Dartford v Yeovil Town Sat 9th Dec 2023

[Lars Resort]

I did not see that coming. Much better second half but Yeovil had the edge throughout. But can't put our lads down, they put in the effort.

[MickW]

A real gutsy performance showing a massive never say die attitude against a team that were superior in every department except goalkeeping.
We're we poor? I didn't think so - we were just being swept aside by a really good team.
However I really thought we were going to win it in the end but it wasn't to be.
A really good afternoons entertainment.

[KSTDART]

Normally you leave disappointed after a home draw but not today , we were superb against Yeovil side that oozed quality and are clearly the best side in this league. 4 weeks ago going back to the start of the season we would have lost this match convincingly but the new found willingness to fight was evident for everyone to see.
It was our 3 recent signings that were our stand out players but everyone put in a shift . MOTM was Sandford who made several brilliant saves

George Alexander scores a great header with an assist from Luke Allen v Yeovil


Richard Chin scores with a beautiful curling shot v Yeovil to put Dartford 2-1 up

[ozymandias]

An excellent gutsy performance against a quality side. Very entertaining and how Yeovil did not win especially after that first half I just don't know.

[Grassbank]

I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment on offer today. Yeovil were a quality act and they knew how to boss the man in the middle. For all their quality passing and wealth of possession they did not score in open play, although they should have. They were very quick to go to ground, especially in and around our penalty area and they were awarded a large number of shooting opportunities. Thankfully, they only scored two of them.

We scored the best goal of the game and our second goal came from a concentrated press on a team trying to play out from the back. One sloppy passd and a keeper who was slow to return to his goal gave Chin the chance which he took very well.

In my opinion a number of our attacks were thwarted by foul play by the defenders which went unpunished throughout the game. No surprise that we were awarded two yellow whilst Yeovil received none.

Gripe about the refereeing aside, we never gave up and both sides went in search of a winner in the last ten minutes. It would have been nice to see an extra stricker join the late push, but the result may have been that we would have been overrun in the middle. Yeovil broke out of defence very quickly and their players covered the ground fast. The lads at the back put in a good shift today and our new number 1 gains my man of the match vote within a spirited team performance.

We did not win, but I went home happy. I had watched an entertaining football match with both teams pressing for the winner late into the afternoon. Yeovil were a class act and I fully expect that they will go on to win the league. We might yet sneak into the play-offs and at least we now know what level we need to be at if we wish to progress further up the pyramid.

I wish the green army a safe journey home. They had a good level of support in this run up to Christmas.

[Ajaxman DFC]

Today felt like an FA Cup tie. The minnows versus the full-time pros. It was a hard earned draw against a very good side. We couldn't have expected anymore. At one time I used to hope we would aspire to emulate teams like Yeovil today, considering the size of the stadium.
But atleast the serious contenders will always know they'll be guaranteed a good work out at Princes Park in their pursuit of further success.
Well done to all those who made the long journey from Somerset and helping our attendance reach four figures this afternoon. Even though it was still 306 less than Chatham had against United. Hastings United.
I wish all at Yeovil the very best for the rest of the season and hope you enjoy your short stay in our league.

[ozymandias]

Yes, it's not often you see Jordan struggling in mid field. But they ran the midfield, George was pretty well on his own most of the game but scored a quality goal from a superb ball in from Luke Allen. Richard exploded into the game second half and finished well from a rare lapse at the back for Yeovil.
From being a flakey side, the inclusion of Chinny and Alexander has brought a new lease of life into the team. One that will hopefully bring better football/results and crowds back to PP.
MOTM for me was Ryan who handled well throughout and the defence for some last minute tackles/desperate defending.

[rambo]

We could easily have been at least 4 behind in the first half but we hung on with Alexander making a great finish
We were more in the game second half but actually second best most of the game
We looked unlikely winners at 2-1 in front but Yeovil came back and I was more than pleased with a point
Sandford Chin and Alexander make all the difference , with them we have an outside chance of play offs , without them we are nowhere
Sandford motm by a mile , without him it was certain defeat

[MickW]

Good to see a 'Ryan' as a MoM contender again!

[Dicky Dart]

It was knife-through-butter stuff for the first 15 minutes so credit to us for staying in it. It would have been a heavy defeat without the recent acquisitions. Sandford, Chin and Alexander are simply better quality than those they have replaced. They, along with Yeovil in general, are the standard of teams that go up from this league. I wasn’t impressed with some of Yeovil’s ‘sportsmanship’, and their manager running along the touch line trying to get an opponent booked (not the only manager I’ve seen do that) is not very endearing, but they’re clearly a cut above us also-rans. In the end a decent enough performance, but it’s just a small step. The fact that we’re happy with a home draw speaks volumes.

[DA Mikey]

Goalkeeper MOTM not always a good thing, but certainly was today. Glovers will likely be frustrated with a point, but that's a good thing in my book of days. We had a nice serve & volley approach to this game which could well be our style and see us finish top 7. I’d be happy with that. COYD

[The Duke]

Agree with Rambo's post , they are a quality footballing side who I actually enjoyed watching , we " Guts it out " with our usual style of football being improved with the likes of the 3 newcomers [ no need to mention names !] , hope to God they dont get injured or recalled ??

The 3 new guys have given the team a lift and couldnt fault the effort today and a point gained

[Paulcanary]

Agree with Rambo's post , they are a quality footballing side who I actually enjoyed watching , we " Guts it out " with our usual style of football being improved with the likes of the 3 newcomers [ no need to mention names !] , hope to God they dont get injured or recalled ??

The 3 new guys have given the team a lift and couldnt fault the effort today and a point gained

How the hell did Bus Stop FC beat Yeovil 4-1 ???

[Park Life]

A hard earned point yesterday against the best footballing side we have played all season by a long way.
Other than our very good goal we weren't really in it the first half but had a better second half, but in all honesty Yeovil could have been 3 or 4 nil up in the first 15 minutes and if it wasn't for more poor finishing and an excellent performance from Ryan we could easily have lost the game. But they didn't take their chances and whilst we didn't have as many we scored at important times and that together with Ryans performance and some never say die defending we got the draw.

A lot of talk before the game was why we had gone back to playing one up front after playing the two against Torquay which was probably our best performance of the season. Yeovil looked very good going forward but didn't look anywhere near as good defensively and i believe you should always set your team up to give yourself the best chance of winning. Some may argue a draw against Yeovil is a good result and if we'd gone with two up we may have got overrun in the middle and maybe if Harvey had been available we would have as he gives us far more in that role than any of our other options and the partnership with George last time looked very promising. Who knows so it will be interesting to see how we line up in future games.

Shame that after allowing Yeovil fans full access to all our facilities a very small minority decided to play up in the bar and cause a bit of damage as the overwhelming majority of them were very well behaved.

MOTM easiest decision of the season, Ryan Sandford. It looks like we have at last found a keeper as good as we have had in previous seasons.

[Dart of Herts]

A lot of talk before the game was why we had gone back to playing one up front after playing the two against Torquay which was probably our best performance of the season. Yeovil looked very good going forward but didn't look anywhere near as good defensively and i believe you should always set your team up to give yourself the best chance of winning. Some may argue a draw against Yeovil is a good result and if we'd gone with two up we may have got overrun in the middle and maybe if Harvey had been available we would have as he gives us far more in that role than any of our other options and the partnership with George last time looked very promising. Who knows so it will be interesting to see how we line up in future games.

I did think before the game that one striker was the wrong call but credit to Dowse for having a game plan and sticking to it. I think we would have been overrun with only two CMs and Allen fitted well into what looked like a no.10 role. (Does he play there a lot? I haven’t made it to many games this season)

[The Duke]

Paulcanary,- Yeovil probably had an " of day " at Welwyn although Welwyn are a better side than their league position suggest and have a decent Manager , who long term will get it right , I reckon that Welwyn will probably spoil many Darts fans sporting enjoyment over the Xmas/New Year period

[M1 South]

Garden City??

[rick]

[Sleightly Deceptive]

Paulcanary,- Yeovil probably had an " of day " at Welwyn although Welwyn are a better side than their league position suggest and have a decent Manager , who long term will get it right , I reckon that Welwyn will probably spoil many Darts fans sporting enjoyment over the Xmas/New Year period

WELLING!

[The Duke]

Dont worry boys gets like that when you hit 78 , anyway they are both " dumps " ??????