Dartford 4-2 Bromley - We knew Bromley were going to have a go, says Dartford boss Tony Burman

Saturday 12th January 2013

DARTFORD 4-2 BROMLEY
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Third Round
Saturday 12^th January 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

DARTFORD boss Tony Burman says he has reached a managerial milestone by guiding his side into the Quarter-Finals of The FA Carlsberg Trophy for the first time with a clinical victory over a Bromley side that deserved more from the game.

The Darts kept their Wembley dream alive with a 4-2 victory over their Blue Square Bet (Conference) South neighbours, but Bromley weren’t outclassed as the scoreline suggests.

Burman gave left-winger Dominic Green, 23, his debut having signed him on a month’s loan from League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge and he got his spell off to a great start by scoring twice inside the opening 34 minutes to give the Darts a 2-1 lead at the break, after Bromley’s French striker, Pierre Joseph-Dubois had deservedly brought Bromley back into the game with an equaliser.

Dartford, who went into this Third Round tie sitting in eighth-place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier, upped their game in the second half and raced into a 4-1 lead, courtesy of right-back Lee Burns and striker Harry Crawford, before Joseph-Dubois stabbed home his eleventh goal of the season.

Burman said: “Yes, it’s another milestone that we’ve beat. I haven’t been in the last eight for a long, long time. I haven’t been there as a manager so today the players, give them a lot of credit, they’ve done that so I’m well pleased for them.”

Burman added: “Fair play to Bromley. They had a go at us, which we knew they would do that. You’ve got to be patient. Teams will come at you but as the game went on I felt we got into the swing of things.

“We had to sort one or two things out at half-time and I think in all fairness when it was 2-1 we should have increased our lead by a couple of goals but it wasn’t to be.

“Bromley hit the bar in that spell and they could have made it two-all. We’ve said one or two things at half-time and I think we’ve got things right but we were in control of the game.”

Bromley went five years winning a FA Trophy tie, but Mark Goldberg has led the Hayes Lane outfit to the furthest that they’ve ever gone in this year’s competition following wins over Staines Town and Boreham Wood (both after replays) and Kidderminster Harriers and he cut a disappointed figure during the press conference at the end of today’s game.

“Our problem today was that we just didn’t create chances for ourselves, we created chances for our opposition,” said Goldberg, whose side have climbed up to eleventh-place in the table, thanks to a run of four wins from their last five games in all competitions.

Goldberg added: “I’m proud of them by the fact that we controlled for what I thought was the majority of the game in terms of possession and our passing and the amount of good goalscoring opportunities that we created.

“I think no one would have argued if we would have scored four or five ourselves. The fact that we should have on a number of occasions hit the target but we didn’t but it was the way we conceded our goals that was the most disappointing.

“I feel that we created opportunities for them to score by being sloppy and lapses of concentration so very disappointing because I think we deserved all in all I think we at least deserved a draw out of the game.”

Bromley, who were without cup-tied striker Louie Theophanous, took the game to Dartford straight from the very first whistle with man-of-the-match Elliot Buchanan cracking a speculative right-footed volley sailing over the crossbar from 30-yards with only 36 seconds on the clock.

Dartford keeper Marcus Bettenelli was forced to tip over Tony Finn’s inswinging corner from the left, but were to later rue not taking the lead.

Buchanan caressed the ball forward which put Joseph-Dubois through on goal but the striker dragged his right-footed angled shot wide of the far post from sixteen-yards.

Things were going well for Bromley – that was until central defender Liam Harwood committed footballing suicide to gift Green a dream start.

Harwood, on the left-hand side, played a horrific back-pass towards goalkeeper Joe Welch but the ball was intercepted by Green and the striker accepted the late Christmas present, took a touch before slotting the ball into an empty net with his right-foot from ten-yards.

Burman was full of praise for Green, who scored only 326 seconds into his Dartford debut.

“He’s read the back pass obviously and I’m pleased for Dom,” said the Darts boss.

“I want him to come here and enjoy himself. He got off on the right note by scoring a couple of goals today.”

Burman added: “To be fair he touched the ball about three times I think in the first half and two of them were goals and the third was a great pass which should have increased our lead and we didn’t.

“Listen, he’s come in, he’s a good player. He’s got a lot of ball skill and he’ll hold the ball for us and today he’s scored two goals today.

“I just asked him to enjoy himself. When you’re with League clubs and you’re not playing week in, week out, you sometimes need a little bit of a target and hopefully Dom will give us that or a month. He’s a good player and we’ll be a good outlet for us on the left hand side.”

Goldberg felt Dartford’s lead was unjust.

He said: “It’s the story of the game. They’re sitting there very sweet. Every time they just withheld pressure from us. We we’re creating great opportunities, then they break away and they score by us giving them the ball, giving the ball away. Silly!”

Goldberg added: “We dominated until they scored, without a doubt.

“We gave away the goal. The first 10-15 minutes of the game we were all over them and we deserved to come back. We deserved the one-all and then we gave away another sloppy goal so it’s a story of giving away sloppy goals, I’m afraid.

“They took their goals extremely well and they punished you and that’s what happens when you play teams of a higher level but all in all I was proud of my boys because I don’t think anyone could argue that we held our own in terms of possession and in terms of goalscoring opportunities.”

Despite that early blow, Bromley continued to take the game to Dartford and after Danny Waldren played the ball inside to Finn, who had ghosted to the edge of the Dartford penalty box, screamed a left-footed shot over from 20-yards.

Dartford next chance fell to Crawford, who burst past Waldren and raced towards the heart of the Bromley defence but his right-footed drive from 25-yards bounced harmlessly wide.

But Bromley scored a deserved equaliser in the 19^th minute.

Buchanan’s flicked pass found Joseph-Dubois, who ran at the Dartford defence and once inside the penalty area he placed his low right-footed shot from fifteen-yards across the keeper and the ball nestled inside the bottom far corner.

Goldberg said: “It was a great finish. He looked dangerous. I thought his movement was very good today Pierre and he deserved that finish.”

Burman added: “It came from our throw, again down the line. I’m disappointed that that’s happened but their front two caused us some problems simply because we weren’t making the right decisions defensively. We wasn’t picking them up when they were dropping out in space but I thought we sorted that out second half.”

Waldren got on the end of a curling free-kick from Finn but glanced his header past the near post from sixteen-yards, before Dartford created a decent chance to take the lead again.

Kent football’s most exciting player, winger Ryan Hayes, whipped in a cross from the right after cutting inside Bromley left-back Marlon Patterson and Nathan Collier cushioned his header down and Crawford’s hooked a left-footed volley, which a deflection took the sting out of the shot to allow Welch to gather the bouncing ball.

Dartford turned defence into a clinical attack, which lead them to taking a 2-1 lead in the 34^th minute.

Bettenelli plucked the ball out of the air and bowled the ball out to Hayes, who clipped the ball forward to Collier on the right-hand side. The Dartford striker raced past Harwood to reach the by-line before whipping in a deep cross, which sailed over Ming’s head to find Green unmarked inside the penalty area and the striker stroked a left-footed drive across Welch to find the bottom far corner.

Burman said: “It was a great finish, the second one! He only had two touches in the first half and two went in to the back of the net and he put a great ball through to Nathan who probably should’ve scored when it was 2-1, but I’m pleased for Dom.”

Goldberg added: “Yes, there was no doubt they put their goals away well, but we gave them the opportunities!”

Dartford proved that the higher the team the more clinical they are in front of goal.

Bromley skipper, Ali Fuseini, clipped the ball over the top of the Dartford defence to release Buchanan, who outmuscled Tom Bonner, but lashed his left-footed volley screaming wide of the near post from eight-yards.

Patterson was adjudged to have handled the ball on the very corner of the Bromley penalty box and Hayes whipped in the resulting free-kick with his left-foot and Crawford ghosted in to head down and wide of the foot of the near post.

However, Bromley keeper Welch kept his side in the game by making a fine save in the 39^th minute.

Hayes clever chipped pass dropped down on to Crawford’s right-boot and the former Southend United striker’s volley forced Welch into making a fine block to his left.

Another chance came Dartford’s way when Hayes rode a challenge before sweeping the ball forward to Green, who dinked his pass to put Collier though on goal but he drove his left-footed shot at the foot of the side netting.

Bromley went agonisingly close to keeping themselves in the tie in the 44^th minute when Finn’s passed the ball to Buchanan, who cracked a powerful left-footed drive, which beat Bettenelli, but the ball smashed against the crossbar.

Goldberg said: “He’s got that in his locker. We’ve seen him score from outside the box before. I think it’s fair to say that no one would have argued if the score ended up four-all.”

Bromley went close when Finn and Ming combined down the right and Ming’s sent a low cross across the face of the penalty area and Aaron Rhule used the outside of his left boot to stroke his shot just wide of the foot of the post.

Bromley called the Dartford keeper into action with the last kick of a very impressive first half performance, when Buchanan’s driven left-footed free-kick from just outside the corner of the Dartford penalty area was gathered low down by the on-loan Fulham stopper.

With Burman’s wise words still in their ears, Dartford created their first second half chance within 56 seconds.

Hayes’ precise diagonal pass picked out Green, whose ambitious low drive from the left by-line was gathered by Welch beside the foot of his near post.

Dartford stepped up a gear and they scored the killer goal inside the opening six minutes of the second half when Burns scored only his second goal of the season from right-back.

Burns started the move by playing the ball upfield to Hayes but was not content in sitting back and overlapped into the penalty area, picking up Hayes’ through ball, before smashing a right-footed shot into the ground to beat Welch at his near post.

Burman said: “It was a great lay-off by Ryan. I’m pleased for Lee because he don’t score many goals. He wants to and in the end it was a great finish.”

Former Slade Green winger Hayes, who received an award from Steve Irving before the game for making over 250 starts for the club, received special praise from Burman, having played a major part in the club’s three promotions during the past six years.

“He’ll be lost without me! He’ll be absolutely lost without me. Listen, he’s just a one off Ryan. What he’s given to this club is fantastic! He’s ratio for making goals season after season is (excellent). Whatever goals we’ve scored since he’s been here I’ll be surprised if it wasn’t in the 70-80% bracket. He’s a great player. He’s the worst player and a great player and I’m fortunate enough he’s been a lot better than he has been bad that’s for sure. He’s been a gem over the last six or seven years that he’s been with us.”

Goldberg admitted: “We then pressed the self-destruct (button) then and we gave them another free one-on-one at the end to give them 4-1, but we got back in the game. We showed a lot of guts and determination and Mike Jones coming on gave us a little bit of impetus but the last ten minutes Ali Chaaban should have hit the target and failed.

“That’s the difference, you get those opportunities, they take them and we don’t!”

Bromley continued to create chances for themselves and Rhule should have done better after cutting in along the right by-line but he wasn’t going to beat Bettenelli with a low stab towards the bottom near corner.

Dartford’s stand-in skipper, Tom Champion, who was wearing the armband after Burman decided not to risk Elliot Bradbrook’s knee injury, glanced his free-header wide of the post following Hayes’ outswinging corner from the left on the hour-mark.

Within three minutes, the hardworking Buchanan won possession inside the Dartford penalty area before playing the ball inside to Joseph-Dubois, whose weak shot trickled into Bettenelli’s gloves, the keeper diving low to his left to make a routine comfortable save.

Dartford enjoyed a flattering 4-1 lead in the 66^th minute when Bromley won themselves a corner and Finn lost possession to Collier some 35-yards from the Dartford goal and Collier fed Green, who released Crawford through on goal and after winning a foot race against Ming, stroked his right-footed shot underneath Welch to find the far corner to score his fifteenth-goal of the season.

Burman added: “Harry has come down the left hand side and cut across the right back. It’s a good finish. He’s done well over the last few weeks. He’s done very, very well.”

Around 300 Bromley supporters, who offered their side excellent vocal support during the game, were now coming to terms with their FA Trophy exit.

Bromley did pull a goal back with twenty minutes remaining when Finn played the ball across the face of the goalmouth and with two red-shirted players in the middle, Joseph-Dubois stabbed the ball trickling past the stranded Bettenelli into the bottom right-hand corner from eight-yards.

Goldberg knew his side deserved more than a 4-2 defeat.

He said: “There’s lots of positives but we lost and that’s very upsetting because when you play well and lose it’s even more. Sometimes you should be able to take something from it but it’s the last sixteen of The Trophy and we had a chance to get to the last eight and now we don’t.

“It’s going to take a little bit of getting over and we’ve just got to pick ourselves up for (our trip to Bath City) on Tuesday.”

Burman added: “Again, we’re disappointed with the goals that have gone in but Bromley kept plugging away. We knew they’ve got some decent footballers in their side and they were going to have a go.

“The pressure was on us and there was a potential banana skin now because we’ve moved up into the higher league. We’ve had that against Tonbridge (which we beat 3-0 at home in the last round) and we’ve had that against Bromley and we’ve come through and won the game.

“All credit to the players for keeping their concentration, keeping patient and winning the game.”

Bromley threw bodies forward in an attempt to salvage their broken dream, but instead of pumping long balls into the penalty box they continued to play their passing game.

This tactic frustrated substitute Ali Chaaban, who was guilty on two occasions of failing to test Bettenelli as his shots flashed wide of the near post towards the end of the game.

Dartford fly the Kentish flag in The FA Carlsberg Trophy after Welling United went down to a 2-1 home defeat to Grimsby Town at Park View Road today.

Dartford go into Monday’s Quarter-Final draw with Southport, Wrexham, Grimsby Town, AFC Halifax Town, Gateshead or Barrow, Gainsborough Trinity and Luton Town and the tie will take place in fourteen days’ time.

When reminded that his side are now so close to a Wembley Final (Sunday, 24 March), after wins over Kingstonian, Tonbridge Angels and Bromley, Burman said: “Two clubs go there every season. No one knows whose it going to be and we were in the last sixteen. We’ve got over another hurdle today and we’re in the last eight and I’m pleased for everybody at the club.

“If we can, we’d like a home tie and like someone local. Whether that happens, I don’t know. The name of today was to get into the last eight.”

Goldberg praised the 300 travelling supporters who gave his side excellent support.

“They gave us a lot of support today. They were great so we really appreciated that today. They helped us. I’m very disappointed. I’ve got confidence in the squad but I’m disappointed we’ve lost. I don’t think Dartford were worthy winners as the scoreline shows.”

Bromley fans will be feeling the same disappointment that they felt at League Two Fleetwood Town when they went down to a 3-0 defeat in the FA Cup First Round back in November.

Goldberg said: “All in all we got to the first round of The FA Cup and the last sixteen of The FA Trophy, it’s not been a bad season so far.”

Dartford: Marcus Bettenelli, Lee Burns, Tom Bonner, Mark Arber, Richard Rose, Ryan Hayes, Tom Champion, James Rogers, Dominic Green (Danny Harris 86), Nathan Collier (Lee Noble 79), Harry Crawford (Jacob Erskine 89).
Subs: Jon Wallis, Louis Wells

Goals: Dominic Green 6, 34, Lee Burns 51, Harry Crawford 66

Booked: Tom Bonner 61, Lee Noble 90

Bromley: Joe Welch, Sanchez Ming, Marlon Patterson, Ali Fuseini, Moses Swaibu, Liam Harwood (Helge Orome 85), Tony Finn, Danny Waldren (Mike Jones 75), Pierre Joseph-Dubois, Elliot Buchanan, Aaron Rhule (Ali Chaaban 73).
Subs: Jack Holland, Ian Daly

Goals: Pierre Joseph-Dubois 19, 70

Booked: Aaron Rhule 64

Attendance: 1,305
Referee: Mr Graham Horwood (Luton, Bedfordshire)
Assistants: Mr Anthony Serrano (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire) & Mr Simeon Potter (Sutton, Surrey)
Fourth Official: Mr Jason Richardson (Pinner, Middlesex)