On Wednesday night, Dartford entertain Whitstable Town in the delayed Kent Senior Cup Final for the 2019-20 season.
Steve King’s Dartford have been waiting since 3rd March to play this game and didn’t even know who their opposition would be until six weeks ago. Having beaten Folkestone Invicta four-nil in the quarter final last February, they defeated Phoenix Sports five-one in the semi final a few weeks later.
For Whitstable, it was not quite as straight-forward. They won one-nil at home to Ramsgate in the quarter final but didn’t play their semi-final until last month when they saw off a Gillingham eleven by the only goal. That was former Thamesmead Town and VCD Athletic manager Keith McMahon’s first game at the helm after he took over from Lloyd Blackman.
Since then, McMahon has been re-evaluating his team and they won their first game in seven on Saturday with a good three-nil victory at Hythe Town. Goals from Luke Illsley, Alex Gaggin and Danny Walder ensured that they claimed the win that took them to within four points of the safety zone, which is the Oystermen’s first priority.
The Darts also claimed an important win to end a sticky patch on Saturday. They won three-two at Hemel Hempstead Town to retain their place at the top of the table. Tyrique Hyde returned from a loan spell at Hemel to put them ahead in the early stages.
Despite that, they were pulled back level at half time but went back into the lead ten minutes after the break when Ade Adeez scored from the spot. Hyde gave them daylight with his second and although Hemel scored again in the last minute, it was too little too late.
King will probably give some players who need playing time a run-out but his competitive edge will mean that he will still want to win. However, McMahon will know that it would give his team a massive boost if they were to win so it could be an interesting tie.