Kentish Football 
Chelsea 4-0 Dartford - We'll remember this for the rest of our lives, says Deren Ibrahim
CHELSEA 4-0 DARTFORD
The FA Youth Cup Third Round
Thursday 12th December 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from The Recreation Ground
DARTFORD Academy coach Deren Ibrahim says he feels immensely proud after his side’s epic FA Youth Cup run was ended by a respectable defeat to Barclaycard Premier League giants Chelsea.
The Darts kicked-off their campaign with a 7-0 away win over Margate at Hartsdown Park in the First Qualifying Round on 23 September, before knocking out Sittingbourne (5-0), Thamesmead Town (4-2), Christchurch (6-1) and Grays Athletic (3-2) to be given a chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Chelsea.
Chelsea were runners-up to Norwich City in last year’s final and have also clinched The FA Youth Cup on four previous occasions (1960, 1961, 2010 and 2012).
Chelsea inevitably progressed through to the last 32 after a hat-trick from striker Dominic Solanke and one from Fankaty Dabo – but the Skrill (Conference) Premier visitors’ will take the plaudits with the way they performed – live in front of the Chelsea TV cameras at Aldershot Town’s Recreation Ground.
Chelsea youth team coach, Adi Viveash, said: “It was a tough game but we knew that coming into it. Dartford worked really hard and they were a credit to their football club.”
But Ibrahim, 22, was proud that his Academy players restricted Chelsea to four goals on the club’s big night.
He said: “Overwhelmed with them. We set out with a game plan and I think for 20-25 minutes I thought we stuck to it and we worked hard.
“Unfortunately they are a Premiership side and they’re full-time. I know we’re a full-time side (Dartford’s first team are part-time) but they’re a proper full-time outfit and I think their fitness showed but all credit to them (my players) for where they’ve got to.
“As I said to them, they’re going to remember this day for the rest of their lives!”
When asked how he was feeling, the Dartford keeper who is dual-registered with Ryman League Division One South side Leatherhead, said: “Immensely proud! When we set out in this competition, yes we had expectations but we wanted to get to the first round. First round would have done us and the club proud but then we went on and luck of the draw we got Chelsea.
“Chelsea are a Premiership side. If we maybe had drawn a League Two or League One side I thoroughly think we would give them a strong, strong match but Chelsea have got quality all-round the pitch but they respected us as a non-league club and we’ve shown them respect, so it’s just fantastic for the boys.
“Chelsea were outstanding on the day. We’ve done what we’ve done and 4-0 - I wouldn’t say it flattered them. I wouldn’t say it flattered us. It could have been a lot more!
“I think we’ve done enough in the game. Just four bits of quality from them or four bits of individual mistakes from us, whichever way you look at it!”
Dartford started the game well, forcing a couple of early corners, as they went to stun their famous opponents.
Ibrahim felt central midfielder Ebou Adams should have given Dartford a shock lead within the opening seven minutes.
Right-winger Becka-Kah Dembele drilled in a corner from the right and the ball came out to Adams, who lacked composure on the edge of the Chelsea box and skied his right-footed volley over the crossbar.
“That (scoring) would’ve topped the night off if we had scored it,” admitted Ibrahim.
“Maybe you can say the occasion but in training he’ll score that nine times out of ten, but I’m not going to knock him. He was outstanding in there. If that might go in you never know, it might be a different story.”
Ibrahim was pleased with the way his side started the game.
“First 10-15 minutes we had a few chances. We went to press them high for the first 10 minutes. We were maybe a bit unlucky but as I said hard work and determination – you can’t knock our boys with what they’ve achieved.”
Chelsea, as expected, were a quality outfit and they sprayed the ball around the pitch at ease and enjoyed plenty of possession against an organised Dartford side.
Despite their dominance, it took Chelsea 21 minutes to create their opening chance.
A run from skipper Ruben Loftus Cheek saw him release winger Reece Mitchell, who rode a tackle before cutting the ball back to Cheek and the central midfielder stroked his right-footed shot into the base of the side netting.
But Chelsea shortly broke Dartford’s resilience by taking the lead with 21 minutes and 28 seconds on the clock.
Cheek played the ball out to winger Reece Mitchell, who cut the ball across the face of the penalty area for Solanke to sweep his shot past the diving Oli Gibson into the net from eight-yards.
“To be fair, good finish by the lad,” said Ibrahim.
“Our aim was to be compact for 20-25 minutes but unfortunately we couldn’t hold them out no longer.
“We knew they would have a lot of the ball, that’s obvious. We weren’t going to be naïve and think we’d have a lot of possession, so it was how committed we would be to our shape and we did that.
“They’re going to have that bit of quality and they did and we can’t stop every attack and unfortunately after 22 minutes it’s gone in but I can’t knock the boys.
“You can pick out all of their goals if you’re going to over analyse it. We maybe could have done something a little bit better to stop all four of them but what a great achievement from them – I’m so happy for them.”
But Dartford were denied an equaliser through a brilliant save from Chelsea keeper Mitchell Beeney within two minutes of the Kent side going behind.
The Darts forced a free-kick down the left-channel and Dembele swung in a right-footed free-kick which was destined to curl into the top far corner but the former Gillingham keeper (and son of former Sittingbourne boss Mark Beeney) dived to tip the ball over the bar.
“He pulled off a good save,” said Ibrahim. “The boys’ are telling me he’s an England international so that’s not a bad one for Kaka.
“Kaka’s been doing well for us as it’s shown and Tony’s (Burman) rewarded him with a few appearances for the first team so hopefully that can be just a starting block for him this season. Now he can really push on in our squad and hopefully cement a place in Tony’s match-day squad.”
But clinical Chelsea doubled their lead in the 29th minute.
Referee Elliott Kaye waved play on after Dartford right-back Freeman Rogers slid in to bring down Cheek and the ball broke free to Dabo down the left. A cross from Mitchell was whipped in low across goal and no-one tracked Solanke’s run at the far post and the striker slid in to steer his shot from a tight angle across Gibson for the ball to nestle into the bottom far corner of the net.
Ibrahim added: “That was a good goal, a great ball across the back and not a lot we could have done about that!”
Things could have gone downhill fast for out-played Dartford and Mitchell’s left-footed drive sailed just over the top of the near post.
A 50-yard diagonal pass from Charly Musdonda sailed over Harrison Bray’s head and George Cole picked the ball up, cut inside the Dartford left-back but his left-footed drive was comfortably saved by Gibson at his near post.
Chelsea’s third goal arrived in the 36th minute through Dabo’s second goal of the season.
Jeremie Boga linked up well with Solanke through the middle of the pitch and Boga’s dink pass played Dabo in behind the Dartford defence and his left-footed shot was helped in by Gibson, who dived to his left but couldn’t prevent the ball bouncing over the line.
Ibrahim refused to blame his goalkeeper for the goal.
“A good attempt by him but on another day he maybe could have saved it,” said Ibrahim.
“He’s done fantastic. He’s the only one who’s not a part of our Academy side. He just joins up on a match day with the boys.”
To Gibson’s credit, however, he shouted words of encouragement to his team-mates to the lines of “keep working for each other,” as the boys in white struggled to keep up with a quality Chelsea side.
Chelsea’s third corner of the game arrived three minutes before the break and Cole cut the ball back to the unmarked Musdonda, who drilled a first time shot harmlessly over the crossbar from 35-yards.
Dartford appeared to be star-struck during the first half – but they came out with even more determination after the interval.
When asked what he told his troops during the break, Ibrahim said: “We was satisfied but we did say to the boys how we like to pride ourselves on our passing game, the short passing and we said to them that maybe in the first half straight from centre we gave it back and we gave the possession away within five seconds so we did want to keep the ball a little bit more.
“When we tried to run with it, it kept them nice and compact so we wanted to stretch them a bit more and I think it showed in the second half.”
The Darts were confident to play the ball out of defence on more than one occasion and their two central defenders, Ronnie Vint and Michael Azaiya, played their part in creating a half-chance for Ainsley Everett, who took the ball forward before hitting a speculative right-footed angled drive harmlessly wide of the far post from 35-yards.
Ibrahim was full of praise for his two central defenders and awarded Azaiya as Dartford’s man-of-the-match.
“I don’t normally single players out but Ronnie’s come in - he was my captain last year - and he’s pushed his way into the first team a little bit this year. He’s got a squad number so we’ve got high expectations for Ronnie.
“Michael on the other hand, we’ve tried to work a lot on and tonight he was outstanding! I thought he was excellent and I’m so pleased for him because he works so hard in training.
“But having said that all the boys have worked hard and hopefully all now, whether it’s with Dartford or we can maybe get some loan clubs for them towards the second half of the season go and push on and hopefully make a name for themselves in senior football.”
Gibson made amends for the third goal by making a fine block to deny Chelsea a fourth in the 53rd minute.
Cole and Cheek linked up well and Boga cut the ball back to Cheek, who drilled a right-footed shot towards goal from 25-yards, which forced the Dartford keeper to dive to his left to beat the ball away to safety.
Dartford created another half-chance when striker Femi Akinwande released Dembele down the right and the winger brought a warm ripple of applause from the travelling fans by flashing his speculative right-footed angled drive well wide from a long way out.
Dartford then started winning their individual battles around the pitch and kept Chelsea at arms-length.
“Their manager at the end said full credit to us, we’re doing it the right way and that was lovely to hear,” revealed Ibrahim.
“They were still going for it. Yes, they’re going maybe take their foot of the pedal a bit but we didn’t allow them that time. That’s what we tried to do in the first half but unfortunately we slipped a little bit.”
Chelsea squandered an excellent chance to increase their lead further in the final 19 minutes.
Azaiya was penalised for bringing down Chelsea substitute Tammy Abraham, who had jinked his way towards the edge of the box but Boga drilled his right-footed free-kick over the bar from nineteen-yards.
Boga then danced his way into Dartford’s penalty area, where an excellent firm but fair tackle from Vint ended his progress.
But Chelsea wrapped up the goalscoring for the night in the final nine minutes as Solanke’s hat-trick took the striker to ten goals for the season.
Abraham played the ball to fellow substitute Charlie Colkett who stabbed the ball through to Solanke, who swept the ball past Gibson despite Vint making a last-gasp sliding tackle.
By then it didn’t really matter and Dartford can leave Aldershot with their heads held high.
“The final one, it was late on, nine minutes left and the boys are probably tired,” said Ibrahim.
“I’m not going to go into detail about it. We’ll come in on Monday – they’ll have a day off tomorrow. We’ll go over and we’ll show them where maybe they can improve on.
“It’s a great achievement from the whole club. I’m not going to take nothing away from these boys. They deserve every success and every bit of limelight they can get because it’s fantastic for them.”
Dartford deserved a goal for their endeavour and the consolation almost arrived in the final four minutes when two of their substitutes combined.
Daramy was put through on goal but Chelsea defender Dion Conroy got back and made a sliding block to deny Dartford on their big night.
Ibrahim said: “In training he maybe would have struck it earlier. At any other time he’ll have a shot and it might even hit one of their players and go in. But he done well when he came on. We asked him to do a job and he done it well.”
Chelsea, who were dangerous in attacking positions all night, linked up again on the right when Cheek played in Abraham on the overlap and his low centre from the right was spilt by Gibson and Vint calmly played the ball out of defence from inside his six-yard box.
Now that their epic run is over Dartford’s players can continue their progress at Princes Park or be loaned out to lower league clubs to gain vital experience.
Ibrahim, who was sent out on loan at Sittingbourne and Margate when he was trying to break into the first team squad at Dartford, said: “I hope I’m wrong but I think it’s going to take a long time for it to be better at Dartford Football Club.
“Tony (Burman) is involved with the Academy. Unfortunately he wasn’t here tonight because he was back in Dartford with the first team. He sees these guys every day so there will be players knocking on his door just like any other first team manager now, but if they can’t be successful with him we’re still trying to retain the league title for the Conference Youth League – that’s our main aim now.
“But on the flip side of that these boys are now 17-18. We want to try to get them senior football like the likes of George Monger and Jay Porter out at Thamesmead.
“We want to try and push them so yes they can hopefully make a name for themselves here but we can see players get 30 games in the Kent League, Ryman South or even the Ryman Premier that can be in Tony’s mind as well that they can cut it at the senior level.”
Although Dartford supporters are proud that their young guns only conceded four against a Champions League outfit, Ibrahim said there were some disappointed faces in the post-match huddle before disappearing down the players’ tunnel.
“They’re disappointed that they haven’t won the game and that’s just normal, like any young person,” said Ibrahim.
“They thoroughly thought they could come here and get a result and good on them. We didn’t come here to think we would get beat. We came here to win a game of football – that’s what every person is in football to be involved in, to win that game.
“The boys’ are happy with what they’ve got but on the flip side they’re a little bit disappointed. A couple of people said maybe the pressure got to them but I know they’ve worked their socks off here.”
Chelsea: Mitchell Beeney, Fankaty Dabo (Ola Aina 60), Jonathan Muleba, Dion Conroy, Kevin Wright, Charly Musdonda, George Cole (Charlie Colkett 72), Ruben Loftus Cheek, Dominic Solanke, Jeremie Boga, Reece Mitchell (Tammy Abraham 60).
Subs: Bradley Collins, Ruben Sammut
Goals: Dominic Solanke 22, 29, 81, Fankaty Dabo 36
Booked: Fankaty Dabo 55
Dartford: Oli Gibson, Freeman Rogers, Harrison Bray, Michael Azaiya, Ronnie Vint, Ebou Adams, Becka-Kah Dembele (Bode Andidugbe 64), Clifford Edaferhoro, Femi Akinwande, Kieran Scantlebury (Calvin Ekpiteta 75), Ainsley Everett (Brima Daramy 63)
Booked: Clifford Edaferhoro 26, Harrison Bray 90
Attendance: 342
Referee: Mr Elliott Kaye (Loughton, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Jason Goldstein (Ilford, Essex) & Mr Robert Jackson (Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire)
Fourth Official: Mr James Amardori (Wimbledon, London SW19)
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd