbalanced squad and are so predictable to play against. We've got no natural wide players, not much pace or quality and defensively we have not found the right combination and all this shows in the inconsistency of our results. This is not just this season either, if you take this seasons results and the last twenty games from last season we'd be about 16th in the league!! If i'm being honest i don't see this changing so whilst we may still make the playoffs, i can only see us scraping in with the crowds dwindling even more.

I've gone to the games this season not really expecting to win and with no real passion or enthusiasm, today was no exception even taking into account the history between the two teams. Whilst the atmosphere was slightly better, it was only due to the return of the youth but other than that it was pretty flat and that has been the same for quite a while now.

I don't think I've ever felt so disconnected with the playing side of things as i do now, at times it feels like I'm just watching any old game of football. It's just not enjoyable and feels like we're just going through the motions.


See you all Tuesday.


MOTM Diarra by a long way.

[Dicky Dart]

Football can do that to you if you don’t put the ball in the net. Maidstone had nothing, but we still weren’t good enough to overcome them. We don’t create lots of chances, but occasionally we are clinical, and, Ebbsfleet last season apart, usually on days when we let in a few. We were tight at the back today, but we often need to score most of the chances we create.

[Babylon]

I absolutely agree with Park.life
I too have found our team a difficult watch.
We have a great set up at PP but imho we.are simply not good enough in the playing department.
Today was only my 5th game this season.
I just cannot get any enthusiasm to.watch this
season .
Mid table mediocrity and dumped out of both major trophys on our own patch.
Sorry Mr Dowson but it simply ain't good enough!

[Lennylenny]

Missed this due to work but not a bad result, expected worse. Honestly without the circus worthing defence it would of been another loss. We are just a mid table team, let’s just accept it

[MickW]

It's very disheartening but I am in the same boat as the rest of you - just hoping for something to give us a lift.
A bit of class about the place would make all the difference to a number of our players who I am sure could cope in a better team - but there are a number of others to whom I would just say thank you and goodbye.
At what point do we say this ain't working let's give some youngsters a go?

[Lennylenny]

Still Dowse has used his connections well and got us another goalkeeper, with Beeney playing really well lately wouldn’t the funds be better spent on a pacy winger?

[Top Cat]

Missed this due to work but not a bad result, expected worse. Honestly without the circus worthing defence it would of been another loss. We are just a mid table team, let’s just accept it

Yep this is where we’re at when a 1-0 loss at home to the boneheads who are no great shakes themselves, is accepted has “not a bad result “ WTF ?
We could of won this game if it were not for the poor finishing in front of goal . Their keeper didn’t have to make a worthwhile save all match , and for them to score 30 seconds from the end just about sums this season up .
There is a dark cloud hanging over Princes Park , and as others have said they are not enjoying what they are seeing . I heard one fan say on the way out of the ground “Typical Dartford , they never fail to disappoint “
says it all really .
Being a season ticket holder , I will be there on Tuesday night and hopefully see a win , but as others have said, this team doesn’t fill you with confidence .

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Couldn’t be bothered to go again. And I’m getting used to not being bothered about going. I wrote some time ago about an apparent massive disconnect between club and fans and with a manager that embarrasses IF he can be understood. It seems to be getting worse. Easy to say, I know, but at 90 mins, listening to the commentary, I just ‘knew’ what was coming. It’s a classic Dowson signature.

[Russyb63]

Well here is my rant , i dont write much on here but perhaps i should or not , does it matter , does it fall on deaf ears ???
I just did not agree with the Managers logic of our starting line up . Here is a game , nothing to lose but we play with one up front , pointless in my eyes . Am sure the fans like myself would like the Manager to give it a go but No…………
Is the manager clueless , No but its very close . Just dont understand , he said that last season it was not his team so i guess he inherited it , this year its his team , his signings but are we better , no way not even close .
I will be there on Tuesday for more torture at the moment , we will prob win going by our win one lose won ratio .
Am always open to be corrected , or other comments if at all i am wrong ?

[rick]

[KSTDART]

Well here is my rant , i dont write much on here but perhaps i should or not , does it matter , does it fall on deaf ears ???
I just did not agree with the Managers logic of our starting line up . Here is a game , nothing to lose but we play with one up front , pointless in my eyes . Am sure the fans like myself would like the Manager to give it a go but No…………
Is the manager clueless , No but its very close . Just dont understand , he said that last season it was not his team so i guess he inherited it , this year its his team , his signings but are we better , no way not even close .
I will be there on Tuesday for more torture at the moment , we will prob win going by our win one lose won ratio .
Am always open to be corrected , or other comments if at all i am wrong ?

I think we only played with one up front due to lack of options. Harvey is suspended, Charlie who has been missing for weeks and Barzey is away on international duty. That only leaves Wall who is still getting back to full fitness and can’t get through 90 minutes and Manor to replace Wall once he had ran out of steam .

[DA Mikey]

Kev - you tell Wall he had run out of steam! It appeared that he was not happy at all to be replaced and taken off just as he was finding his stride!
We came forward pretty well yesterday with some excellent surges from Coulson (definitely MOTM for me), but time and again firing high over the crossbar. Wall, Allen, Miller-Rodney all gulity yet again and since Maidstone were not prepared to throw the ball into their own net, we weren’t going to score. But don’t worry, WLWLWLWLWL means that Braintree will somehow be on the shitty end of the stick come Tuesday! Wye-aye man, we’ll be ok, absolutely no problem at all

[Lars Resort]

I was thinking of coming up Saturday for our win against Torquay but I obviously didn't take into account Tuesday nights game.
It was a toss up between the game and a funeral yesterday.
But I thought, as they say, a celebration (of the life).
Ironic that it was in Maidstone.
Or maybe that's my Nordic humour.
Last minute goal again and from the last few posts, glad I wasn't there.

[Trevor B]

I just couldn't take any more so left with around 5 minutes of normal time to go and wasn't prepared for a draw and penalty shoot-out but in my mind I felt that Maidstone might just get the win so logged on when I got home and yes WLWLWLW Lose.
So much poor finishing when chances created blasting most over the bar and their keeper having nothing much to do
A season ticket means almost guaranteed torture for most of us fans at the moment and no wonder the paying fans are dropping away but today it was good to see that we had a lot more youngsters at the game which helped prop up the attendance figure.
I will be there Tuesday as a succour for punishment along no doubt with most of the die-hard fans

[KentC]

I have been once in 2 months, I have no idea when I will feel that I want to return and that was just to see the King match to see if anything interesting happened, it did as we won but he was very quiet.

My post is not about him it’s about you die hard fans, a credit to the club the many, many of you.

I miss that desire and excitement of struggling to wait all week for the next game but I do take my hat off to the large amount of die hards going game after game home and away even when it’s not an easy watch right now.

After all it’s you guys that provide me with my (mostly) unbiased match reports and comments from inside the stadium through the fans eyes.