Dartford | Vital Football

Dartford

G

Gills 58

Vital Champions League
A very pleasant evening in the sunshine and being quite local for me I was home before it was dark.

First half was a bit messy. Ehmer and Zac looked solid and Fuller should be good back up at RB. Parrett (sp?) tried some good things and had a couple of good shots. Hadler made a couple of excellent saves and looks to be good cover for Holy.

Apart from that I wasn't impressed. Obviously it was only a friendly and just 45 mins but most of the rest of the team did not seem good enough, especially as the oppo are 3 leagues below us (and also have lots of newbies according to my Dartford fan mate I was with). Nash, Hanlon, Cook ,Rees out of their depth imo.

"We were like a different team second half" is an oft heard quote. Well, we were! A completely fresh 11 took the field and immediately it showed. Fast movement, purpose and 3 lovely, well worked goals. Nice passing football. Obviously I accept the oppo were weak (as above) but it was very pleasing.

Holy made one exceptional save when I assumed a rocket shot bound for the top corner was going in. His height helped but still a great stop. I was very impressed with O'Mara, very assured in defence. List got a couple of well taken goals and looked sharp. Maybe not the potential superstar hoped for in the other thread but very promising. Looks as if he is getting used to scoring (Sterling would have concocted misses).

No Wilko (phew) or Eaves (oh dear) on show.

That's just my impression. I may have been over harsh/generous on the players. Maybe others who were there can put me right and improve on this attempt at a report.

Overall enjoyable with some nice football played. Notably better than the corresponding game last year under Pennock. I didn't leave the ground thinking that with luck we might stay up this time but feeling we should be reasonably comfortable in avoiding relegation and may be top half.

UTG.
 
Spot on. I went last night and pretty much agree with everything you wrote. I unfortunately cannot see Nash or Hanlon playing in front of last years forwards. That worries me slightly as I really thought we would bring in a striker.

The only thing I will say is the service they had wasn't as good as the second half service to Parker and List. Cook and Rees I cannot see them being better than the 3 midfielders we have released to be honest, albeit probably a lot cheaper. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Again agree about the 2nd half performance, more pace in the side, midfield looking to pass rather than play the balls into the channels.

We looked 3 leagues above them for a period which we failed to do throughout the first half. Bingham and Reilly made a huge difference to the midfield and again O'Mara was decent.

It does look like SL has decided the diamond formation is the way to go with Parrett I presume at the top, leaving O'Neil and Garmston the freedom to go forward and cross.

Based on last night I would like to see a loan striker, especially if eaves, as reported this morning doesn't make the seasons start.

Note. should of mentioned earlier Moussa should be retained ahead of the first half midfield based on last night.
 
Thanks. Yes, Bingham, Reilly and Moussa looked good too.

Are we set up to play without Eaves I wonder?
 
I went too. Halfway into the first half Barry Fuller moved into centre back. Cook was picking up the ball across midfield but seemed tidy when on the wing and seemed eager while the others were holding back. Parrett frustrated the fans at times by holding on to the ball in midfield or sometimes looking sideways, but then also looked handy on the edge of the box.

Second half, as you say, a whole new XI against the same non-league starters and it showed. Not much to take out but List and Parker looked like scoring with every touch. Who knows what would’ve happened if Nash and List had swapped halves as, like you say, in the first half we disappointing in the creating of chances.
 
Thanks for those first impressions all of you. I hope some of our new signings were just having an off day. Maybe List is going to break through this season. A few weeks before the end of last season I'd have told him his time was up. He'd probably have signed for a League 2 club and scored 20 !

Good to see Hadler and O'Mara looking to be good back up players.
 
Many thanks "58", Cookiejar and Trev, interesting comments. I suppose it`s a lot about fitness.We are only 2 weeks from season start and hopefully we`ll start seeing evidence of developing synergy and chemistry. I`m really hopeful for List and also Mbo but do have trust in Eaves and Parker. Good to hear that Bingham is playing well, he`ll make a big difference in our team. I`m still a bit disappointed that we have no "testing" home friendlies but, hey ho. Our L1 opponents in 2 weeks time have already been registering some fine performances, including a home sound beating of Premiership (first team) Huddersfield. I intend to pop over to Accrington on Saturday to see for myself when they entertain Middlesbrough......
 
Bit early to call people 'out their depth'. Rees was the top scoring midfielder a division above Dartford last season for example. Lets give them a chance to settle in.
 
I saw this on a Dartford forum and couldn't argue with what is said.


"Not a bad run-out for the boys and arguably we should have been up at half time following a couple of decent chances. Wall's one-on-one hit the keeper square in the chest and resulted in a corner. Gillingham were unlucky with a spectacular overhead effort before the break, but once the first team came out, things looked every bit the pros vs. part-timers it indeed was.

On a strong positive, Alfie Cue gave their defence nightmares on he left wing and looked like a real threat. He will be this season's superstar if he can stay fit."
 
Interesting that on the Dartford Forum they saw the 2nd half team as the first team. I think SL seemed to divide them up evenly - around 5 1st teamers in each half.
 
Thanks for the reports all. Setting the bar high for the rest of the season. Two weeks? Good Lord!
 
Let's not get carried away - it was a pre-season friendly/runabout. We beat Ipswich last pre-season and Mick McCarthy wasn't bothered about the result but the performance etc of some of the players. That said, it's good to know we have some fresh and real talent.
 
The Alfie Cue that they mention in their report was extremely skillful and dribbled past several players on a number of occasions. I was well impressed. My Dartford mate was concerned that we might nab him.

He certainly had our defence snookered
(sorry, couldn't help myself).
 
If National League South players are running rings around us then we’re probably screwed.
 
Players at Dartford's level sometimes feel they have something to prove. He may have had our defenders concerned, but they didn't score, and that is the main thing.
 
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