Fans flock through the turnstiles for Cody McDonald's return to Dartford

Thursday 09th July 2009

HERO Cody McDonald will be welcomed back to Princes Park by over 2,000 supporters on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.

Tickets for the prestigious pre-season friendly between Dartford and Norwich City can be purchased from reception on Friday and then from the club shop on the day of the game.

McDonald was snapped up by Bryan Gunn on the final day of transfer deadline day earlier this year, following a string of impressive performances in the Ryman Premier League.

And fans have flocked to the Dartford ticket office to welcome back a player who deserves his chance at professional football.

Darts long-serving assistant manager, Paul Sawyer, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk following their fourth training session, is looking forward to the game against the Coca Cola League One club.

“I think we’re all looking forward to seeing Cody,” he said. “He did a great job for us last year and I think we all have high hopes he’ll do well at Norwich.

“It will be a big season for him, it will be interesting to see how he’s developed since he’s left us.”

Norwich City are expected to bring over 1,200 to Kent on Saturday, and Sawyer is expecting a good atmosphere for their first warm-up match.

“The feedback I’ve hears is there’s in excess of 2,000 tickets have been sold, plus the people who turn up on the day,” said Sawyer.

“I believe you can buy tickets on the day from the club shop.

“It’s been brilliant since we’ve been back (in Dartford) at Princes Park, we’ve been able to attract some really good friendlies. We had the one against Tottenham a couple of years ago and Crystal Palace and last year we had Charlton and we’ve also got some good friendlies this year.

“They’re nice games to be involved in and their good for the revenue as well.”

The Darts will be without summer signing from Maidstone United, winger Elliott Bradbrook and strikers Jay May and Rob Haworth for the game.

“We’ve had four (training) sessions now, so I think the lads have had a fair build up to the game,” said Sawyer.

“We intentionally wanted to have a fair decent amount of sessions before going into the games this year, that’s been fine, that’s worked well.

“We have got a few players who will be away Saturday, which is always the case pre-season.

“When people are part-time footballers, you can’t really dictate to them when they can go away, so we won’t have a full strength squad, but the majority of the lads will be there.”

Sawyer added: “We’ve introduced some of the youngsters into the squad this year from the under 18s and the under 21s from last year.

“We’ve got about four or five of the youngsters involved, which will be a good experience for them.

“All of our youth teams have done well, the academy side and the teams in the Kent Youth Leagues have done well and Paul Hennessey’s under 21s had a good season.

“A big positive when we came back to Dartford is we’ve got a lot of local talent, who want to play for the club, and we’re picking up the youngsters.

“Last season we had a lot of success and the idea is to bring the lads into the first team squad.”

Despite the match being a pre-season friendly, Sawyer has issued a rallying cry for Dartford supporters to give their side their usual vocal support against the Norfolk outfit.

“I always get the impression that Norwich are a good, family club, they get very good support and reading their website, they’ve sold a lot of season tickets again this year,” he said.

“Apparently they’re bringing down about 1,200 supporters - it should be a good day.

“Maybe we can match them. It should be a good atmosphere and with Gillingham on Tuesday and Millwall to come here, there should be some good games for the locals to enjoy.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk willl be covering this game.

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

Dartford v Norwich City

Pre-Season Friendly

Saturday 11th July 2009

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT