Dartford 2-7 Norwich City - Happy return for McDonald

Saturday 11th July 2009

DARTFORD 2-7 NORWICH CITY
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 11th July 2009
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

THE previous time that Dartford were beaten 7-2 at Princes Park, (a friendly against Tottenham Hotspur’s talented kids) two years ago, the Darts went on to clinch the Ryman League Division One North title.

But for Steve Moseley, the club’s assistant manager, clinching promotion from the Ryman Premier League at the end of this season is the priority this time out.

“Obviously we’re going into the season looking to get promoted, whether that’s winning it or through the play-off’s, we want to get promoted this year,” he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk after their first work out of a season that promises so much.

Dartford went into their opening pre-season friendly with only four training sessions under their belts, knowing that their full-time professionals had the luxury of having more time to work on set-pieces.

And that was certainly the case when Norwich City broke the deadlock, inside the opening three minutes of a game that was watched by a crowd of 1,910 at Princes Park, in what was Cody McDonald’s return to his former side.

Simon Lappin whipped in a left-footed free-kick towards the far post and Canaries’ central defender Michael Nelson jumped his marker to loop his header over Andrew Young and into the net.

But Ryan Hayes, Lee Noble (who took to the field despite a badly bruised foot) and James White were excellent for a Dartford side that we’re weakened by absences.

Midfielder Elliot Bradbrook, a summer signing from rivals Maidstone United, and strikers Jay May and Rob Haworth, were all ruled-out as they were all abroad.

Summer signing, striker Allan Tait (a summer signing from Eastbourne Borough) was ruled out through injury.

Defenders Adam Flanagan and John Guest didn’t feature at all, and goalkeeper Tony Kessell (who was back at Princes Park after a season at Thamesmead Town) watched from the sidelines.

The Darts fielded three new faces, with right-back Billy Burgess and lone-striker Lee Burns, who have arrived from Braintree Town, and former Tonbridge Angels central defender John Beales, who is trying to earn a deal with the club.

Seun Eferakorho, Karl Dent, Husein Isa and Danny Crouch all came off the bench, having played for the second string last season.

Goalkeeper Sam Mott, who conceded three goals, was one of many players that were released by neighbouring Blue Square Premier side Ebbsfleet United at the end of last season.

The Darts were deservedly back on level terms after ten minutes, thanks to an excellent cross from right-winger Ryan Hayes, proving that players can play at non-league level.

The winger found Lee Noble unmarked inside the six-yard box and Noble gave Declan Rudd no chance with a sweet right-footed finish.

Young was forced into his first save of a bright contest after 24 minutes, diving swiftly to his right to turn aside Chris Martin’s left-footed drive from 25-yards.

Dartford were clearly enjoying their best spell of the match and impressed many in the crowd.

But they were left ruing an excellent chance to take a deserved lead after 33 minutes when Jamie Coyle came up from the back to head Jamie Day’s corner straight at the Norwich goalkeeper.

Dartford goalkeeper Young, who had initially spilt Wes Hoolahan’s low centre from the left, recovered when he blocked Martin’s driven shot.

However, it took a player, who is on trial from Cambridge City, that changed the course of the game, giving the Canaries a 2-1 lead after 39 minutes.

The winger picked up the ball on the right, cut inside Darts left-back Adam Gross, before unleashing a stunning left-footed curler, which left Young rooted to the spot as the ball whistled past him and into the far corner.

Young then made a breathtaking clawing save to prevent Michael Spillane scoring with his head, but the Kent hosts switched off from the resulting corner and Norwich immediately grabbed a flattering third goal just two minutes before the break.

The ball was swung in by Lippin’s from the left and this was met by Gary Doherty’s near post header, which flashed past Young to end the game as a contest.

Rudd was relieved, on the stroke of half-time, to see the impressive White’s shot crash off the far post.

It took Norwich ten second half minutes to increase their lead to 4-1 in their favour, when substitute Matt Pattison made an instant impression on the game.

His superb sixty-yard diagonal ball out of defence was expertly brought down by Martin, who cut inside his marker and found the bottom far corner from fourteen-yards.

With Dartford tiring, fitter Norwich City side made it a painful second half for the Kent side, who are capable of clinching promotion into Blue Square South after 42 league games this season.

The Darts defence failed to pick up Martin inside the six-yard box as Scott Neilson whipped in a cross from the right, and the striker’s header flew past the goalkeeper after 66 minutes.

Three minutes later and Dartford pulled a second goal back. Substitute Adam Burchell, who played for the club's under 21's last season whilst on work experience from Gillingham, sent over a delightful cross towards the far post and White powered home a diving header past Rudd.

McDonald, who scored 19 appearances in 20 appearances for the Darts before being snapped up by Norwich on 2 February 2009, came off the substitutes bench to a warm welcome from both sets of supporters.

And the 23-year-old striker won the Canaries a 76th minute penalty when he was brought down by Burgess and Jamie Cureton stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick.

Although the right-footed spot-kick was beaten out by Mott, Cureton reacted quickest to slam the ball into the net from just two-yards out.

Conceding seven goals was hard on a Dartford side who played football during the entire game on an excellent playing surface, but the final goal arrived four minutes later when Cureton was set up by McDonald and his right-footed lob found the far corner.

“It wasn’t too bad,” admitted Moseley. “A good work-out for the fella’s. We’ve only had four training sessions so it was a tough game because out of the squad we probably had five or six players missing, so all-in-all there was a lot of positives to take out of the game.

“Norwich have been back for two weeks training full-time, the main difference was the fitness.”

He added: “It’s still very early days for us, we’ve done four training sessions, we try and get the balance off having two hours in each session, on fitness and ball work, but this is the first pre-season friendly.

“They’re a lot fitter, ahead of us in terms of fitness because they’ve worked on set pieces, considering we only touched on (working on set-pieces) on Thursday.”

Moseley felt the decision to award White the man-of-the-match award was the right decision.

He said: “James White done very well today. People keep forgetting he’s only 20-years-old. He was excellent today.”

And he was pleased with the way that the Darts performed, saying, “It wasn’t a game where we defended all the game. We tried to attack them and for a team at our level to score two goals, you might get one goal, but to score two very good goals was excellent.”

But the star-of-the-show was McDonald, who was swarmed by Kent and Norfolk press and Dartford supporters who wanted his autograph.

“I really enjoyed myself today,” McDonald told www.kentishfootball.co.uk. “It’s always great to come back here. I managed to get back here once at the end of last season and hopefully I can continue to do that this year if I get the chance.”

McDonald, who is looking forward to his club’s forthcoming Scotland tour, spoke about how his life has changed following his move to Carrow Road, which ended his job as a scaffolder and a semi-professional footballer.

“Obviously it’s changed dramatically,” he said. “Before I left Dartford I had twins so my life changed enough then and I went and signed for Norwich. My life has changed massively but it’s for the good.

“Playing football every day, it’s not easy as people think. I know it’s a nice job and I’m happy to have it and that, but it can be tiring as well.

“I suppose that was the hardest thing, the training (from my home in Witham, Essex), I suppose because I haven’t moved to Norwich (to live) yet.”

But level-headed McDonald was quick to praise the Dartford management team for fulfilling his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

And he said that he will always have a soft-soft for the Darts.

“Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Tony (Burman) today, but I spoke to him in the week,” said McDonald.

“Paul Sawyer, he got me over here, I’ve got a lot of thanks for him.

“At the time, non-league football was the best time’s that I’ve ever had.

“The facilities (at Princes Park), the fans, everything, the pitch is second to none for a non-league club, so it’s brilliant to play here.

“I always look out for Dartford’s results. I want Norwich to go up and for us to do well, but I always look out for Dartford and I’m hoping they go up. I’m sure they can.”

Speaking about the game, McDonald was impressed with his former side.

“Dartford started very brightly, for 15 minutes or so it was quite close,” he said.

“I think towards the end of the game Dartford started to get a little bit tired but obviously that’s where part-time and full-time comes into it.

“They’re still a great team over here and I’m sure they will do well next year."

Dartford: Andrew Young (Sam Mott 57), Billy Burgess, Adam Gross, John Beales (Seun Eferakorho 57), Jamie Coyle, Danny Dafter (Karl Dent 70) , Ryan Hayes (Kieran Dingri 81), Jamie Day, Lee Burns (Adam Burchell 63), James White, Lee Noble (Husein Isa 35, Danny Crouch 82).

Goals: Lee Noble 10, James White 69

Norwich City: Declan Rudd, Jon Otsemobor, Adam Drury, Gary Doherty (Dario Dumic 66), Michael Nelson, Owain Tudur-Jones (Matt Pattison 53), Scott Neilson (Paul McVeigh 82), Michael Spillane (Matthew Gill 73), Chris Martin (Cody McDonald 69), Wes Hoolahan (Jamie Cureton 53), Simon Lappin.

Subs: Jed Steer, Tom Adeyemi, Dave Stephens.

Goals: Michael Nelson 3, Scott Neilson 39, Gary Doherty 43, Chris Martin 55, 66, Jamie Cureton 76, 80

Attendance: 1,910

Referee: Mr Andy D’urso (Billericay, Essex)

Assistants: Mr Darren Blunden (Dartford) & Mr Andy Mead (Orpington)

Fourth Official: Mr Craig Wood (Gravesend)