Dartford 0-1 Forest Green Rovers

DARTFORD  0-1  FOREST GREEN ROVERS
Blue Square Bet Premier
Tuesday 6^th November 2012
Paul Parkinson reports from Princes Park Stadium

Forest Green Rovers are becoming something of a bogey side for Dartford, as Yan Klukowski’s 11th minute goal gave the visitors their second win in Kent in the last thirteen days, following Rovers’ 4-1 FA Cup replay win at Princes Park.

Two red cards inside the first 20 minutes saw both sides reduced to ten men, and from that moment on, the chances of a high quality match were gone, although Dartford will feel they created the better chances.

Unfortunately, no-one from Dartford was available to comment after the game, but from the pacing that manager Tony Burman carried out in his technical area, the frustration that his side couldn’t find an equaliser was obvious to all. It is now three defeats in the last four games at Princes Park, after a run of six consecutive victories.

Dartford flew out of the blocks, and could, possibly should have been ahead within 20 seconds.

Ryan Hayes left Ed Asafu-Adjaye and Eddie Oshodi sprawling on the ground as the winger drove to the dead ball line, but Hayes’ pull back only found the grateful hands of goalkeeper Sam Russell, rather than the team-mates lining to for a finish.

James Norwood, a scorer in the FA Cup replay flashed a shot across Marcus Bettinelli’s goal, although to the keeper’s credit, he didn’t seem to be troubled by the effort.

But Dartford fell behind after 11 minutes, and for substitute goalkeeper Louis Wells, watching on from the bench, it was a case of déjà vu, as the goal came from a goalkeeping error.

Norwood’s free kick was whipped into the 6-yard box, where Bettinelli, under pressure, could only punch upwards, rather than away from goal. As the ball dropped, Klukowski found himself 10-yards out and fired a left foot volley between Lee Burns and the post to put Rovers one up.
 
And things got worse for the Darts on 15 minutes as Harry Crawford saw red for an off-the-ball incident, kicking out wildly at Rovers’ Aarran Racine.

Crawford, recalled to the side in place of Adam Birchall, who has returned to parent club, Gillingham, had done well initially to partially block Oshodi’s attempted clearance, but there was contact during the follow-through.

As the ball spiralled away towards the halfway line, Crawford inexplicably lashed out, catching Racine from behind and giving referee Mr Kinseley no option but to send the Dartford forward from the field.
 
Things got even more heated three minutes later as Jamie Turley appeared to elbow Lee Noble off-the-ball; an action that was probably seen by about 10% of the people at the game but, crucially, spotted by the assistant, Mr Sprague, who called the referee’s attention to the clash. As players from both sides debated, Mr Kinseley produced another red card, for England C International Turley, who trooped from the field with his head hung low, not looking at Forest Green manager Dave Hockaway as he headed for the tunnel.
 
Noble was scythed down by Paul Green moments later as the officials struggled to keep the on-field temperature below boiling point, and Hayes received a yellow for a clumsy tackle from behind on Asafu-Adjaye.
 
Dartford seemed to be affected more by the dismissals, as for 10 minutes, Forest Green played a patient passing game, probing for a weakness in the home defence, but only had a Norwood shot that was well held by Bettinelli to show for their possession.

After the half hour, the hosts began to dominate, making the pitch as wide as possible, and created three clear chances.
 
First, Mark Arber’s long clearance allowed Danny Harris to hold off and turn Racine, sprint into the area but Harris fired his shot across the goal and wide with just Russell to beat.

Then, Hayes ran at left-back Asafu-Adjaye, played the ball inside to Harris who set up Noble, whose curling shot edged past the post.

But the best chance of the three fell to Noble, as a long diagonal cross from Arber saw Noble run off the back of Oshodi, and Noble’s header crashed against the outside of Russell’s left hand post with the keeper well beaten.

Early in the second half, Hayes tried an audacious lob, having seen Russell off his line, but his effort was miscued, giving the keeper time to get back to catch comfortably, before Rose flashed a shot across the face of goal.

Forest Green brought another nervous moment from Bettinelli as the keeper fumbled Matt Taylor’s shot, which admittedly bounced awkwardly in front of the on-loan Fulham stopper, but Bettinelli reacted quickly to palm the ball away from approaching Steve Brogan.

As Dartford became more and more anxious to find the equaliser, they were vulnerable to the pace of Taylor and Norwood on the counter-attack, but both sides struggled to get a telling cross into the opponent’s box.

Harris tried his best, seeing a 20-yard effort curl over, and former Ebbsfleet striker, Magno Vieira hadn’t been on the pitch long enough to react to a chance that flew to him off Tom Bonner’s knee.

Deep in stoppage time, Elliot Bradbrook’s free kick from the D wouldn’t dip quickly enough to trouble Russell, who then picked up a needless caution for time-wasting.

But the early goal was the key moment as the three points head to Gloucestershire; a result that sees Forest Green replace Dartford in the playoff places.

Dartford: Marcus Bettinelli, Lee Burns, Tom Bonner, Mark Arber, Richard Rose (Adam Green 86), Ryan Hayes (Jacob Erskine 65), Tom Champion (Nathan Collier 82), Elliot Bradbrook, Lee Noble, Danny Harris, Harry Crawford.
Subs: Louis Wells, James Rogers
 
Booked: Ryan Hayes 24

Sent Off: Harry Crawford 15
 
Forest Green Rovers: Sam Russell, Jamie Turley, Aarran Racine, Eddie Oshodi, Ed Asafu-Adjaye, Paul Green, Steve Brogan (Chris Stokes 58), Al Bangura, James Norwood (Omar Koroma 87), Yan Klukowski, Matt Taylor (Magno Vieira 80).
Subs: Jared Hodgkiss, James Rowe

Goal: Yan Klukowski 11

Booked: Sam Russell 90

Sent Off: Jamie Turley 18

Attendance: 915
Referee: Mr Nicholas Kinseley
Assistants: Mr Michael Smith and Mr George Sprague
Fourth Official: Mr David Spain