Kentish Football 
Basingstoke Town 2-2 Dartford - We're disappointed coming away with only one point, admits Burman
Saturday 12th March 2011
BASINGSTOKE TOWN 2-2 DARTFORD
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 12th March 2011
Mike Green reports from The Camrose
On paper at least this fixture looked like a game that didn’t have a lot riding on it, as both sides are comfortably mid table in Blue Square Bet South, and in no real danger of either relegation or threatening the play-off places.
And that makes it more remarkable that the football on show at The Camrose had just about everything in a truly enjoyable afternoon and a cracking advert for football at this level.
Behind inside the first minute, Tony Burman’s side rallied brilliantly to lead by the half’s midway point only to be pegged back just before half time which whetted the appetite of those present as the second half surely promised more goals.
And in truth the fact that the result mirrored the half time score beggars belief as both side hit the frame of the other goal more that once and both keepers pulled off world-class saves.
There was even a controversial late sending off as both sides reluctantly settled for a share of the spoils, even though Burman thought his charges deserved more.
The Dartford boss said: “We’re disappointed that we’re coming away with only one point. On the second half performance we think that we deserved all three points – no one can leave here today and said that there was no lack of effort from my players – we made some very sloppy mistakes in the first half and we’ve come from a goal down inside five minutes to lead and we should have come in at half time 2-1 in front and then I think we would have kicked on.
“But it wasn’t to be and we had a bit of a body blow just before half time with them scoring and it was just silly errors really. It’s a shame because those who made the errors have been excellent for us all season, but we got on with and even though they’ve hit the woodwork twice, we were the team who wanted to win the game.
“Its disappointing that we scored two goals away from home before half time and you start thinking to yourself that you shouldn’t be conceding, but we did through two sloppy mistakes and we’ve got caught and paid the penalty,”
Burman continued. “After all that’s what this league is all about, but we’ve got it back to 2-2. Fair play to them they got their point but at the end of the day, we should have had all three!”
And in truth the Darts were caught cold in the opening seconds an a harmless looking long ball found Delano Sam–Yorke just on the edge of the centre circle. But the burly striker’s burst of pace left Joe Bruce and Matt Jones in his wake before he rolled the ball wide of the advancing Andrew Young and into the net after just 56 seconds.
The Darts though responded magnificently. Charlie Sheringham found Ryan Hayes wide on the right with a ball that watching Dad Teddy would have been proud of in his day. Hayes collected the pass at pace cut inside the luckless Matt Finlay before driving the ball wide of Chay Morris in the home goal and the ball settled in the corner of the net.
Indeed poor Finlay was to have an afternoon to forget as first Hayes and then Danny Harris was to lead the left back a merry dance throughout the 90 minutes.
On 21 minutes, Greg Draper saw his header ricochet off a Darts defender and loop into Young’s arms, before the Darts had the lead just two minutes later.
Hayes’ stunning free kick came back off the inside of the left post, and as the ball was played back across goal, Harris took aim and buried the ball in the back of the home sides net.
Yet almost within a minute the home side were denied by the first of Young’s fine saves. Stuart Lake bore down on goal in the inside right channel albeit courtesy of a couple of bobbles. Just as he shot, Tom Bonner challenged and the Darts defender got enough on the ball to clearly deflect the shot, yet Young produced a fine save with a very strong left hand!
The Darts by this time were controlling the game especially in the midfield where the hard working Lee Burns was having the sort of afternoon where by not catching the eye you realised what a wonderful game he was having as the home midfield struggled with the way the Darts were playing.
Just as it appeared the visitors would reach the break in front they switched off for a second and allowed Sam–Yorke to waltz free down the left before cutting in and scoring with a drive which looked as though it went straight through Young’s legs!
Early in the second half, Harris was inches away from a Goodacre knock down from a corner as the visitors continued to press. Pattison then was only denied by an outstanding save from Young – the Basingstoke winger’s chip being brilliantly finger tipped over by the Darts stopper as the ball appeared to have beaten him, before the home goal had an amazing escape.
Hayes, this time popping up on the left wing surged into the box, only to see his shot blocked and rebound to Harris who’s drive brought an incredible reflex block from keeper Morris. But the keeper was a mere spectator as the ball ran to Eliot Bradbrook, but the Darts skipper’s shot flew high over the bar.
The game really had a wonderful tempo to it now and it swung back towards the home side as Pattison again was allowed far too much room on the right before curling a shot round a statuesque Young onto the base of the inside of the right post, with the ball almost apologetically rebounding straight into the relived keepers arm.
The move of the match then followed at the other end involving Jones, Burns, Champion and Sheringham, whose magnificent chest control was only match by the stinging volley that left the outside of his right boot. The ball arched above and away from the diving Morris but just didn’t dip enough and cannoned to safety off of the angle of post and bar – yet again Sheringham senior looked more than suitably impressed.
And that was a word too that his manager used after the game. Burman said, “I thought he was unlucky with that shot but he was excellent today. Everything that was played up to him he brought down like glue – his touch was magnificent and I thought that Charlie along with Danny Harris worked tirelessly today. And I thought that our work rate particularly second half was enough to get all three points.
“Youngy pulled off a great save too remember after a real bit of quality from their number 7 (Pattison) but remember they are the home team and so you’d expect them to have their moments.”
A moment that rang alarm bells for the Darts followed moments later in the 85th minute when Lake got on the end of a probing ball into the box to thump a header against Young’s crossbar, with the Darts defence relieved to clear the danger.
Then in the last minute, home defender Joe Dolan and Harris got in a tangle on the edge of the box that saw the Darts striker get a shot in at the keeper, but something happened that was unseen by most except referee Holderness who immediately stopped play and showed Dolan a red card.
In the remaining time the Darts tried so hard to force the winner but when the final whistle sounded no one on the crowd could have begrudged both sides a share of the spoils, and the healthy Darts contingent again received special praise from the manager.
“Our support again today was fantastic and they loved it as the players put the effort in,” Burman admitted.
“They’ve seen that now since the middle of January and they’ll be disappointed like the players and me that we didn’t win, but they’ll go home happy having seen their team to work their socks off to get a result.”
Basingstoke Town: Chay Morris, Callum Reynolds, Matt Finlay, Jay Gasson, Joe Dolan, Stuart Lake, Matt Pattison, David Pratt, Delano Sam – Yorke (Josiah Millar 76), Greg Draper (Rob Rice 80), Daren Wheeler (Nathan Smart 56).
Sub: Jide Ogunbote, Frankie Raymond
Goals: Delano Sam-Yorke 1, 38
Sent Off: Joe Dolan 89
Dartford: Andrew Young, Matt Jones, Tom Bonner, Joe Bruce, Paul Goodacre, Tom Champion, Ryan Hayes (Adam Burchell 83, Lee Burns, Charlie Sheringham, Danny Harris, Eliot Bradbrook.
Subs: James White, Billy Burgess, Lee Noble
Goals: Ryan Hayes 4, Danny Harris 23
Attendance: 480
Referee: Mr Barry Holderness (Billericay, Essex)
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