There was drama in the final minute of injury time as Dartford were held by Hungerford Town, but manager Steve King believes it should have been three points for the Kent side.

Connor Essam’s header was cleared off the line by a combination of goalkeeper Luke Cairney and a defender with the Dartford players screaming for a goal immediately after Luke Allen had been thwarted by Cairney from a one on one chance. The Assistant Referee, though, was perfectly placed and kept his flag down so Dartford had to settle for a point. 

Dartford Manager Steve King was adamant that it should have been given as a goal. “Two of their players said the ball was over the line from the header in the ninety-fourth minute. I was talking to them coming off the pitch but Luke Allen’s got to score before that.”

Visitors, Hungerford, probably shaded the first half in which they went ahead. King was unhappy with the first half and said “I thought we were poor first half to the levels we’ve been playing, especially Tuesday night. 

“I think they scored with one of only two chances they had. We didn’t do enough. We had a good chat at half time. I flew into them if I’m honest. I said it was not acceptable. Second half I think we were more or less camped in their half for the majority of it. They tried to hit us on the counter attack two or three times.”

Even in their previous game, Dartford went in at the break level before scoring three times in the second half to see off Billericay Town but King doesn’t see them as slow starters. He said “On Tuesday night we did have four or five chances. You can create them bur someone’s got to score them. 

“Charlie (Sheringham) could have got five on Tuesday night but he ended up getting a hat-trick which is fantastic coming back from loan but I don’t know what it was today. The first half wasn’t good but the second half I thought we deserved to win the game on the second half performance.” 

Nobody works harder than King when it comes to researching opposition and he knew exactly what to expect. “They’re a good side.”he said “They are where they are. We know how they play and what they are all about. They’re a hard grafting side with two good forwards. That’s exactly them and if you don’t match the fight and the determination that they give, they’ll roll you over so we had to match that. We more than did that.”

Whilst King is keen to get as many games played as possible, with the likelihood of further Covid interruptions and the chances of bad weather causing games to be called off, injuries have caused problems. “People have got to realise we had seven missing today.” he said.

“Five of them would definitely start, week in, week out. A goalkeeper, two full backs, midfield. We had three left backs out injured today so we’re struggling with numbers. We brought young Cameron Brodie back from Tilbury (on loan) and he’s come on and had to play all of the second half at right back. He’s only nineteen years of age. He did okay. We are really struggling with numbers.”

He doesn’t expect the majority to be out for too long but was concerned about a new one suffered just before half time. “They’re short term although Jordan Wynter has done his knee ligaments so we don’t know how long that’s going to be so he’ll be out for a while.”

Despite the injuries, King is still keen to fill in any breaks in the fixture list and added “We’re trying to arrange one for Tuesday but if it’s going to happen, this evening we’ll know. We don’t mind whether it’s home or away.”

Anything that is arranged will be advertised on the Dartford website or via their Twitter feed.

Picture supplied by Keith Gillard