Burman: We must cut out the mistakes and show consistency

DARTFORD face an injury crisis ahead of their home FA Cup clash against Hastings United, writes Stephen McCartney.

Six players have been ruled out for the first qualifying round clash on Saturday, against a side that have already won a league game at Princes Park.

Goalkeeper Tony Kessell (groin), defenders Adam Flanagan (back), Steve Norman (hernia) and midfielders Alex O’Brien (tendonitis), Nick Barnes (ankle ligaments) and Jamie Day (starts his three match ban) all remain on the sidelines.

The Darts climbed up two places to 19^th in the Ryman Premier League, courtesy of a 1-1 draw at home to basement-boys Heybridge Swifts last night.

For boss Tony Burman, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, he hopes for much better luck against a Hastings United side that have collected six points from their opening eight league games and sit two places above his side.

“To be fair, points wise it’s been very disappointing,” Burman, whose side have bagged one win and two draws from their eight games so far.

“But I feel that overall we’ve been a bit unfortunate not to have more points on the board, because we’ve played well in some of the games that we’ve played.

“Basically we’ve suffered from individual mistakes and we’ve been punished in this league because the players and the teams have been better than what we’ve been used to playing.

“To be fair, the standard of football has been better than I first imagined. If you’re going to make mistakes, you’ll get punished.

“It’s irrelevant what formation we’ve played. We have created enough chances when we played one man up front but last night and in previous games we have played with two men up front.”

Goals from Antonio Gonnella and Sam Adams stunned the Darts when the two sides last met at Princes Park last month.

And Burman wants his side to extract revenge, especially with £3,000 in prize money, up for grabs.

“We want to stay in the FA Cup,” vowed Burman. “Hastings have come here and beaten us 2-0 and the pressure is off both sides - let’s hope it’s a good FA Cup tie - with us winning the game.

“Every team wants to have a good run in the Cup and we’re no different. We want to progress as it’s financially good for all non-league clubs and that’s what we want to be able to do.”

Despite his injury concerns, Burman wants consistency from his side.

“The teams who are at the bottom can beat the teams at the top,” said Burman.

“You’ve got to get a little bit of consistency and winning two or three games on the trot. At this moment in time we haven’t got the consistency.

“Unfortunately, we have had horrendous injury problems and it always happens when things aren’t going too well.

“I would have liked to have two fit players sitting in the stand and making decisions (on team selection) but I haven’t had to do that too much.”

Visit Dartford’s websites: www.dartfordfc.co.uk & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk

Dartford v Hastings United
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) First Qualifying Round
Saturday 13^th September 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT