Dartford’s defeat to Maidstone United saw Adrian Pennock lose his first home game in charge of the Darts, but the new manager remains full of belief that he can keep them in the division.

When reflecting on his side’s performance, he said: “I thought for 40 minutes we were the best team on the pitch, we just lacked concentration in the last five seconds of the first half, which has been an ongoing thing here. We looked dangerous, coped with what they were throwing at us but obviously the red card changed things completely. We’ve had a look at it, and it looks like he’s got the ball, so we’re going to see if we can appeal, but it’s too late obviously.”

“After that you’re chasing it, we want to score a goal and they’ve scored a second and it’s game over. I’ve got to be honest; the players gave me absolutely everything, and I’ve seen enough here now in the three tough games that we’ve had that we’ve got enough to stay in this division. They’ve got to keep believing like I believe in them, I believe in every single one of those players in there. I thought the support was incredible, they were fantastic the supporters. You saw at the end that they clapped the boys off because they saw that we put a good shift in.”

“We all know what Maidstone have done this year. It was always going to be tough, but we haven’t won here since November, so we have to get back to winning ways as soon as possible, but I believe that we’re going to stay in this league.”

Despite the positives from the first half performance, the manager was left frustrated with his side’s lack of concentration, and revealed the nature of his team talk during the break:

“I wasn’t happy at half-time here today, and that’s the first time they’ve seen me say a few hard things, because I care. I’ve had a right go at them because we can’t keep conceding soft goals, I want teams to earn them scoring goals, but we’ve given them goals and then you’re up against it. That’s the first time I’ve lost it with them today, but it’s constructive criticism.”

“I want to win; I want to do so well for this football club. The people from top to bottom, the supporters, they’ve been incredible. The players have been fantastic, I’ve already got a relationship with them, so it’s not through frustration, it’s because I want to win. It hurts when we lose, so I want to get back and win.”

Since arriving at the Princes Park, Pennock has not hesitated to make additions to his squad. Jordan Greenidge and Ronny Nelson have both joined during his tenure, and he hopes more signings will arrive soon.

“Hopefully, I think we have to. Obviously with Billy getting sent off today that could force my hand a little bit. There’s a lot of players in there that are disappointed and there are disappointed players that weren’t involved today, but we are getting players back. Rooney has come back in, Taylor’s come back in, Wynter’s come back in after two games out through suspension. There were some really good performances, the two wide boys were dangerous, Jordan worked hard, it’s just the concentration that we’re lacking at the moment. It’s going to go to the wire, let me tell you that, and we need them three points sooner rather than later.”

Dartford host Maidstone once again on Tuesday, as they face off in the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup. Pennock has iterated that his focus is on the remaining league games, and his stance has not changed despite the loss.

“Obviously we want to win on Tuesday, of course we do. We’re going to turn up here and try to win a game of football, but the players that started today won’t start, it’ll be the ones on the bench stroke who weren’t involved today. It’ll be a strong team, but I must be focused on next week, the league is more important than anything else, and that’s no disrespect to the cup games, but we have to win these league games.”

Academy prospect Olly Box had been a shining light in a dismal Dartford season in previous weeks but has not featured at all in any of Pennock’s games so far. The 52-year-old provided assurances that the youngster has been neither forgotten about nor excluded.

“He’s travelled to Torquay and Braintree with us. Today, my plans were, if we didn’t have someone red carded, that he would have come on for Barzey or Funmaya (Shomotun) if they were tired. He’s not been forgotten, let me assure you, but sometimes when you get a red card it changes things, he definitely hasn’t been excluded.”

“If he’s 45, or 12, it doesn’t matter. If they’re good enough they’ll play. Hopefully he’ll be involved on Tuesday, and it’ll be a good opportunity for him, but there are other players in there disappointed to not have even been involved today who are far more experienced than him.”

“I do believe in him, but he’s got to do his homework at school. He’s been a little bugger at school if I’m honest. People don’t see that side of the coin, he’s got to do his college stuff, but I do like him, he’s a good character. If he doesn’t do his college stuff then he doesn’t play, but that’s not why he’s not been involved.”