There wouldn’t be too many managers who would want to get away from the ground after a 2-1 victory over their closest rivals had lifted Dartford into fourth place in the National South table. 

But Tony Burman, was one who couldn’t wait to head home.  “I’m not staying that long tonight as I want to get back to see the family” he explained.  “I haven’t seen the grandchildren this week so I want to see them and this result just makes it a little bit nicer.”

Ebbsfleet shaded the first half, but two goals in the first 16 minutes of the second – Tom Bonner’s header on 48 was added to by Duane
Ofori-Acheampong after 61 – brought the three points home to Princes Park, even though Anthony Cook’s late consolation made for a tense finish.

Burman said “It was a good local derby and I felt that in the first half we had good spells and so did Ebbsfleet.  We got the
breakthrough just after half-time with a set piece and knew that the first goal would be very important today.  We followed that up with
Duane scoring a great goal, making something out of nothing, and in the end I’m disappointed that Ebbsfleet have scored.  They have come at us and I think that suited us.”

“I think we won the battles today, which we didn’t do against Maidenhead.  We played against some really good players today and I
think they are going to be up there, but today we’ve had a response and it proves I’ve got a good group here.  We’ve had a three-year plan and
although we did OK last year we were not consistent enough.  Today we’ve had a back four with three 21-year olds in there and Tom Bonner has come in to marshall it well; he was excellent.  With the youngsters having so many games last year we are starting to see the benefits now.”

The Dartford manager admitted that he had changed tactics at the interval and explained “We felt that Ebbsfleet might go with three at
the back, so we wanted to match them and with Danny Harris’ and Duane’s pace, I thought we could cause them problems.  We had to switch it around when Cooky (Anthony Cook) went out to the right, but we thought that if we could hit certain areas we could get the benefit.  We have to do what we think is right at the time.”

Having been in the hotseat to oversee Dartford’s rise through the Ryman and National League structures, Burman is well placed to comment on the progress of his opposite number, Darryl McMahon.  “It is a tough job and playing each other again within 7 days, it will be another battle”, he said.

“Darryl’s pressure is different to that in a lot of other clubs.  It has been publicised that there is a lot of finance and money been put
into (Ebbsfleet).  They are trying to do things right and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the way that he (McMahon) has been conducting
himself and in the way he wants his teams to play.  He’s a good lad – he was a very good player – and been professional in the way that he comes across.  He’s probably facing a cup final every week and the way he’s conducted himself is excellent.”

The result was a good response to the 5-0 defeat at league leaders Maidenhead United, during which Tom Wynter was dismissed.  There had
been an expectation that Dartford might appeal the decision, but Burman added “we were going to appeal Tom’s red card, but I had some people look at the footage before it went in and I still believe that he didn’t stamp on the player.  It looks as though he has trodden on him.  I don’t think, in my opinion, there is any intent but the referee said he saw it and he was surrounded by Maidenhead players who may have made the situation worse.”