Dartford away -match thread

[Del]

How the mighty have fallen. Isthmian League premier opposition tomorrow. Should get some idea how the team will set up against Tamworth in the next 2 friendlies.

[ttenorclef]

So is this our best 11 after all the friendlies so far? Because we. Look rather toothless to me.

[brian54]

Lulling our first league opponents into a false sense of security!

[banjo]

It’s all about fitness these preseason games, yes it would be nice too get some goals, but the main thing is that we are ready for the first game off the season.⚽️⚽️

[Del]

Sounds like we are not taking the chances we create.

[surreyu]

Steve brought in plenty of EFL loanees last season that helped turn fortunes around. Hopefully some come in this week, squad still looks very short of goals

[Deleted]

Neil Harris did mention in an interview yesterday that a couple
Of his young players could be loaned out to either Efl or national
leagues.It could be a case of watch this space.

[davef]

How did we play?

[markf]

Following decent performances and results in the previous three PSF's, this was back down with a bump against a side that will be two steps below Us this season.

Dartford was a "big side" and Sutton struggled from a plethora of corners early on as the height advantage told. Sims making his debut tipped one effort over while another clipped the crossbar.

At the other end, U's spoilt some promising approach play with a sloppy final pass or a less than impressive finish.

Dartford scored right on ht when a fine volley came off the post and their guy stuck out a boot from a prone position to prod in.

Second half, SM made a couple of changes but the match rather drifted with some scrappy play from both sides. Davies did force a good save from the home keeper late on.

Arguably our least impressive performance of pre season when considering the level of Dartford although with that side I expect they will be looking for a quick return to NLS.

I thought we lacked the energy of recent matches, it was hot, and gave the ball away too much. That said, chances were made but not taken. Playing Rush up front on his own didn't work for me.

Perhaps more worrying that this big Dartford side provided a second, more physical opponent, the first being Farnborough, and we lost both.

Not sure SM has decided on his starting line up and Vaz was missing today and was missed as French took the left back role and he is probably happier in the centre.

This is a young squad and those who think we should be looking for automatic promotion back to the EFL may be disappointed. However, pre season has provided plenty of promise particularly on the flanks. But we must start ending some fine forward play by scoring.

[paz]

More importantly, it looks like the team did not take home any injuries.

[ttenorclef]

So whose memory is better than mine? I’m sure we played Dartford away at their old ground mid to late 1980s. But as we were in different leagues thruout that time ( I think) why did we play there at that time? Or do I remember wrong that we went there?

[presssec]

We played them there in October 1988 in the Clubcall Cup, which was I think the name under which the Bob Lord Trophy was played for at the time, although it included clubs outside the Vauxhall Conference. We won 2-1 with goals from Tony Rains and Steve Turner, the latter a striker who had signed from Redhill after impressing against us in the FA Cup the previous year. It was his only competitive goal for us. We went on to beat Croydon and Wealdstone and got knocked out in the 4th round 4-3 at Bishop's Stortford.

We also played Maidstone there in the same season in the League.

[ttenorclef]

Thanks pressec for the great answer. So I could have been there for either game. Must say the thought of it being against a different opponent than Dartford because of a ground share hadn’t occurred to me.

[Andy K]

Jul 28, 2024 11:07:20 GMT presssec said:

We played them there in October 1988 in the Clubcall Cup, which was I think the name under which the Bob Lord Trophy was played for at the time, although it included clubs outside the Vauxhall Conference. We won 2-1 with goals from Tony Rains and Steve Turner, the latter a striker who had signed from Redhill after impressing against us in the FA Cup the previous year. It was his only competitive goal for us. We went on to beat Croydon and Wealdstone and got knocked out in the 4th round 4-3 at Bishop's Stortford.

We also played Maidstone there in the same season in the League.

Am I right in thinking that our last visit to Dartford's old ground was an FA Cup fixture in November 1991?

[presssec]

That was against Maidstone as well.I can't recall us going there since then unless it was for a friendly.