Eastbourne Borough:

Welcome to a new season at Princes Park, and our first home game against Eastbourne Borough.

I am writing this just after our final pre-season game against VCD, so before the season actually kicks off away to Hemel Hempstead on the 8th August.  From a personal point of view, it feels really good to be back.  Pre-season has gone about as well as could be hoped, winning five games, drawing one and only conceding one goal along the way.  I appreciate that this has been against lower league opposition and the first real test is yet to come, but these are all positive signs. 

Tony has made some very good signings over the summer, bringing in a lot of younger lads who are beginning their careers and keen to impress.  There certainly looks to be a lot of pace and energy in the squad, mixed nicely with the addition of Barry Cogan who will bring that extra touch of quality and the experience of us few who have been with the club for a long time and know what to expect.  Hopefully we can gel quickly as a squad and make a good start to the season.

This year is all about re-building.  I personally would not want to go on record saying we are going to achieve this or that.  We have a brand new team, made up of a lot of young and inexperienced lads that are going to be competing against some very talented and experienced sides.  All I can say is that I am really looking forward to the challenge and hopefully we can make steps towards bringing that feel good factor back to the club that has been missing for a couple of seasons.  It is going to be very tough, but hopefully we can surprise a few people.

As ever, thanks for your support.  Enjoy the ride.

Bradders.

Hemel Hempstead v Dartford Sat 8 Aug 2015 FT 1-0 Att 653
Dartford v Eastbourne Tue 11 Aug 2015 FT 1-0 Att 963


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Sutton:

Welcome to today’s game against Sutton United.

The first week of the new season has been and gone, and I think we should be reasonably pleased with the start.  I was bitterly disappointed not to get anything out of the Hemel Hempstead game last Saturday, purely because there was a big build-up and everyone was hoping for three points to kick-start the season.  However, it was not to be.  But to then follow with three points against Eastbourne on Tuesday night was very pleasing.

For the first 20 minutes against Hemel Hempstead, I thought we were excellent.  We moved the ball well and created chances.  However, their goal rocked us a little bit and we spent the rest of the game tied up in a battle and unable to get any good possession.  When you are desperate to score, sometimes you get sucked in to forcing the ball forward and I think we ended up playing too many long balls into the front men which their defence found easy to handle.  We had our chances to score, but didn’t take them.

Eastbourne on Tuesday was a completely different game, with both teams a bit more willing to try and play football.  We scored a great goal early on which put everyone at ease, and we were very organised throughout.  They played the ball around quite nicely at times, so it was good to see our team shape and organisation restrict them to just a few long range efforts and some problems caused by their long throw.  Again, we should have been 3 or 4 ahead with the chances we had but that will come as we grow and things settle down.

Today will be another very difficult game.  Sutton always threaten to do well every season, and they have some very good experienced players.  It will be another good test for our developing side, but the opportunity to put more points on the board is there and that is what we are focused on doing.

Thanks for your support.

Bradders.

Dartford v Sutton United Sat 15 Aug 2015 FT 2-2 Att 910
Concord Rangers v Dartford Tue 18 Aug 2015 FT 2-3 Att 712

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Gosport:

Welcome to today’s game against Gosport Borough.

Again, we have to be pleased with how the past week has gone.  The aim was to start the season well, put some points on the board and breed confidence into our new squad – and we have certainly done that.  Seven points from our opening four games is a good start, and certainly something for us to build on moving forward.

I thought we were excellent against Sutton last Saturday and completely dominated them in all areas of the pitch.  Sutton will be one of the better teams this year, so to perform like that and put them under so much pressure was a very good sign for us.  To draw the game was the only disappointment as we certainly deserved all three points, but that’s how things go in football sometimes.  The positives were there for all to see though and we could have easily scored five or six had our luck been different in front of goal.

Tuesday night’s trip to Concord was also pleasing, but for very different reasons.  Admittedly, we did not play well for periods of the game, particularly in the first half.  There was a lot of sloppy play and the less said about the two goals we conceded the better.  However, the character shown to come back from two goals down was fantastic.  There is something to be said for grinding out results when you don’t play well and we certainly did that on Tuesday night – everyone did their bit and the lads pulled together when they needed to and got the result.

Gosport will be another good test for us.  They have had an unbeaten start to the season so will be high in confidence and looking to pick up three points.  Hopefully we can combine the character and commitment shown on Tuesday night with the quality shown last Saturday, and keep this good run going ourselves.

Thanks for your support.

Bradders.

Dartford v Gosport Sat 22 Aug 2015 FT 2-3 Att 812
Margate v Dartford Sat 29 Aug 2015 FT 0-2 Att 996

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Ebbsfleet:

Welcome to today’s game against Ebbsfleet United.

I must say that I have missed this fixture over the past couple of years.  There is nothing more enjoyable than playing in these big derby games, and my only complaint would be that it is not being held on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day as tradition would have it.

I am writing these notes just after our home defeat to Gosport Borough, so before Saturday’s trip away to Margate.  I can completely understand and share the frustration at losing the Gosport game – we were by far the better side throughout, created numerous chances, and scored two goals….but still lost the game.  Conceding three goals at home, and in such a sloppy way is not good enoughand something that certainly needs to be put right.And I am sure it will.

However, I would encourage people to focus on the positives.  When you analyse the entire game (and all of our games so far), we had a lot of possession, were dangerous going forward, scored two goals and caused them lots of problems.  Individual errors can’t be helped and are not meant on purpose, and sometimes they do end up costing points.  We have a young side, and mistakes are going to happen.  This season is all about bringing some stability back to this club, introducing some new/younger players and getting everyone (both on and off the pitch) back used to winning games again, and I think we are certainly on the right path. As it stands, we are three points from fourth place and playing a decent brand of football….so hardly time to panic.

Today is a chance for us to upset the apple cart a bit.  Everyone knows what is going on at Ebbsfleet, the money they are spending and the type of players they have been able to bring in.  By rights, they shouldn’t drop a single point this season so the pressure is on them to deliver.  Today is our chance to have a go at them and see what happens.

Thanks for your support.

Bradders.

Dartford v Ebbsfleet Mon 31 Aug 2015 FT 0-1 Att 2251
Bath City v Dartford Sat 5 Sep 2015 FT 0-0 Att 766

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Weston Super Mare:

Welcome to today’s game against Weston Super Mare.

Looking back at the Bank Holiday weekend, I thought we were excellent at Margate and rightfully came away with all three points.  Margate are a side filled with experienced players but we dominated them in all areas of the pitch.  Obviously going down to 10 men early in the second half meant we had to sit in and defend, but I really don’t think they caused us many problems at all.  We then could quite easily have come away with something from the Ebbsfleet game.  They are clearly a very strong and well organised side, but in my opinion there was very little between the two teams on the day.  We gifted them a goal which allowed them to sit in and soak up pressure, but we certainly did not disgrace ourselves and a draw would have been a fair result.

Last Saturday’s draw to Bath was also very pleasing.  With a number of senior players out with injury/illness, it was great to see so many young lads step up to the plate and perform well (against a team that is currently top of the league).  I thought we were very good value for the point and were on the front foot for much of the second half and could quite easily have nicked a win on a different day.  It just goes to show how talented this young group of players is and it is great that they are now getting the opportunity to shine – with a couple of us old boys mixed in.

Weston have had a difficult start to the season, but have picked up points in the last couple of games.  It will be another difficult game, but it is certainly one we should be looking to win.  As I have said before, consistency is the key to success in this league and we have been generally very good over the past couple of weeks.  Let’s keep that going.

Thanks for your support.

Bradders.

Dartford v Weston-s-Mare Sat 12 Sep 2015 FT 2-1 Att 802
Oxford City v Dartford Tue 15 Sep 2015 FT 2-1 Att 283

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Truro:

Welcome to today’s game against Truro City.

We have now played 10 games this season, which is usually the first point to reflect and gauge how things have gone.  In my opinion, there have definitely been more good things to talk about than bad, although we have been very inconsistent in terms of results. 

In my opinion we have been the better side more often than not so far, but we have let ourselves down on occasions either through wasting good chances in front of goal or making costly individual defensive errors.   With such a young group of players, I guess some inconsistency is to be expected, but if we can address that then I see absolutely no reason why we should not be challenging for a play-off spot this year.  We have already played many of the top teams and have by no means looked out of place, and we will continue to get better as we grow and develop as a team over the course of the year.

Looking back at the two games over the past week, we showed great character to come back from a goal down to beat Weston last weekend.  It was admittedly a poor game, but they kept the ball very well throughout which made it hard for us to impose ourselves.  They rarely looked dangerous with all their possession though, but it did mean that we went for long periods without the ball which was frustrating. 
Tuesday night’s loss to Oxford City was bitterly disappointing, especially after such a good first half performance.  We completely dominated them in the first half, but they made some changes at half time and bought on a lot of pace which we simply didn’t deal with.  A draw would have been a fair result, but then again Weston would have felt the same way on Saturday so maybe it was a fair outcome all things considered.

Today will be another very tough game, but we absolutely need to start becoming more consistent at home and turning good performances into good results.

Thanks for your support.

Bradders.