FOUR POINTS EDGE DARTS CLOSER TO CHAMPIONSHIP

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TonyDart
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FOUR POINTS EDGE DARTS CLOSER TO CHAMPIONSHIP

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Match Report 2022-23 v Glebe – double-header – Two matches each of two 30 minutes halves on
Sunday 7th May 2023 played at Glebe. FC, Kick-off 2pm.
Both matches were played on one of the grass pitches outside of the main stadium and had been used immediately before hand, so was far from being perfect and was particularly bumpy.

1st match South East Counties Women’s Football League. Premier Div: Dartford 3 Glebe FC 1
Dartford FC Manager – Rhys Terry
Dartford team: Kelly Amerasinghe, Aimee Ascott, Kirsty Cameron, Alex Fagan, Sabine Ghag, Chloe Hall, Beatrice Ogundele, Tilly Rowsell, Brittani Rumble, Annie White, Emily Woodhouse.
Subs (all used): Amy Brooks, Georgia Culpitt, Lizzie Nugent.

On a very warm day (up to 20⁰ by mid-afternoon), and on a rather bumpy pitch which made accurate passing very difficult, Darts had to be satisfied with four points out of six. This was probably the least number of points that Darts would be happy with from this double-header arrangement. The Championship run-in had become very tight and anything less than four points would have been deemed disastrous.

Within the first five minutes Darts showed early promise and had three good chances of opening the scoring.
As early as the second minute a fine long-range effort from Emily Woodhouse was heading for the top right-hand corner until the ‘keeper made a brilliant flying save to turn the attempt around the post.
Then two minutes later, a breakaway from Beatrice who played the ball nicely inside for Sabine and then quickly on to Tilly nearly bore fruit. Tilly’s first-time shot was saved by the goalie but the ball rebounded onto a defender but then unfortunately onto Tilly and ended up as a goal-kick!
So, two chances within the opening four minutes bode well for Dartford, but Glebe then produced a gem of an in-swinging corner which flew across the goal before going harmlessly behind.
In the next minute Annie White got a good ball through to Sabine who in turn fed it to Beatrice whose shot was well parried by the ‘keeper, the rebound fell to Aimee Ascott whose shot was then palmed away by the keeper who was position nearer to the penalty spot than her goal-line.
Darts’ finally broke the ice in the 12th minute after Annie had played a beautiful diagonal through ball to Aimee, but the Glebe defender brought her down resulting in a penalty. Annie White calmly placed her shot low and hard into the left-hand corner to give Darts the lead.
Beatrice then had a shot at goal, but it fell safely into the arms of the goalkeeper.
On 17 minutes, Lizzie Nugent made her comeback appearance after eight weeks, being side-lined through injury received on the 5th March and missing eight games in the process.
Dartford didn’t have things all their own way and Glebe had a great chance of equalising when after 23 minutes another beautifully flighted corner had to be clawed away brilliantly by Kelly from under the bar.
A couple of minutes later, Aimee suffered an injury when heading a long goal kick clearance and although she recovered in the short term, was later substituted.
Darts produced another shot on goal, this time from Emily. A great ball from Brittani, over the defence to Lizzie, and her pass was met with a thunderous shot from Em but her long-range, low shot just whizzed past the upright.
A couple of minutes before the half-time whistle, Emily slammed another shot, this time inside the post for a goal, but the referee had blown up just milli-seconds before hand for an offside decision.
Half-time on 30 minutes: 1-0 to the Darts.
In the early minutes of the second half, Amy Brooks, Georgia Culpitt and Tilly Rowsell all came on for Aimee, Sabine and Beatrice.
At 1-0, Glebe were looking no pushovers, yet at the same time Darts had two further chances to increase their lead. A long kick from Kelly beat their tall central defender and the goalie had to come way out of her goal to the right-hand touch line to put the ball out of play. Then, from the quick throw-in, Georgia’s goal-bound shot was saved by the goalie’s finger-tips who had barely scrambled back into her goal.
Then on a breakaway Glebe squandered a good opportunity when a miscued attempt was finally cleared by Emily, back helping her defence.
But two minutes later, Darts at last struck their second goal. Emily produced a strong throw-in which found Amy Brooks who beat her marker and laid off a neat pass to Georgia whose shot from eight yards out gave the keeper no chance of saving. That was in the 30+16th minute.
On 30+22 minutes, Dartford played nicely out of defence. Chloe across to Brittani who found Amy in midfield. She in turn got a pass to Lizzie but a Glebe defender handled. Annie White lined up to take the kick which was a long way out, about half-way inside Glebe’s half. Annie’s kick deceived the defence and the ball fell kindly to Lizzie who, avoiding the goalie’s legs in the goalmouth, duly scored Darts’ third.
With four minutes remaining, a lapse in concentration allowed a long strike to squeeze through between Kelly’s fingers and the left-hand post, bringing them a consolation goal
Full-time score: Dartford 3 Glebe FC 1
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2nd match - South East Counties WFL, Prem Div: Glebe FC 0 Dartford 0
Dartford team: Kelly Amerasinghe, Aimee Ascott, Kirsty Cameron, Georgia Culpitt, Alex Fagan, Alicia Gibbs, Chloe Hall, Lizzie Nugent, Brittani Rumble, Annie White, Emily Woodhouse
Subs (all used): Amy Brooks, Alex Foulds, Sabine Ghag Tilly Rowsell, Robyn Smitherman.

This second match of the afternoon turned into a rather uninspiring game from both sides who basically equalled each other out in midfield and there were very few clear-cut chances created. Alicia Adams was introduced into midfield but presence wasn’t able to inspire Darts to great things. Once again however, the pitch was not conducive to playing good passing football, and certainly was somewhat lacking for this level of football.
A point from this game was a hard-earned one, and long balls over the defence were always a menace from Glebe, but for the most part they were misdirected or overhit. Darts were constantly found offside although a few lino decisions left a little to be desired, but on the whole a draw was probably a fair result.
The four points earned have put Darts within striking distance of the Championship, but failure to secure points in their last two games could still spell trouble.
zzzzzz - SE Counties WFL table at 7th May 2023.JPG
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