Play off Final - Dartford v Dover Athletic Mon 5 May 2025

[ozymandias]

That was aimed at Old Woking. Don't ask.
Now you see how my phone plays up.

[Babylon]

I take your point Mr Canary.
From October onwards we were a decent outfit but our poor start cost us in the end.
We move on and hopefully a better conclusion next season.

[Taunton Dart]

On a different note;The Gents toilet situation at the ground yesterday was ridiculous & downright unhealthy!!
You couldn’t go to the large loo at the car park end (which was sectioned off) so fair enough I suppose. So that left the Gents up by the big bar. Only 2.5 urinals & 1 cubicle in there, one of the urinals was blocked by 2.00 pm & a horrendous smell of drains!! I don’t know what the state of the one at the School end was like throughout the day but that’s a hell of a walk there & back when u sit down by the 18 x yard box at the Car park end!!
3800 people in attendance I see with the vast majority being male!!
Are we not sponsored by a plumbing company (Uniflow or something like that?) couldn’t the club organise a couple of their top boys to go in, inspect, repair & sort something out the day before any match??
I don’t know if the Blazers on the ground floor fared any better with their facilities??…… I hope not!!

So that's why we weren't flushed with success yesterday.....

[ozymandias]

Ade would do well to sign those two littlun's up running around behind him.
A tad disappointed that we never seemed to get going yesterday, the only worry for Walker was the sizzling shot that stung his hands. A little more to the right and it would have gone in the net. That and his tactic of strolling round in the first half with the occasional gee up from the ref. Should have been booked.

[M1 South]

The only thing going round the bend was us fans!!

[Kermo18]

Wonder if Ady will get the same abuse Dowse got for mentioning the b word, somehow I don’t think so.
I would imagine the majority of our better players will have had offers from clubs in our league and the league above already, no doubt with a bigger wage.
I personally think the league looks stronger next season already.
Huge summer ahead for the club, it needs to start now.

[Mark Sweet]

Wonder if Ady will get the same abuse Dowse got for mentioning the b word, somehow I don’t think so.
I would imagine the majority of our better players will have had offers from clubs in our league and the league above already, no doubt with a bigger wage.
I personally think the league looks stronger next season already.
Huge summer ahead for the club, it needs to start now.

Of course he won't
because apparently we're over achieving and punching above our weight

The last 4 or so games have been constant long balls up to Olly, I seem to remember Dowse getting hounded for that too.

But hey, the board must be happy with lurking in the Isthmian so we should be too.

[Kermo18]

I wouldn’t say the board are happy with being in this league, but the 5 year plan certainly seems a million miles off at the moment.
I don’t think it’s fair to throw this at the board again, if we had of gone up yesterday the budget wouldn’t have been mentioned.
It was mentioned at one of the last meetings that a major sponsor had failed to make the payment they had committed too, it doesn’t take a genius to work out who that was.
It just seems to be a cop out for managers to use when it suits them.

[Dave T]

I'm not sure why the mention of the B word is such a big deal. It's a fact that clubs with the biggest playing budgets have a much greater chance of success. It is also a fact that the budget alone does not guarantee success.

I'm not privy to the details of our playing budget, particularly in comparison to other teams, but my gut feel (with all due respect to the current squad) is that it must be signicantly lower than in previous seasons. Another personal feeling is that we have probably slightly over achieved this season with the squad we have.

I read Ady's comments to infer that he wanted to know what the budget for next season is, before he commits..... and who can blame him?!!! If Guardiola or any of the other top bosses were told their budgets were being cut, you wouldn't see them for dust! Personally, l hope Ady stays, as with 3 or 4 new faces, we can improve immensely.

Yesterday was a huge disappointment for all of us, not least the players, who just couldn't raise themselves after the epic semi final comeback. We were quite poor yesterday, Dover were marginally better, and just about deserved it.

I hate the play offs, but they are here to stay. Dover proved the old adage that the form teams do best, just making fifth place in the league, then beating the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, both away from home, to win it.

[Mark Sweet]

It's all well and good building a young squad with a limited budget, if we can then keep hold of the players to build on next season. Which becomes increasingly difficult if promotion is not achieved when you get so close.

I'm sure there are already NLS clubs or even Isthmian clubs who are willing to pay significantly more sniffing around our best players.

[Jonty]

Bottled it again imagine my surprise

Marsden is an absolute joke of a keeper, should be the first one out of the door this summer.

Mark Sweet is an absolute joke of a supporter and should never be allowed on this forum

I’ve finally found a way to block his shit. Go to your settings and add his name to your ‘foe list.’ That way all his shit does not appear in your ‘feed’. It works a treat. I know because I see the responses to his later posts which feature his quotes. If we all do this, the c*nt is gone forever.

It works a treat, he is gone. Thanks SD.

[Dave T]

Mark Sweet is an absolute joke of a supporter and should never be allowed on this forum

I’ve finally found a way to block his shit. Go to your settings and add his name to your ‘foe list.’ That way all his shit does not appear in your ‘feed’. It works a treat. I know because I see the responses to his later posts which feature his quotes. If we all do this, the c*nt is gone forever.

It works a treat, he is gone. Thanks SD.

Ditto - thanks SD!!!

[Lars Resort]

I can't seem to find my foe list

[Number Six]

I can't seem to find my foe list

Try User Control Panel > Friends & Foes

[The 5th Searcher]

We didn’t play well at all yesterday and although Dover was just as bad they made their 1 chance count, I say 1 chance because the other was a penalty. We basically had 1 possibly 2 shots at target all game and you’re never going to win like that unless it’s handed to you on a plate as it was for Dover.

I think we used up all our luck on Wednesday night against Cray, we had some tired legs out there but our biggest let down was the fact all we did was lump the ball forward up in the air to either Olly or Callum. When you’ve got a 4ft forward being marked by a 6ft+ defender then it doesn’t take a genius to work out who is going to win the ball every single time. It only took the slightest of nudges on Olly and he was beaten, most defenders by now have worked out his game which is to spin and run, all they’ve got to do is give him the slightest of nudges or just block his run and he’s out the game which is what’s happened for a while now.

The same sort of thing with Jonesy, he might win the odd ball in the air but nobody is there to pick it up and unfortunately Callum isn’t the strongest in holding up the ball if he can bring it down, that’s why the ball has to be played to both of their feet and then let them run at the defence where they can be dangerous not have them spin and run as they get blocked.

Congratulations to Dover the did what they had to do and got the win although they played worse than when we beat them Good Friday.

I think Ade (if he stays which didn’t sound confident in the interview) will hopefully manage to keep most of this squad with 1 or 2 either moving on and stepping up a level or retiring as well as 1 or 2 being released. I have my views on who could be released but won’t post them. Ade must try and sign a couple of wingers, an out & out goalscorer, keeper & central defender to strengthen this team as there have been weaknesses at times all over the pitch.

We can only wait now to see what happens in the summer break & hope that IF Ade is staying then he can start working quickly to make any signings and changes needed and doesn’t wait.

[Grassbank]

Enjoying the garden today, but thinking about the finale to our season. Our last three matches were at home and all were must win affairs: the first to maybe win the league and the second and third to win promotion via the play-off route. We drew one of those games in regulation time and lost the other two. In the play-off matches, we conceded three headers and a penalty. I did not see the Carshalton match. Two of those headers came from corners and the third as a result of a free kick played into our box. We did not concede a goal in open play in those last two matches, except in extra time against Cray. The two goals that we scored in regulation time were a penalty and a free-kick. This suggests to me that either teams were not commiting to attack, or that defenders were able to prevent supporting runs by fair means or foul.

Having achieved such a long unbeaten run with the same set of players, I am not sure what went wrong at the end, but something clearly did.

Sadly no trip to Bognor next season. Very few destinations to look forward to. Hoping that the cup and trophy give us somewhere decent to visit.

[Park Life]

[M1 South]

Don’t think I’ll be watching that Parky??

[DA Mikey]

Can handle the loss - let’s face it, we’ve failed six playoffs on the trot now - but I can’t handle untoward positivity and comments like “we are punching above our weight” [in the Isthmian league]. Yesterday’s final was not a good watch but if played out two months ago, we’d have won. Fine margins, goal difference, 98th minute equalisers…

I remember feeling almost guilty at the end of 2009/10 season when we had the title wrapped up in March, turning everyone over home & away. Yes the standard of the league has improved since then, but we had one hell of a special team brewing. Perhaps a few key replacements / reinforcements / retentions and we could do something similar next season. Maybe.

[Dicky Dart]

‘Punching above our weight’……. In the Isthmian?? Have we stooped that low??’

Indeed …….. glad I’m not alone in thinking that !

Been saying that for weeks!