I wasn't particularly looking forward to the game as I left Herne Bay to get the 15:58 train into Dover, via dirty Ramsgate. I never really get that excited for midweek games as they are a pain in the arse. It takes about 90 minutes getting over to Dover and the train home after the game involves a painfully long wait at Faversham, which can be extremely depressing if we have lost. Nonetheless, I met the others at the Old Endeavour about 18:15 for a few pre-match stellas on my limited funds, which were helped by their matchday prices of £2.20 for all pints and my Dad giving me money for a pint before I set off. Thanks Dad.
A couple of beers later and I was more eager and pulsed for the derby ahead than I was before I had set off. Grassbank72, Dartford fan of Conference South fame was in their with Adrian when I arrived and kindly bought me a pint. He's a very nice bloke for a Dartford scummer, I must reluctantly say. I actually felt quite uncomfortable in being in the company of a Dartford fan but footballing rivalry aside he is just like one of us.
Steven King, who only a few weeks earlier had stated that blogs were "for attention seeking cunts" continued to nosh me off over how much he enjoys my blogs. He'll probably be the first one to read this, with his finger continously tapping over the F5 button on his keyboard.
We left the pub at around 19:20, myself feeling rather refreshed after 3 pints and a big poo. As we walked up to the ground past the rugby club, we could hear the Dirtford fans in very loud voice, obviously well-prepared for their cup final at the biggest non-league club in Kent. In fairness to them, they brought around the 300 mark in a 1455 crowd, and contributed to a very decent atmosphere. It could have been better had it not been played midweek in Mid-August, but it was a respectable crowd nonetheless.
My renewed feeling of anticipation did not last very long once the ref blew the whistle for kick-off. In fact it lasted about precisely about 26 seconds when Charlie Sheringham stuck the scummers ahead. Tom Wynter, who had a very torrid game, allowed Ryan Hayes to beat him on the right-hand side who then fired a shot which debutant keeper Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz saved but could only parry to the feet of Sheringham. It was piss-poor defending which would set a precedent for the rest of the game. Funnily enough I said to Grassbank before the game that Sheringham was shit, overrated and waste of space. So i'm sorry about that one guys, think I tempted fate there. Sheringham was excellent all game I must say, winning every header in the air and chasing down every ball. A far cry from the lazy, whinging sulker which I had previously seen.
So, with a less than a minute into the game my excitement had suddenly faded into angryness and dissapointment, and my frustration would grow. Instead of going out all guns blazing after conceding an early goal, our heads dropped. We would struggle to pass the ball around as Dartford were extremely fast to close us down, something they were good at all night. When we had the ball at our feet we would panic and revert to pumping long balls forward, hardly a great idea when Bricknell and Purcell are hardly 6ft each. The nervous, poor defending would continue, but Dartford were unable to punish us, squandering various chances including a Sheringham volley that went very close.
And they would pay, as former Dartford loanee Purcell equalised with another tremendous goal. Harry Baker, who was one of our more creative players in the half, broke down the left hand-side and after beating a few men cut the ball back to Georgie a couple of yards outside the box. He would then curl in a well-weighted shot that flew into the top right corner as they Dartford goalie was off of his line. Another fantastic goal by Georgous George who seems to be leading a one-man crusade in the 'goal of the season' award, even this early in the campaign. The goal was beautifully executed and came out of nowhere, cue absolute pandemonium behind the goal.
1-1 then, a rather undeserved equaliser against the run of play if I am honest. But that goal buoyed us and the next ten minutes we would take the game to them. Purcell headed wide from a free-kick before the referee made his bottlejob decision on around the half-hour mark. Billy Bricknell ran through on goal before rounding the Dartford goalkeeper, who then clipped Bricknell's feet and sent him flying. Rather than make the obvious decision of sending off Young in goal and awarding us the penalty, he instead wanting to make a name for himself and attention seekingly dished the superb Billy a yellow card.
Now, there has been a lot of argument over the incident. Some Dover fans believe that Bricknell had over-cooked his touch and was going away from goal, realised the situation and then made a meal out of the contact. Personally I think that is utter bullshit; the reaction of the Dartford players suggested that they knew they had gotten away with murder, whilst Billy was clearly absolutely fucking livid over the howler of the decision he had just made. If an opposition player had just dived to try and con a penalty and get you sent off, would you not go ape shit? No, the Goalkeeper just remained static. Its times like these where we are desperately missing Dave1066's video coverage as we could put arguements like these to bed. I strongly agree with what Neil Moors put on my facebook status; Problem is that the Refs shit themselves in that situation because they want to give a penalty but don't have the balls to send the player off. So, they bottle it and the only way out is to book the forward for diving.
Amen to that and end of the discussion.
 |
| He had him well-beaten! |
After that catastrophic decision which would have completely changed the complexion of the game, our heads dropped and we reverted back to playing shit football and defending incompetently. Sheringham had a header chalked off for offside which looked like he was onside, obviously the linesman was levelling up for the poor decision made at the other end. But Darthugs would take the lead seconds before half-time with another unchallenge header, this time from Elliot Bradbrook at the near post. Question marks were raised over Ruiz' lack of attempt at coming out for the cross but in fairness he had kept the scoreline down moments earlier after impressively stopping a fierce free-kick.
So, we went into the break full of rage, mainly at the inept refereeing but I was also very cheesed off with our defending and poor football for most of the half. Walking past the Darts fans at half-time made me angry, I told them all that cheats prosper and well done for that.
Luckily, it would only take 15 minutes into the second half before we were level again. Super Billy Bricknell would excellently control a lofted ball into the box, skinner their defender and then fired a hard low shot into the bottom left corner. Great technique, great goal, game on. Cue wild scenes in the busy river-end, a massive surge occured where I was standing and I eventually ended up on the floor nowhere where I began. Thats what I love about terracing and the wrecklessness that occurs when the ball hits the back of the onion bag. Seated stadiums really reduce the ability to celebrate in a dangerous yet manic style.
Bricknell and Purcell are awesome. Despite having very little service, they were feeding really well on the scraps all evening.
From thereafter it would be a tight, tense affair where either side could have nicked it, but we ended up sharing the points. Purcell had a stinging free-kick saved very late on but the Essex side managed to clear the ball away as we desperately tried to scramble the ball in. Overall though they probably had the better share of the chances with Ruiz making some great saves and catches after a nervous start to the game. Based on the second-half, both sides were worth a point but I think Dartford can probably consider themselves unlucky if you put the penalty decision aside. I was relatively pleased with a point against a strong side as I just felt it could have been better or worse for us. I think we should all feel bitter about the penalty decision, but it wasnt given and on the basis of that we should be happy enough to collect a point. Just a final note, Jon Wallis was terrific for them and demonstrated why we rated him so highly here. It hurt to see him wearing the Dartford badge but he told us that he still holds affection for our club, so good on him.
Another ex-Dover player that will be returning on Saturday is Frannie Collin. Frannie was excellent in his spell here and scored some very good and important goals for us, so hopefully he gets a warm reception even if he is wearing dirty Scumbridge Animals colours. They have had some good results here since getting promoted from the Ryman Premier so there will have to be a lot of improvement on our performances. I think our team is still learning each other and taking time to gel, so hopefully the relationship between Ruiz and the rest of defence will improve fast. I believe Huke struggled at Centre-back and with his height he struggles to contain the larger players, so Harris should be restored there to partner Watt while Huke moves into midfield. Wynter had a stinker and his performances have dropped alarmingly recently. I believe his suspension comes in now so this is a good chance for Ashton to stake his claim for a place in the side. Cutler should consider himself unlucky to have not made the 16 in the last two games after playing well against Dorchester and Thurrock. Just the negatives of having a large squad, trying to keep everybody happy. I'm still not convinced by Cogan and believe we have better alternate options in the squad (Yes Phil - I do not care and I am not scapegoating either).
Anyway, it should be another enjoyable game on Saturday; a local derby with Tonbridge which should yield another decent crowd. A win is necessary after dropping points in our last two games - we don't want to be falling behind the pack, even this early on. So bring it on.
Finally, a big thank you to Reg Harris for giving me a lift back to Herne Bay on Tuesday night, I much appreciated that. I was only expecting a lift to Dover Priory station! Getting home over an hour earlier than expected, including a post match beer, was a massive bonus. Top man Reg. Thanks to Russell for buying me that beer too, I promise I will buy you one back when I regain some funds! See you all Saturday guys.
|
|
|
|
|
| Tuesday 23 Aug 2011 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | 2 | - | 2 | Dartford | |
 Purcell (21) Bricknell (62) | Sheringham (01) Bradbrook (46) |  1,455 | |||
| Eastbourne Borough | 5 | - | 0 | Bromley | |
| Hutchinson (34) Cole (37) Cole (68) Watson (07) Strevett (85) | 605 | ||||
| Eastleigh | 0 | - | 0 | Woking | |
| 665 | |||||
| Maidenhead Utd | 4 | - | 0 | Thurrock | |
Powell (13) Thomas (29) Wall (30) Powell (46) | 221 | ||||
| Salisbury | 2 | - | 1 | Truro City | |
| Adelsbury (16) Reid (35) | Walker (07) | 899 | |||
| Sutton Utd | 1 | - | 0 | Staines Town | |
| Kavanagh (38) | 505 | ||||
| Welling | 3 | - | 2 | Tonbridge Angels | |
| Pires (46) Pugh (71) Pires (75) | Collin (40) Collin (06) | 545 | |||
| Weston-S-Mare | 3 | - | 1 | Havant and W | |
| Pepperell (47) Price (54) Kabba (82) | Woodford (37) | 313 | |||
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Dartford | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | |
| 2 |  | Welling United | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | |
| 3 | | Truro City | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |
| 4 | | Sutton United | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | |
| 5 |  | Woking | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | |
| 6 | | Dover | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 7 | |
| 7 | | Eastbourne Borough | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 7 | |
| 8 | | Basingstoke Town | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 7 | |
| 9 | | Salisbury City | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| 10 | | Tonbridge Angels | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 6 | |
| 11 | | Bromley | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 | |
| 12 | | Weston-S-Mare | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 6 | |
| 13 | | Maidenhead United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 6 | |
| 14 | | Farnborough | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 | |
| 15 | | Chelmsford | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 16 | | Havant and Waterlooville | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 3 | |
| 17 | | Dorchester | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 | |
| 18 | | Boreham Wood | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 2 | |
| 19 | | Staines Town | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 | |
| 20 | | Eastleigh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | -7 | 1 | |
| 21 | | Thurrock | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | -11 | 1 | |
| 22 | | Hampton & Richmond | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
No comments:
Post a Comment