Dartford 3-1 Welling United - It was a decent game for both sides, says Dartford boss Tony Burman

Dartford 3 – 1 Welling United
Location	Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT
Kickoff	19/10/2015 19:45

DARTFORD  3-1  WELLING UNITED
Kent Reliance Senior Cup First Round
Monday 19^th October 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

DARTFORD manager Tony Burman says he is pleased that his players stuck to their jobs to reach the Second Round of the Kent Reliance Senior Cup.

The Darts went into the game sitting in fourteenth-place in the Vanarama National League South with 15 points from 13 league games and they comfortably eased past a Welling United side that fielded mainly their development squad.

Dartford struck the woodwork on three occasions during an one-sided first half and made the breakthrough early in the second half through big striker George Sykes, 20, before substitute Callum McNaughton also scored his first goal of the season.

Welling United’s best spell came late on and they pulled a goal back through former Charlton Athletic midfielder Kurtis Cumberbatch, before Dartford killed the game off at the death through substitute Dajon Golding’s first goal for the club.

“I thought it was a decent game,” said Burman, who has ended a run of five games without a win.

“We put out some players who haven’t been playing recently and it was good. They got a good 90 minutes under their belts. We had a couple of younger players playing as well so all-in-all it was a good work out.”

Welling United boss Loui Fazakerley said: “It was a good game of football. Dartford had a good team out, some first team players, some experienced players and they were very sharp with their movement up front, so it was a tough game for our young lads.

“We had a lot of young lads coming in from the development team, a couple of trailists that we were looking at as well and a couple of lads that have been out and haven’t played too much football so it was a good run-out.

“We got some vital minutes for Barney Williams and Michael McEntegart in goal as they’re going to be coming into the team in the starting line-up for the FA Cup game (at Grays Athletic) on Sunday.

“Afolabi (Obafemi) started the game and got some minutes under his belt as well up top. It was a good chance to have a look at Kurtis (Cumberbatch) in midfield. He got 90 minutes and scored a very, very good goal. I was pleased with his performance and we had Michael Bakare coming into the team as well. He’s been with us before. I know him quite well personally and he’s come in to help us out and get some minutes under his belt as well.

“I was pleased with the youngsters that came in. We had Billy (Armstrong) who came in alongside James Fitchett at the back. I thought Billy had a very good game and you’ve also got Freddie (Cray) as well, who came on for Stevie (Gunner) who got injured. It was unfortunate to see Stevie get injured – he hurt his jaw, he got a knock to his jaw, a little bit of a fuzzy head.

“Overall it was a good run out. The first team players got some minutes and it was good to see the youngsters.”

Dartford, who started with nine players that either started or were on the bench for Saturday’s 2-2 home draw with Hemel Hempstead Town, were by far the better side.

Burman said: “We said we would do that, anyone who didn’t play would play tonight.  We still had a few out who did play, mainly the back four players.”

The Wings named only four players who sat on their bench for their 1-1 draw up at Barrow at the weekend, which puts them in seventeenth-place in the Vanarama National League table with 22 points after 18 games.

Dartford created the first chance of the game when midfielder Ebrima Adams drilled his low right-footed shot past the near post from 25-yards inside the opening five minutes.

Dartford’s main threat all night were from corners and skipper Barry Cogan took all of their nine corners tonight.

Dartford came agonisingly close to opening the scoring following their second corner after 13 minutes, but Tom Wynter came up from the back to plant his header crashing against the right-hand post at the far post from six-yards out.

Burman admitted: “We hit the post three times and had a disallowed goal, which is just normal for us at the moment, so it was nice that we scored in the second half and I think all-in-all we thoroughly deserved it.”

Dartford central defender Ronnie Vint was the next to suffer with the same fate when he was given time and space to drill a speculative right-footed drive towards goal from 35-yards, the ball whistling past the diving keeper and bouncing against the foot of the far post after 20 minutes.

Burman said: “That’s what happens to us at the moment but we overcome it in the game. I’m pleased that people have got 90 minutes and Ben Francis and Dajon Golding have come on and done well.”

Dartford right-winger Ben Francis played the ball into Sykes’ feet, the striker dragging his right-footed shot past the far post from 20-yards.

A poor back pass by Welling United central defender James Fitchett gave Sykes another opportunity, but he hooked his shot past the keeper but the ball was eventually cleared.

Dartford were cursing their bad luck again when they had a goal ruled out by Thomas Marshall’s offside flag.

Cogan whipped in a corner from the left towards the near post and Wynter placed his left-footed shot into the bottom corner but was adjudged to be in an offside position at the time of making contact.

Burman added: “It looked ok from where we was but obviously the linesman has said it’s offside, so be it.”

Dartford keeper Deren Ibrahim caught a cross and launched a long throw to Becka-Kah Dembele’s feet inside the Dartford half.  The left-winger sped down the left, cut inside and from 25-yards curled his shot around the rooted keeper only for the ball to crash off the top of the far post after 36 minutes.

Burman said: “We’ve been creating chances all season and we’ve done that again tonight. It hasn’t gone in but they did in the second half.”

Fazakerley added: We led a charmed life in that first half!

“They had god movement up top. Pughie, we know him very, very well. I know him very, very well and I’ve seen him tear defences to shreds on his own.

“The young lads who we had at the back had a very tough time with him and their big number 9 (Sykes) as well, so they were dangerous going forward and they had good movement so it was a tough challenge for our defence.”

Fazakerley explained why he felt his players failed to create a single first half goalscoring opportunity.

“That’s what happens when you put a team together that hasn’t played together! You could see they haven’t played together, so it took them a while to get into it. It took them a while to get used to each other’s games and how each other plays but the whole idea was to have a look at some of the youngsters and get some minutes for the lads and we did.”

Dartford created the last chance of the first half when Mark Onyemah played the ball up from left-back to Andy Pugh, who played the ball inside to Francis, who flashed his right-footed drive past the post from 25-yards.

Burman said: “I said keep plugging away and keep doing what they was doing. A lot of people are a little bit rusty and If they haven’t played tonight they’ve already had a two week break and I didn’t want them to have a three-week break. 

“The players have stuck to their task and stuck to their jobs and I’m pleased for them.”

Dartford created the first chance of the second half inside the opening two minutes but Cogan blazed over his right-footed free-kick from 25-yards.

The dominant Darts pulled off a good move when Francis fed Adams down the left channel and he wrapped his foot around the ball to whip in a precise cross towards the far post but Pugh hung his header over the bar from eight-yards.

But Dartford made the breakthrough with 7 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock, scoring from their fourth corner.

Cogan whipped in the ball from the right, the ball was flicked on by Wynter in the middle and the ball fell at Sykes feet at the far post, the big striker drilling his left-footed drive into the roof of the net.

“It was nice that George has scored and it’s nice a corner has been put into a decent area for us to score,” said Burman.

“We’ve been reasonably strong on set-pieces and set-pieces now and restarts are a major part of the game and it’s not always the forwards get the chances from them, it’s other people but George has got on the end of one and scored.”

Fazakerley added: “It was a bit loose in the box, the marking was loose in the box and they took advantage of it.”

Welling United created their first chance on goal after 56 minutes, but substitute Freddie Cray clipped his poor attempt straight into Deren Ibrahim’s hands from 25-yards.

Welling United keeper Michael McEntegart kept his side in the game when he made a smart block at his near post to prevent Dartford right-back Tom Gardiner sweeping his shot into the bottom corner following Cogan’s near post corner from the right.

Dartford created another fine move when Adams fed the ball out to Francis down the right, who whipped in an excellent low cross towards the far post and Sykes slid in with Fitchett to poke the ball past the foot of the near post.

Dartford deservedly doubled their lead with 73 minutes on the clock.

Inevitably, it came from another Cogan corner from the right, which he swung into the near post and McNaughton hooked his volley into the bottom right-hand corner from 10-yards.

Burman added: “Again, it’s a similar set-piece in the area what we like to hit and Callum’s got on the end of it after coming on and again, well pleased.”

Fazakerley added: “Again, a bit of loose marking from set-pieces. We haven’t had a chance to work on set-pieces with these lads because the team was put together at the last minute and they (Dartford) looked like they had a few set-pieces that they’ve worked on, some dangerous targets in there, so it was tough.”

McEntegart made a fine save when he tipped Gardiner’s near post header around the post from Cogan’s eighth corner of the night, before Pugh went close to scoring against one of his former clubs, hitting a dipping right-footed drive from 28-yards, which was caught by the Welling keeper at the second attempt.

Pugh found himself down the left channel and he whipped in a cross, which was punched away by a stretching McEntegart close to the edge of his penalty area.  The ball came out to Golding, his shot glanced off the Welling keeper en-route to Fitchett clearing the ball away before the ball crossed over the line.

Welling United rallied towards the end of the game and created their best chance after 83 minutes.

Cumberbatch fed left-back Archie Johnson in behind the Dartford defence and he reached the by-line before cutting the ball back for Michael Bakare to drill his left-footed shot towards the bottom left-hand corner, but an alert Ibrahim dived low to his right and used a strong right hand to make a fine save.

Fazakerley said: “Very good piece of play from us, a good bit of attacking play. I think it started with Kurtis in midfield, he played the ball inside the full-back for Archie, who made a great overlapping run and he showed good awareness not to just put the ball into the box without looking. He showed good awareness to cut it back and good movement from Baks to pull off. He hit the target, that’s the least you expect.”

Burman added: “That was a very good save in fact. Deren hasn’t had lots to do but at that particular point it was a really good save.”

But Welling United scored a consolation goal – timed at 41 minutes and 13 seconds – following an excellent move.

Substitute Harvey Brand played the ball to central midfielder Louis Birch who cut the ball into Cumberbatch’s feet, who cut inside and drilled his left-footed shot into the far corner of the net from 16-yards.

Fazakerley said: “Very good goal. I was pleased with Kurtis today. It was tough for him in there. He had Pughie dropping in there so it was tough for him alongside Louis Birch but he showed some good ability in there.

“We’ve seen him in training and we’ve seen him do that in training so we know he can do that. It was a very good goal from him and a decent performance.”

When asked whether the goalscorer will be in his National League plans, the Welling boss replied: “Well not necessarily, no, he’s been training with us and it was a good chance to see him in a match environment.”

Burman admitted: “It gives us a little bit of an tentative last sort of five to ten minutes but whilst we don’t want to concede but to be fair the players they’ve gone on and created another chance and it’s come off and to be fair it’s a decent goal.”

But Welling United’s chances of taking the game to a penalty shoot-out evaporated when Dartford killed the game off with 46 minutes and 31 seconds on the clock.

A clearance from Mcentegart was charged down by Pugh, who worked hard to retrieve the ball close to the left flank.  The striker played the ball inside to Sykes, who saw Golding’s run into the box and the dual-registered player with Rochester United slotted the ball into the back of the net from 12-yards.

“Pughie’s has done a lot of hard work to chase down someone, which we need to do and he’s done that and we’ve got the rewards for it,” said Burman.

“From winning the ball back and closing someone down we’ve managed to win the ball back and pass it and Dajon’s scored, it’s a good finish.”

Fazakerley added: “Well, we’re obviously looking to try to get an equaliser so we pushed a few lads forward and they caught us on the break.

“Mikey got charged down; he maybe took a little bit too long on the ball. Overall, I was pleased with Mikey’s performance. He grew into the game second half. His distribution was better, even though he got caught on the ball there, but yes, he hasn’t played much football this year, so it was nice to get him some minutes.”

Burman revealed that there are more players that are progressing through the club’s Academy.

“Kaka (Dembele), Ronnie (Vint), we’ve still got the guy you played at left-back tonight, Mark Onyemah, he’s only 19. Tom Gardiner is only just 20 and George is only 20 as well. 

“It’s pleasing for them. They’re getting used to things here. I do see them in the Academy and there’s still some more players to come through in the groups in the next couple of years, which is all good progress.”

Reflecting on the game, Burman added: “I just think the attitude of the players and they’ve got out and they’ve had a go.  To be fair to Welling, I know they had a young side and they had a couple of players they wanted to see play and I just think it was a decent game for both sides in respect to what we had to do.”

Dartford now host League One outfit Gillingham in the last sixteen of the competition.

Mark Patterson’s side were defeated 1-0 by Charlton Athletic in last season’s final at Preistfield Stadium.

Burman said: “We played them last year and the score could’ve been anything on that night!

“It’s another game which helps us at the moment because we’ve not got many midweek games now and hopefully we’ll get the Gillingham game in and it helps us like it has done now where we’ve had a break for two weeks and some of the guys needed to do 90 minutes, that’s for sure, who are very much part of our squad and I’m pleased that they’ve got that 90 minutes in.”

Dartford: Deren Ibrahim, Tom Gardiner, Mark Onyemah (Jack Simmons 70), Tom Wynter (Callum McNaughton 64), Ronnie Vint, Ebrima Adams, Ben Francis (Dajon Golding 75), Barry Cogan, George Sykes, Andy Pugh, Becka-Kah Dembele.
Subs: Lee Noble, Danny Harris

Goals: George Sykes 53, Callum McNaughton 73, Dajon Golding 90

Welling United: Michael McEntegart, Barney Williams (Harvey Brand 71), Archie Johnson, Louis Birch, James Fitchett, Billy Armstrong, Kurtis Cumberbatch, Stevie Gunner (Freddie Cray 30), Afolabi Obafemi (Reece Collins 71), Sandro Semedo, Michael Bakare.
Subs: Matthew Bishop, Marcus Kempton

Goal: Kurtis Cumberbatch 87

Attendance: 309
Referee: Mr Jack Packman (Margate)
Assistants: Mr Thomas Marshall (Eltham, London SE9) & Mr Daniel Proctor (Dartford)