Having won the first of their two game festive season local derbies against Welling United, Dartford came close to close to completing the double before conceding in the seventh minute of stoppage time. After the final whistle, both management teams have been reflecting on the Christmas fixtures.
However, had the Wings finished with nothing from the two games it would have been harsh on them. They probably deserved a point from the first game and would have levelled far earlier in the return match had it not been for the heroics of Dartford goalkeeper Ryan Stanford.
After the match, Welling assistant manager Ben Austin, and Dartford manager Alan Dowson gave their thoughts. Austin spoke first saying “I thought that a point was the minimum that we deserved. I thought that we probably deserved a point on Tuesday as well. It was another typical Welling performance where we’re good on the ball but just lack that bit of quality at either end. Thankfully we got something at the end.”
Once again Welling struck the woodwork at a crucial time when Antony Papadopoulos hit the inside of the post but Austin didn’t want to make excuses. “We can talk a lot about luck in football, but I do believe that you make your own luck. It does feel that at times we haven’t got the rub of the green so it was nice for us to get a late one (goal) today.
“I think that it would have been really disheartening for us as a group not to have got anything out of today because I think that over the two games, football’s a game of opinions, but I think that over the two games and the style of play, I think that we’ve been the better team over the two games but just not clinical enough.
Ben Williamson covered in goal for the unavailable Reice Charles-Cook but he is one of a number of players whose contracts will expire. Austin confirmed “Ben’s contract expires on the first of January so we need to make a decision about that. Inevitably there will be movement. Some of it will be our choice, some of it will be the choice of the parent clubs, but we feel that we need to freshen up the group and bring in a different dynamic. If we can’t add to the squad in depth, then me might just need to shake it up a bit and try and get a response that way.”
Dowson saw the overall outcome differently. He said “It was a bit harsh really. I don’t know where he got seven minutes (stoppage time) from. We should have went two-nil up when he was Couls (Luke Coulson) went clean through but we’ve got to do better in stopping the cross because it was an average ball in the box which we’ve shanked into the corner. Somehow we’ve let a goal in, and most teams don’t do that but it’s where we are at the minute.
He continued “I’m trying to change it slowly but surely by bringing (Richard) Chin in, getting the goalkeeper (Ryan Sandford) in, getting George (Alexander( in, and we’ve got Jack Smith now. “I’m disappointed because I thought that we were the better side and we should have had more goal.
“We’ve got to score more goals, we’ve got a problem there, and at the back to lose Conner (Essiam) and (Tom) Bonner in one hit was a massive blow because they were proper leaders of men. They were proper Dartford through and through and we haven’t got many like that now. It’s probably only Sam (Oduadu) who is Dartford through and through because he came up through the youth.
“I’m trying to get players who want to play for Dartford, I’m trying to get younger players as I’ve got too many senior players around the team. The youngsters give you energy, they give you belief and they do as their told. Some senior players might think that they’re a little bit better than they are. I can’t go and sign someone for seven hundred pounds (a week), I’m not allowed to. I’ve got to use the loan market and there should be on or two coming in next week.”
Images courtesy of Dave Budden