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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

[Skip]

Gawd ...... that was grim.  After the ideal start of Cassie's opener we once again undone by an individual error resulting in Chatham's equaliser about 1 minute later.  Once the Chats went 2-1 up we didn't do anything until the last 10 mins to threaten their goal.  I don't agree that 6-7 players were not trying but think that the key area of centre midfield did not function (and I'm not talking about Eddie Mac !!).  Lew had a stinker and is too pedestrian for the role.  When we need to get hold of the ball and speed up the passing game he came up very short.  I think Briggsy is the only other midfielder in the squad with the range and accuracy of passing to have got both our flanks working and perhaps got Eddie through the middle.  I would like to have seen Lew subbed at half time for Briggsy - at least this might have helped give the team the impetus to put the Chats back line under some pressure.  

IMO it is not the performances against the more lowly opposition that has been our downfall this season but our lack of wins against the top 6 with only wins against Maidstone and Fleet.  We now require 9 pts from the final three games and pts dropped elsewhere if we are reach the play-offs.  Highly unlikely, I know but a good test of the character of both management, players and supporters for the final weeks of the season.

Are we up for the Hastings trip ?  Cause we are !!

[HantsDart]

Just read TB's notes.  Crikey, there's honesty for you!

[The Duke]

i agree and if ANY of the under performing darts from saturday do NOT put in a performance of a life time for TB this saturday then they ought to be
 totally ashamed of themselves  and PLEASE go and play for somebody else !!!!!!!!!!!

most fans were pretty sick after saturday but not half as sick as TB will be feeling and saturdays the time to deliver

UP THE DARTS

[MrGaz10]

I take my dartford FC hat off to Tony. His post match notes sum it up perfectly. I'm glad he came out with an honest appraisal and let us know the general sort of things he said to the players. I agree with what he says about getting rid of the ball at the back and have no problem with that tactic - the trouble we have is that the long ball is now being played from anywhere our side of the half way line. In and around the box get rid - but elsewhere - get it down and pass. Tony cares about our club and I hope that after the post match analysis this week, saturdays team show the same passion and desire to move our club on.

Like Skips comment about Lew - He could still do a job at centre back but not in the middle with Eddie. The last two or three games have shown he hasn't got the legs for the role and after losing out on a 50/50 he can't get back for another go. Briggs and Bruce can do that job so lets see one or the other have a go.

Before we knock the boys any further lets hope they have a positive training session this week, we get some positive news from Tony pre match and judge them after the Hastings game. Will we all be a bit brighter if everything clicks into place again and we get three points from our seaside trip? A big win on saturday and a few interesting results elsewhere and suddenly its all back on.

[spike]

What a disappointment!

It all started so well when Cassie's early goal looked to be sending us on our way, but boy oh boy do we know how to blow it big time. I know Lew Watts is a bit slow and cumbersome, but he has tons of experience and generally makes up for his lack of pace with his decision making and knowledge of the game. You would expect him of all people to have a bit more savvy. It's never a good idea for anyone to dawdle on the ball right in front of their own goal, but when you're as slow and lacking mobility as Lew, it's positively suicidal. He was entirely responsible for giving away the first goal and clearly didn't learn from it because he did exactly the same thing again in the second half, but luckily got away with it that time. Apart from that, he looked very lethargic, hardly moved out of the centre circle anyway and I thought it was his worst ever game for the Darts and I was very surprised he wasn't replaced. (Generally, I think he's done pretty well when he's played centre-back but I think his central midfield days are numbered).The second goal came because we needlessly gave away possession and then our marking was poor. As for the third, I agree with the posters who thought Richard Avery was lucky not to be sent off ... I guess its a matter of interpretation but I thought the handball stopped what should have been an easy goal. Anyway, there were at least half a dozen players who performed below par and we got what we deserved ... nothing.

Eddie McLements (easily our MOTM) did his best to get things going but just wasn't getting enough help. Jay and Brendan worked hard and did okay, but once again, defensive clangers put them under too much pressure to try and rescue the day. I was surprised Greeny went off as I thought he had done pretty well first half and there must have been at least 5 other players more worthy of being substituted. I know its early days yet but, without wishing to be disrespectful, Bruce hasn't done enough to suggest he is capable of even earning a place on the pitch, let alone coming on and changing a game in which we are struggling. I still think we have a pretty good squad, but I guess we have to look for improvement and in my honest opinion, even when our best 11 are on the pitch I think we have 3 positions that are not quite as good as the others (2 defenders and 1 central midfield). That, coupled with below par performances from several of the better players too, has seen our challenge stutter in recent weeks. I think Tony Burman has done a very good job and I am sure he won't go spending silly money just to bring new blood to the club ... but I do hope he has a few improvements lined up for next season.

Technically, our season still isn't over. When there were 10 games to go I thought we'd need 20 points to make the play-offs. So far we have 12 from 7 (WWDWDDL) which means we still need 8 from 3 games ... in other words we have to win all 3 to make 21. With the topsy-turvy results in this league, I still reckon that would be enough .... the problem is, hand on heart, I can't honestly see us winning all three games. I hope the players prove me wrong.

[TREVOR B]

Truedart, even with perhaps the thought of lower crowds in a higher league and also the suggestion that players wages would increase considerably, I don't think the board would have preferred us to stay in this league.

Honesty from Tony as always and no doubt he is even more gutted than us as we all make our comments known, but looking in hindsight I wonder what he would have changed if anything with reference to the following taken from the back page of last Thursdays Dartford Messenger and which answers some of the questions in respect of new players. xthink

Transfer deadline day came and went without any permanent deals for Dartford but manager Tony Burman isn't concerned.

Burman felt new additions could have rocked his Ryman League Division 1 South promotion chasing side and opted against making any hasty moves.

"It could have unsettled the side" he admitted. "the signings I was looking to make weren't available and sometimes you have to be happy with what you've got."

"I didn't feel we needed to bring in top players and change the side at this stage. Team spirit isgood and we're five games unbeaten"

It then goes on to mention the deal in respect of injuries with Wellings Andrew Sam & Keith Rowland plus Thurrocks Ben Woods.(1 forward 1 midfielder 1 defender)

[spike]

I doubt it Trev ... who could honestly have predicted we'd play that badly against Chatham? The team we put out was easily good enough to win this game and surely could have, should have, would have, won but for stupid errors and an absolutely woeful performance. "Below par" hardly covers it!!!

[Silverado]

I agree with the postings above about our midfield (or rather, the shape of it). I was going to post my thoughts last night - but 1.30 am after the cricket on TV was a bit late! To my mind, we are not actually playing a 4-4-2 formation these days, it's more 4-1-3-2, with the 1 being Lew Watts playing a defensive/holding role in front of the back four, leaving only Eddie Mac as the creative attacking central midfielder inside two wide men. It seems clear to me that we need someone to accompany Eddie in centre midfield going forward - and Briggsie is the obvious candidate. So I would replace Lew with Briggsie and have the following truly 4-man midfield (from left to right):

                          Ryno     Eddie    Briggsie (or Briggsy   Eddie - not sure which one prefers/is better on the right side)  Haffie.

With someone like Briggsie to chase and harry (and hopefully win possession) in midfield (and Haffie, too, come to think of it), we wouldn't need a midfield holding player (unless he's another Makelele!) and would have more outlets from the back and more opportunity to create goal-scoring opportunities - and if we do still leak the odd goal at the back as a result of no Lew, at least we would be likely to score more than we let in.

It's just a shame that it's probably too late for any change to make any difference to our play-off chances now.

[Jonty]

I think we need to give Chatham some credit with the way they played in particular John Whitehouse who had a very good game. Come to think of it although we lost 3-1 I can’t recall Kess having to make a save although he was unlucky with the penalty.

I have to agree with Skip on Lew’s midfield ability. He’s clearly not quick or mobile enough to play in this role and Saturday once again proved no different. He doesn’t possess the vision or distribution and quite clearly he's a central defender.

Surely with only a few games left we will have to try something different and we need to finish the season off guns blazin’ win or lose, but how do we go about it? We could go with three at the back and play with Brucie and Ryan Briggs (replacing Lew) in a 5 man midfield with Eddie supporting Cass and Jay.

Personally I think the damage has already been done and we now need a minor miracle to clench a play off place. You never know stranger things have happened.

All in all we have had a wonderful season and now we have home base once again the future looks good for the club whether we go up or stay down and I along with the other regulars will keep on giving 100% support for the team and management.

Keep the faith guys our turn will come.

[spike]

All in all we have had a wonderful season and now we have home base once again the future looks good for the club whether we go up or stay down and I along with the other regulars will keep on giving 100% support for the team and management.

Keep the faith guys our turn will come.

Agreed. Lets not get caught up in the moment and forget that.

[PeteSamson]

I've got no doubt that whilst we are hurting, nobody will be more hurt and gutted than TB.

What is causing the hurt is that we know we have the players who are more than capable of turning it on, but for the past few games, just haven't got into the the games, and that includes some of our better players.

It seems Cassie and Jay have been putting the effort in. To be honest, against Dulwich, the defenders had to put up with an almost constant bombardment, and at times, even Cassie was on the edge of the penalty area helping out picking up the loose balls. He shouldn't have had to have been that far back. It should have been midfielders doing that job.

That actually leaves question marks against the midfielders - and to me that is where we have struggled, with the exception of Eddie Mac, who has led by example. But he can't do it all on his own. Others have commented that Mark Green possibly didn't deserve to be substituted on Monday and that Lew was slow again in midfield. Against Dulwich, he was perhaps made to look slow by Scannell who gave us the runaround for the whole match.

We've always known it was going to be a tight division, and that is exactly how it is turning out, and on current form it is looking like we Darts who will be one of those missing out on the playoffs. Make no mistake, it is a very fine line between success and missing out on the playoffs. That is where the 2nd bit of hurt lies, because we have a squad of players who have maintained a constant top 5 placing throughout the season - until now - and now suddenly, we are not performing.

We are not yet out of the equation, but it is going to take a couple of masssive performances to put us back in the playoffs, and to me, it is the midfield (as a group) who have got to up their game, and follow Eddies example. Ryno and the other midfielders have got to go on and come off that pitch totally knackered from being involved in the game. And to be honest, Ryno to me just didn't do himself justice in the Dulwich match and judging by some of you, not in recent games either. He's undoubtedly got the talent, so go on, give it to us! The same with Lew. Even if a player is out of the game, then he has got to get himself involved. I've always believed that the more you put into a game, the more likely you are to have felt part of the game - and the satisfaction you get out of the game. 

Come on now lads, let's give it your all for the final 3 games because Tony Burman is owed a big one for the last 3 games.
He has been brutally honest in his recent match writeups. Now it's your turn to go out and give absolutely everything for the cause in a final ditch effort.

COYD !!!! Mathematically we are still in with a shout. We can still do it, it's just we keep making it harder for ourselves in recent matches.

[dartwolf]

TB's notes are a good read, on my previous posting I was gutted at the perfomance and taking nothing away from chatham ,any Kent League side would have beaten us .We must learn from the failure and try to put things right ,although I still believe that we do need strengthening for the next campaign .As always the manager has my full support and I am sure most Darts fans feel the same.Come on you Dartssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

[rambo]

my dissapointment in our finale to the season is immense and you can see the hurt in tonys notes has hit him as hard as it has anyone.he does not allow his players to be rubbish on purpose so we have to expect and accept some bad performances.
we should not forget a very short while ago our chins were on the floor and tony picked up the whole club.i think we are not used to winning and being top after 14 years of being kicked in the teeth.
we had a terrible run at the end of last season and recovered too late and i feel the same thing will happen now ,we will probably get 7 or 9 points from the last three games and just miss out .
we have not learned the lessons from last season, that is recover from a blip very quickly.
i feel we pressed the self destruct button because we are simply not used to being top.i think back to the Cray game.i think we were top having played some great open football (what we do best with this squad) and for some reason we panicked and changed our game to something which did not suit us (being cautious) and came away with a point when it should have been 3.We lost momentum and i believe we have never fully recovered from that result.The players minds were then in negative mode ie not losing rather than winning.
i believe that as dartford fc had been inthe doldrums for so many years we just did not have the experience of being top and could not handle it.
we must learn from this ,just because we have a fab stadium and fantastic support this will not automatically gaurantee success in the future.you can only have success by working for it.dont forget we are competing with others and there are always going to 5/6 equally ambitious teams in the division every season.
tony should start planning for next season now.

[GingerMatt]

I could go on, on the poor performance and what certainly appeared to be lack of enthusiasm, although clearly that has been well covered
I was also disappointed by the ref he seemed to stop the game so many times and a lot of time I have no idea why! added to that it seemed to go against the darts
Also disappointed by the turn out from travelling supporters was there any?
Chatham supplied a bit of good football for entertainment but that’s not really what I paid to come and see!
We certainly don’t seem ready to go up to the next level so maybe its not a bad thing we are out of the playoffs just hope in future we get better entertainment for our money!!!
Like we have in the past

Come on you darts…

[The 5th Searcher]

Tonys notes certainly show just how gutted and hurt he was / is by the players performance yesterday, i only hope that the players have got the guts to all step forward and not only appologise to Tony, Robbo & Skip but to well & truely step up their performances by 1000% on Saturday and for the rest of this season.