DARTFORD 4 - 0 BROMLEY South East Regional League Cup

[Ajaxman DFC]

A very good performance from the League Cup champions today, beating Bromley 4-0 in an entertaining game at Princes Park this afternoon.
The cup holders made their intentions clear as early as the 11th minute with a deft touch from Amy Russ to set up Shauni Griffiths who fired just wide of the post.
Two minutes later Brionne Fowle was denied by a good save from the Bromley keeper. But it was only another two minutes until the opening goal.
Shauni burst through towards the penalty area beating the keeper with an excellent shot despite being impeded by an opposing player trying to rip the shirt off her back in the process.
On 25 mins came arguably the goal of the match.
Brionne smashed home an excellent shot from an acute angle. It was reminiscent of a similar goal scored by Emily Vaughan against Dorking recently which was ruled out for being fractionally offside.
Darts went close in the 45th minute with a shot from Amy Russ going just wide and just before the half-time whistle Shauni's attempted chip was plucked from the air and well held by the keeper.
Up until this point my leading contender for player of match was Ellie Dolby playing at right back.
That girl didn't put a foot wrong during the entire half. She won the ball everytime. Not only that, but she consistently made the tackle, kept the ball in play and found a team mate. That was a top class performance. It's all to easy to award the player of the match to a striker because obviously goals win games. But I thought Ellie was outstanding today and I was glad to have had the opportunity of saying so to her face in the bar after the game, as I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of speaking with her before.
So it was no surprise when, in the 50th minute, it was Ellie who supplied the cross which landed perfectly for Amy Russ to fire home, which all but booked us into the next round of the league cup.
Several substitutions then ensued with the game virtually won including Ellie being taken off, but she did return before the end. And if Bromley thought the changes in personnel might give them a glimmer of hope it was short lived. This is a great squad where the bench is just as strong as the starting eleven. So when the like for like substitution was made with Emily Vaughan coming on for Russ, it was Vaughany who won the penalty which was coverted by Jo Woodgates who had just come off the bench herself.
This is a special group of players and it was good to hear one of the club's directors Mark Brenlund was present today. From what I gather he thoroughly enjoyed the game and I'm sure we all hope to see him again soon.
It wasn't our best performance and with no disrespect to Bromley, who are one level below, it wasn't our toughest opposition either.
My message to Mark is these girls are producing some good stuff this season. There is a lot of talent out there as the standard of women's football continues to rapidly rise throughout the pyramid every year.
It's important Dartford have the right structure in place in order for the women's game to progress at this club.
Alessia Russo joined Bearsted at the age of 9.
Where's the next Russo going to come from?
Where do we want her to come from?
Princes Park certainly has the facilities in place to raise a future female international footballer.
Today's player of the match IMO.
Ellie Dolby without doubt.
Well done Ellie!

[TonyDart]

Great report James and great comments on some of the players.
I totally agree that Ellie had a great game, always full of running both defensively and attacking. Also found her team-mates with smart and intelligent passes. A joy to watch. And for me Shauni's fitness level seems better than even last years.
Keep up the good work girls.

Well done too to Connor & Macca getting the girls to produce these performances game after game.

[TonyDart]

A great goal-mouth action shot from the League Cup 2nd round tie against Bromley. By Taur Everard

Thanks to Taur Everard for match shots.

[TonyDart]

Here we are James - Alessia Russo at Princes Park earlier this year:

[Ajaxman DFC]

Did she get Shauni's autograph?