Kentish Football 
Dartford boss Tony Burman wants to lift the Fog on the Thames
Monday 17th January 2011
DARTFORD boss Tony Burman says he wants his side to replicate their Cup form into their league campaign and claw themselves out of the relegation zone, writes Stephen McCartney.
The Darts reached the First Round of the FA Cup, where they took League Two side Port Vale to a replay, and can now look forward to a trip to Blue Square Bet Premier side Gateshead in the last sixteen of the FA Carlsberg Trophy on 5 February, following their 1-0 win at Ashford Town (Middlesex) at the weekend.
“Obviously we haven’t been drawn at home, which is what you hope for and the next thing is if you are drawn away, not to be too far away,” said Burman.
“Unfortunately we’ve drawn at team that’s 300-odd miles, I think, away from us. It’s going to be a tough old game but we have to go there and see what we can do.
“I played up there many moons ago and I think it (the Gateshead International Stadium) was just being built then. There’s a running track around the pitch but nevertheless we’ve got to go there and we’re just going to go and have a go. It’s cup football and you don’t know what might happen.
“We’ll travel the best way, I’m sure the club will do that for the players and we’ll have a real good go of tying to get into the next round.”
Burman added: “We all wanted to go as far as we can in the FA Cup and as far as we can in the FA Trophy. It’s still an achievement to get to the last sixteen and we’ve got to be proud of that.
“But having said that it’s a long way away. It could’ve been worst. We could have drawn Gateshead at home and gone up there on a Tuesday night or something!”
Dartford slipped into the relegation zone in Blue Square Bet South last week and Burman has issued a rallying cry for supporters to get behind his players for the visit of Staines Town on Tuesday night.
The Darts have picked up just three wins and six draws from their 19 games and are only three points clear of basement side Lewes, who welcome fifth-placed off-colour Bromley to The Dripping Pan on Wednesday night.
“It’s been a strange season for us this season,” said Burman. “We’ve performed reasonably well in the cup competitions and it seems to have affected the league performances, which is a shame.
“I’m not making any excuses, we have to get on with it!
“I think everybody is disappointed with the position that we’re in and probably no more so than myself, but we’ve got to stay positive and get three points on the table. We can’t worry about anybody around us, what they do is nothing to do with what we do.
“We’ve got to start picking up points and we’re more than capable of doing that but it’s now got to start happening.
“I feel if we can stick together on and off the pitch then that will be achieved.
“We’ve had some good years, we’ve had a good four or five years and we’ve hit a little blip, if you like, and we need to have the support of everyone and I’m sure we can count of the majority of supporters to get behind the players to lift us and get that first 3 points and hopefully that can continue.”
The Dartford boss won the fight to land local hero, Jon Main, on a month’s loan deal from Blue Square Premier high-flyers AFC Wimbledon.
Main, 29, needs no introduction to Kent football fans, having played for VCD Athletic, Cray Wanderers and Tonbridge Angels before he became AFC Wimbledon’s then record signing in November just days after playing and scoring a hat-trick against them for his previous club, Tonbridge Angels, before switching clubs for £25,000.
He bagged 52 goals in just 57 appearances for Tonbridge, having moved there from Cray Wanderers in January 2006.
He had a spectacular 2008-09 season, scoring 33 times in the league and passing Rocky Baptiste’s previous Blue Square South record total with two months of the season still to go.
Injury restricted his appearances last season but he was still the second highest scorer with 15 goals and this season he has been down the pecking order at a now full-time football club, scoring one goal from eight starts, although he has been benched nine times too.
“Jon’s a quality forward and he scores goals,” added Burman.
“The opportunity came that we can take him on a month’s loan and that’s what I decided to do. Jon wanted to come to us, he’s not played that many games this year but he’s been brilliant for them the last few seasons since he joined from Tonbridge.
“Jon lives ten minutes away from the ground so it suits him and it suits us. Wimbledon were very favourable toward us for him to come to us as they’ve helped us with the finances. They’re a full-time professional club and we can’t afford the player’s wages but we do put a percentage to it. To be fair to Wimbledon they’ve helped us a lot with that.”
Burman insists Main will score the goals on his debut against Staines Town to lift the gloom.
“We need to be lifted and we need to have a bit of confidence and get in amongst the other teams,” he said.
“We know a few things about Staines, we’ve seen them play. But at the end of it they’re all good games and hard teams to beat. At the moment we’ve had difficulty trying to get three points against teams.
“Let’s work hard to get that next three point and what’s what we need to do and I’m sure as much as everyone’s upset where we are we have to stick together on and off the field and I want to give the players as much encouragement as we can and hopefully things might change and go our way.”
Farnborough, who are presently sitting in third place in the table, arrive at Princes Park on Saturday and Burman added: “We haven’t reached the halfway stage yet but it’s getting close. The games are coming fast and furious now and we just need to get that three points (against Staines) and start having a little bit of confidence.
“If the players’ get the support as well, they will be much better for it. Let’s hope we can all do that.”
Visit Dartford’s websites: www.dartfordfconline.com & www.dartfordfootballclub.com
Dartford v Staines Town
Blue Square Bet South
Tuesday 18th January 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd