An entertaining North West Kent derby between Dartford and Welling United ended with the points shared.

It was Steve Lovell’s first game in charge of the Wings and he was delighted to get a game played nearly a month after being appointed even if in two minds about the result..

He said “(I’m) Pleased in a way but disappointed not to get the win. They all say that football’s a game of two halves but Dartford had a spell of about twenty minutes in the second half where they came on strong, and they had to because they were two-nil down and we couldn’t keep them out. They’re a good side going forward.

“First half, I thought we were in control. We played so well first half, they really gave everything that was asked of them. When we went two nil up I still thought that there was time for them (Dartford) to do something.”

Explaining where it went wrong, Lovell continued “The fitness told. All of our boys haven’t played for four or five weeks. They really worked hard, they really gave everything and they were out on their feet at the end. They’re a great bunch of lads, there are some good talented players there. If there was a decent crowd here, I think that the crowd would have loved it today.

“Dartford are top of the league for being a good side and an organised side and I thought that we broke them down and caused them problems today.”

Although not having played, they have been training and Lovell was happy with how the players adapted to the new coaching. “I thought that first half they took to the shape very well. They were disciplined in their shape and as I said to them, and if someone was coming in today, they wouldn’t have known who was the top side and who was the bottom side so that’s a complement in itself.”

Absence of games has made it more difficult for Lovell and he admitted “I’ve seen them when I’ve been to watch games this season but not as a unit, as a group that we work with. It was great to see them play. I’ve got an idea of the eleven that started, and the boys that came on, what we’ve got. We’ve got four or five that weren’t involved today that could be involved on Tuesday so that’s the main thing. Now we’ve seen them play we can work with them and get them playing into the way that we want them to play.”

Explaining how he felt about returning to the dug-out, Lovell enthused “I was a bit surprised really, I was a bit calm. It’s not like me really. I really enjoyed it. I was saying to my wife this morning that it’s been two years since I’ve been stood on the touchline, Bradford away with Gillingham a couple of seasons ago, so it was lovely to be back.

“It’s always nice to be back involved in football but I love working with players. I love coaching them and the big thing for a coach is when things happen on a football field that you’ve been working on in the week it gives you a buzz.”

Dartford should have been reduced to ten me in the first half when already cautioned Connor Essam’s very late challenge halted Anthony Cook as he was about to burst into the penalty area. However, Lovell didn’t want to dwell on that. “Referees are under a lot of pressure and whatever he gave he gave.” he said  “He wasn’t going to change it so I wasn’t going to get involved. Other people get involved but I don’t. I’m too old to realise that you’re never going to get decisions overturned unless you’ve got VAR and we haven’t got that.”

Lovell was unaware that Welling hadn’t scored for four games before this one, nor was he too bothered. “I was more concerned about the ones that we’ve conceded really.” he admitted. “We’ve conceded quite a few from set plays so it was nice that at least today, they didn’t score from a set piece. I thought the two young boys, the two centre halves played very well.

“I don’t worry about clean sheets, as long as we score more than the opposition. The way I play, I play open attacking football and sometimes you are going to be exposed at the back but if you create more chances at our end rather than at their end, you’re going to have a good chance of winning the game.”

There is a danger of another break now with arctic conditions threatening their game on Tuesday night at home to Braintree Town and then uncertainty about whether they will find an alternative opposition to the original fixture with Chippenham Town next weekend. Lovell said “Whatever happens, we can’t control that so it’s about me building the group as a group, whether we play or whether we train and hopefully when it all gets sorted, we’ll be in a position to push forward.”.