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Tony Kessell

0 (0%)

Tommy Osborne

2 (4.7%)

Steve Norman

3 (7%)

John Guest

3 (7%)

Richard Avery

0 (0%)

Lew Watts

1 (2.3%)

Mark Green

0 (0%)

Jay May

1 (2.3%)

Brendon Cass

7 (16.3%)

Eddie McClements

24 (55.8%)

Ryan Hayes

1 (2.3%)

Carl Bruce (sub)

0 (0%)

Steve Hafner (sub)

1 (2.3%)

Total Members Voted: 43

Voting closed: April 11, 2007, 09:52:32 PM

[IOW Exile]

Let's face it, one point out of six over Easter against teams like that is not promotion material. Time to gather resourses, admit we're going nowhere this season, and start planning to get out of this league next season. Just not good enough when the cards are on the table.

[The Don]

As seems the norm over the last few weeks we will be keeping our fingers crossed some of the results go our way this afternoon. It's just not good enough !

[binsey]

And you laughed at us!!

Dover winning 2 1
Fleet winning 1 nil
T & M 1 1 with Dulwich

Those teams down the bottom are the tuff games.  Its going to the wire, how exciting!

[The Don]

Binsey, everyone is laughing at you 

[The Don]

Poor second half, nearing an end. Oh dear, a very bad result.

[DaveAW]

We've got a great ground,great support, and let's face it......a pretty average team. We are going to be in the same league next year, but we have to get together a team that are willing to scrap for the points. A stadium and support does not make a winning combination........ask Newcastle.
I'm not knocking anyone, just stating some facts. I want to see the Darts where they deserve to be. The important thing now is trying to keep the support together for another year in this league, i personally think it will stay pretty good. Until todays game i thought we still had a chance, but it is now over. Even if we managed a play-off place who would put their house on us beating one of the top sides ? Our season ended with a one way trip to Crystal Palace. One trick pony springs to mind. The management knew he was away, i don't believe all was done that could have been to compensate for the loss.

[Silverado]

Including the penalty, Chatham had three shots on target and scored three goals. Dartford never came to life and put Chatham under real pressure until the last 15 minutes, by which time we were already 3-1 down. Three very bad goals to give away. The 1st: Lew Watts, under pressure, trying not to concede a corner, dribbles his way along the bye-line TOWARDS (!!!) our goal, not surprisingly gets dispossessed, allowing a Chatham player to be teed up for a simple strike. 2nd: their 6'6" Peter-Crouch-like beanpole No. 9 is left completely unmarked in the box from a long diagonal cross, has time to chest the ball down, turn and bang it in. 3rd: Darts defender (Tommy O?) tries but fails to let the ball run out for a goal kick, allowing a Chat to swing a leg to get a cross in, right to Beanpole 1 yard out - only Richard A palms it right off his forehead for a pen. Actually Richard, imho, was lucky to escape with a yellow: the handball didn't so much deny a goal-scoring opportunity as deny a certain goal. I was surprised he wasn't red-carded.

What was particularly galling was that after Cassie's goal in the 14th minute - very good pass to put him in, very good finish across the keeper - we then conceded the equaliser within the next minute - and Chatham never looked like losing for the rest of the match. They covered in numbers extremely well in defence, broke quickly and were generally quicker to the ball all round. Yet again the Darts never played their passing game - it was all hump it high or long downfield (frequently without even looking, let alone hopefully), where neither Jay, Eddie or Ryno could get control of the ball to do anything creative with. Haffie added a bit more fizz when he came on as sub for Mark Green and switched wings with Ryno (interestingly, in view of postings on other threads, Ryno's crosses and passes then looked much more dangerous coming in from the left).

But in all honesty, until the last quarter of an hour, the Chats' goalie had had no more to do than Kessie (or even less, since he'd had to bend down to pick the ball out of the net only once). However, he really came into his own in that final period, pulling off a number of fine saves that those behind the goal will probably be able to comment more on than me.

After a performance like today's, it's even more difficult than usual to pick a MOTM. Nobody really deserved it, but once again, I'm going to give my vote to the unsung and much (imho) under-appreciated Steve Norman, who as always went about his job quietly, efficiently and with few mistakes, which is more than can be said for many of his team-mates today, unfortunately. They may have tried hard and many of them did a lot of running about, but then so, too, do headless chickens, and that just about summed us up today.

I think even the most optimistic of us can kiss goodbye to our play-off hopes after today. It may not be mathematically impossible yet, but even 9 points out of the last 9 - a VERY, VERY big ask, especially in the light of our current form - is unlikely to be enough for a 5th or better finish now.

Shame... Now excuse me while I go and find a quiet corner to cry in...

[delboy]

Its been an interesting season. we have had some very good performances, great entertainment,and lets face.......some absolute shockers. Today fell into the latter category im afraid.Never got going against one of the divisions whipping boys, who ,i might add, thoroughly deserved their win. With other results going against us, and looking at who our main rivals have left to play, i'm afraid thats it boys, no playoffs for us this year. In a way. its not such a bad thing. For a start, could we have gone to Say,  Tooting and Hastings and won both? I doubt it myself.We have lost 11 games, thats nearly a third of our season, you cant expect to lose that many, and still be in the mix come the end of april surely? And if we can lose 11 in this division, what price the premier division? So we've been put out of our misery now,and spared the last day heartbreak of last year.Its time to regroup, and plan for a serious assault next term. COYD
Thank you and goodnight.

[The Duke]

i was one of the 1200+ fans who turned out to watch the darts today and to say i was disappoitnted is the understatement of the season

however the fans disappointed must be small is relation to TBs as he has been badly let down by circa 7 players that he has been loyal to and has been rewarded {??} with performances like the one today , perhaps in hindsight he has been a bit to loyal but even he must now get the axe out and get rid of them cause even if by some miracle we scrape into the playoffs most of this lot are NOT good enough and will NOT take this club forward

for the first time this season boos actually rang out at the end of the game as the belief was that we have players turning up , thinking they are good , emjoying the life at PP and basically doing f... all , which is totally unacceptable to dart fans

full marks to chatham  ,they battled hard and we did NOT deserve anything today so no sour grapes from me

i hope the crowd numbers stay up for the remaining 3 games and i am sure that all the loyal darts fsns will be there but the newer fans must feel short changed and wonder why the longer term fans bother

so tony , give brucie , briggsy and james carter the last few games [ least they will bust a gut for you !!] , get rid of the non achievers and lets get some class in and win the ryman league one next season

[The 5th Searcher]

Well for probably the first time this season i have to agree with Hunky Honkys comments, to be honest we got exactly what we deserved today which was absolutely fk all we were disgraceful, i thought Saturdays game was bad enough but today just about takes the biscuit.

We played more like a team who didn't seem to have a care in the world and took it as a stroll in the park rather than a must win game to stay in the push for the play offs. Fair play to Chatham they certainly didn't play or look like a team who is very near the bottom of the table they played some good football at times and actually used the turf for exactly what it was designed for and that is playing football and not hoofing it in the air like we did. If the game was based on high long balls then we would've been league champions by now but alas this certainly isn't the case.

There were a few players out on the pitch today who really need to start taking a good long hard look at themselves and thinking whether they deserve to collect the wage packets after these last 2 or 3 games.

Apart from Eddie McClements our midfield was completely non existant until the last 10 - 15 minutes when Haffy came on and Ryno switched to the left which is when he started to look a bit dangerous, Lew Watts just wasn't in the game at all and seemed to be at fault for Chathams equilizer by instead of just putting the ball out of play or clearing it he decided to mess about and lost the ball for them to score. After this he seemed totally out of it and was very slow and second to almost every ball.
John Guest seemed to be struggling for the whole game with his back injury and possibly shouldn't have been playing not that im saying he was at fault at all.

Jay & Brendan worked hard but apart from Cass's goal which i missed there wasn't really a lot either could do as virtually every ball played to them was up in the air instead of to their feet.

How Richard Avery stayed on the pitch after deliberately handling the ball and conceding the penalty i do not know it should've been an instant red and Ryno was very lucky to get away without even a yellow let alone a red card after the penalty was scored, a Chatham player said something to him and Ryno reacted by shoving the ball into his face and then pushing him but the ref obviously didn't see the incident and only spoke to the Chatham player.

Chathams No3 was also lucky not to have been given his marching orders after stamping on Brendan but again the ref let this incident go and i don't think he even booked the player.

Well i think we can clearly wave bye bye to the play offs for this season now certainly after todays result if not from Saturdays match as we have now dropped down to 7th 1pt behind Dover & Fleet who both still have 1 game in hand over us and 2pts behind Dulwich on the same games.
Certainly looking at the run in we have compared to Fleet we've without doubt got the harder games and unless the players perform miricles in the next 3 games and pick up 9pts PLUS some of the other results go our way then it's Ryman 1 South for us again next season.

It was bad enough missing out by 1pt i think it was last season but to miss out again this season after not being out of the top 5 or 6 all season is im sorry to say a major disappointment. We have to face facts now that we just don't have the squad to get us promoted and some big improvements and changes will have to be made for next season with some players being released and new better players coming in and if this means that we have to start spending some more money and pay a little over the odds then so be it.

My MOTM vote goes to Eddie.

[Gilesy]

Totally agree with the Duke!

We never made anything and we showed nothing up front maybe they got stuck into there Easter eggs cause they never got stuck into the game. i know that may seem harsh today but we just never got stuck into the game. I think anyone thinking of going to Hastings on Saturday will maybe think twice about it after todays performance.

If i was tony i would be thinking about who will be staying next season because on todays performance only a couple of the players desereve to stay.

No one stood up and said come on lets go.

At this rate it will not be up the Ryman league we go it will be down the Ryman league we go.

We have not had a better chance this season to go up to the next league but we have stalled.

I for one feel totally gutted about today and i am sure the other 1250 people do feel the same.

Gutted Gutted Gutted says it all really.

[MrGaz10]

After a performance like that it’s easy to sound off in all directions but let’s try to keep it constructive.

Players
Tony was let down today by 7 or 8 first team regulars. I'm told some of the players look at this site - I hope they do! Perhaps then they will understand the boo's that rang out at the end of the game. Unfortunately people had forked out £9 a head to watch that rubbish and a defeat when you give it your all is bearable but too roll over without a fight is totally unacceptable. Eddie Mc stand up proud - a player two leagues below the standard he should be playing and a battler as well. Brendan and Jay wanted it but it just didn't happen. I'd be gutted if I was Mark Green - he was bombing forward and really took the right back on - then got subbed when anyone of 7 others should have gone. Was Guesty injured? He wasn't at the races and certainly did look fit or free in his movements.

Tactics
We all know the problem - Too many long lofted balls to nobody. The chances we made came exclusively from periods of good football and passing the ball along the deck - Their keeper had our tactics pinned after 10 minutes and that’s why they won almost every ball that was knocked down or flicked on. If we want to play hoof it football then play Jimmy and Jay up front and ditch Cassie (Yes its ridiculous to say that but why play him when he doesn't fit our current tactics? His game isn't winning headers, its balls to feet.)

TB
Amazing how many people were asking if TB had taken us as far as he could (not knocking the work he has already done!!). I can't answer that question but I do know that the run in called for some brave decisions and a few risks and sadly we haven't seen them. The players are complacent because they know TB is loyal, we don't see the substitutions when we should (why did Steve H have his top off for 8 minutes before coming on today? Why weren’t the subs in the dressing room for the half time team talk? Why use a sub straight after half time and not at the break? The players knew that they were safe when the half time whistle went and all our subs run onto the pitch.) and we haven't brought in the players we should have done. I'm sure he tried but we should have brought in 3 or 4 players in January to strengthen the squad and put pressure on the first team. We may have paid a little more but we are getting the gates and we could have managed that by putting them on contracts until the end of the season. Carl Bruce was bought as a "goal scoring midfielder" - how much of a run has he had in the team? Why let Jimmy play elsewhere today and not have a striker on the bench? Tony you need to be ruthless now - you know who let you down, pick on form not reputation - make the changes, the seasons as good as gone, take a risk please.

Hastings
If we play like we did today then we will be slaughtered. How about giving a few of the subs a chance? I'd like to see Lew given a rest and Ryno put on the bench (yes he can be brilliant but he is not on top of his game), bring in Brucie who gave everything when he came on and let Haffy have a full 90 minutes.

The oppo keeper
Deserves a mention - Took the stick in good spirit, made a couple of good saves and looked very solid, got a genuine round of applause from the Darts fans towards the end of the game and acknowledged it. Well done.

3 games left
Let’s keep the crowd numbers up and back the boys for three more games. 9 points probably won't be enough so we're playing for pride but if ever a crowd could lift a team then let’s prove it! Let’s fill the coaches to Hastings and aim for another 1200+ against Walton. The couple of players that battled hard today were as gutted as those of us behind the goal - their reaction at the final whistle shows that. They deserve our support for another couple of games.

MOM - Eddie MC Pure class on the ball and wanted to win as much as the supporters.

[The Duke]

terrific constructive post and certainly in line with many genuine darts fans thinking

i along with ALL of the genuine darts fans WILL be at hastings next saturday , we are PROUD to be darts fans [ through thick iand thin] ALL we ask tony is take a team who also are  PROUD to wear the dart shirt  and give us 100% and then we can live with any result !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i also thought that the darts fans appreciation of the oppos keeper was terrific as with the level of disappointment behind the goal today could easily have been one of sour grapes - well done guys  !!!!!!!!!!!!


UP THE DARTS

[The 5th Searcher]

Spot on MrGaz10, i haven't actually heard anyone question whether Tony has taken us as far as he can personally i think there is still more in his think tank yet but only time can tell on this.

As Duke has said we will all be there again next week against Hastings as we are all proud Darts supporters and all we ask is that the players go out there perform and show us that THEY ARE ALL proud to be wearing the black & white (or yellow) of Dartford and not put in the type of performances like they did today and Saturday.

[paulfromwesthill]

The posts I make have never been negative   I'm a positive ( 1/2 glass full ) type and I'm not going to get negi now after todays terible defeat but I too hope the players do look at this site and this page in particular. I find it hard to disagree with alot of whats been stated already.

Whats cost us in last dozen games or so ( post Davie M ) are the tactics. The long ball needs to be played when needed but why do we seem to want to put the ball into orbit. JM and BC scored plenty of goals when we played it on the ground even when say Haffie and Ryno played on the wings but todays condition were perfect for football and we just hoofed it every time. Chatham who battled well today and did deserve to win picked up on our tactics and after they equalized so quickly there was only going to be one winner. I still think our best football is when Briggsy ( love him/hate him or whatever ) plays along side Eddie in the middle and they spray the ball wide. Football is a matter of opinions and that's mine.

I really hope that the 1000 new "regular" Darts fans including me ( I will be ) still keep visting PP for next season but alot of hard work needs to be done with the team in the summer aswell as on the fan base promotional side ( new general managers role  ? ).

The play offs I accept are now just a faint possibility and I feel gutted along with my 9 year old son ( only missed 1 game at PP ) but I still hope.................we must never lose hope. COME ON YOU DARTS