We might be able to have a few surprises for Tonbridge Angels, says Darts boss Tony Burman

DARTFORD boss Tony Burman says friendships go out of the window as he aims to beat Tonbridge Angels to progress in to the last 16 of The FA Carlsberg Trohpy on Saturday.




The Darts go into the Second Round tie sitting in sixth-place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier on 33 points from 22 games, but they have suffered three successive defeats and as a result have dropped out of the play-offs.

Tommy Warrilow brings his Tonbridge Angels side to Princes Park sitting in sixteenth-place in the division below, with 20 points from 18 games in Blue Square Bet (Conference) South.

Warrilow’s assistant, Alex O’Brien, was Burman’s skipper when the Darts clinhced the Ryman League Division One North title back in 2008, the first of three promotions that Burman has overseen in the past six years.

“It’s a good draw for us in respect that we’re at home and obviously there’s a lot of local interest that I’m pleased about,” said Burman.

“It’s going to be a tough game. We’re in the league that were in, we’re the favourites and Tonbridge will come there have got nothing to lose and will have a go at us.  We’re expecting that and hopefully we can cope with the way that they play and that we can put on a profressional performance and progress to the next round.

“Enough times we’ve bene the underdogs in the league that we’re now in. Obviously we’re the favourites in this game, which to me just shows how far we’ve come in recent years, but we’re not going to take anything lightly.

“We know a lot about Tonbridge and they know about us. We just feel that we’ve got an opportunity to progress in the FA Trophy and the prize is an opportunity to get to Wembley.”

Dartford reached the 1974 FA Trophy Final, but they went down to a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Morecambe underneath the iconc Twin Towers at the old Wembley Stadium.

Burman said: “There’s going to be two teams who get to Wembley this year. No one knows who they’re going to be at the moment. It’s sometimes the luck of the draw, sometimes how you’re playing at the time but there’s a goal for every club. At the moment Tonbridge are in our way and we’ve got to try to win the game and then the dream will live on.”

Burman is looking forward to the spice that a big Kent derby can bring.  The Darts only face one Kent side (Ebbsfleet United) in the top flight of non-league football.

“Players’ have played in the same teams as each other. We know Tommy (Warrilow) and OB (O’Brien) very, very well but come Saturday at three o’clock when it kicks off we want to win the game for our respective clubs, it’s as simple as that!

“Yes, we do know them but at the same time we might be able to have a few surprises that they haven’t coped for. We’ll see what happens.”

Dartford went down to a disappointing 4-2 home defeat to Lincoln City last Saturday and Burman held claear the air talks at training last Monday night and insists his side will bounce back against the Angels.

“We’ve had a poor seven days in respect of results and we want to put that right and hopefully on Saturday we’ll start that ball rolling again,” said Burman.

“It was a strange game. The boys weren’t terrible, there were no disasters in the way that we played. Our defending at set-pieces by individuals wasn’t good.   There’s no panic buttons or anything like that. I would have liked to have come in at 3-0 rather than 4-0 because the goal was scored in injury time.

“I can’t fault the guys’ for their performance in the second half. They were hurting at half-time and although we didn’t win the game we got a lot of our pride back and that’s one thing the players this year, they’ve been absolutely superb.

“Their attiude has been spot on, even though the scores may sound that bad.  I’ve got a lot of time and belief for them. They’re a good bunch and it proved it in the second half performance.”

Burman has revealed that he has been thwarted in his attempts to bring fresh faces to Princes Park.

He explained: “The one that’s a bit of a strange one for me you can’t have any loan people in from the end of Noveber through to the 1^st January.  That was the one that was a litlte bit new to me, but nevertheless we’re always looking to strengthen.

“You don’t know what’s around the corner. In the three games that we’ve lost we’ve had Mark Arber out injured (with a broken jaw), we’ve had Elliot Bradbrook suspended and Tom Bonner suspended.

“It’s a critial time inside that seven days.  Yes if players come along I try to sign players, make no mistake about it, I try to get some players in, but I can’t force them or their clubs to let them go.

“I can’t force the players to come to us. We’ve made the enquiries and they haven’t come off. We’ll make those inquries once the (transfer) window opens on 1 January.

“We knew the rules the one that I didn’t realise was the one in the last month, but having said that it’s happened. We’ve still got good players inthat squad and we will be using all those players in that squad.

“They’re here because I think they’re good enough to be here. I don have to rush to go out and buy people but if there’s someone who comes along who will do well for us and are the right person then I’ll be in there trying to sign them, it’s as simple as that.”

Former Dagenham & Redbridge defender Arber returned to training on Monday night and the club are benefiting with being able to use their 3G pitch for training in the freezing conditions.

“It doesn’t like the cold weather but we can stioll get on with it and that’s what we’ll be doing,” said Burman.

“We’ve been in on Monday already and we’ll be in tonight We’ve had a good discussuion and training session on Monday night.

“Last Saturday is now history. I can’t bring that one back so we move on, hopefully in a positive attitude to deal with the game against Tonbridge.

“Mark Arber started training this week but he’s doutbful for Saturday. He might be a week too early but we’ll see how he trains like tonight.”

Visit Dartford’s websits: www.dartfordfconline.com & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk

Dartford  v  Tonbridge Angels
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Round
Saturday 15^th December 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT