Kentish Football

It's a matter of picking up the points over Christmas, says Dartford boss Tony Burman

Thursday 23rd December 2010
DARTFORD boss Tony Burman hopes his side’s four games over the festive period will kick-start their push up the league table, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Darts may have taken League Two side Port Vale to a couple of games in the First Round of The FA Cup - and knocked big-spending Blue Square Bet Premier side Crawley Town out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy (at the second attempt) in the First Round, but their league form has been disappointing.

The Darts go into Christmas sitting in seventeenth place in the Blue Square Bet South table, with 15 points from as many games.

They welcome fourth-placed Welling United to Princes Park on Boxing Day (1pm), before the Darts travel to Stonebridge Road for the eagerly-anticipated showdown with arch-rivals Ebbsfleet United two days later, before the return with Welling United at Park View Road on New Year’s Day, before Burman’s men welcome sixth-placed Chelmsford City to Princes Park on 3 January 2011.

Burman told www.kentishfootball.co.uk: “Obviously four tough games.  We’ve got to start picking up some points now. It’s a crucial little spell in the week, it’s a little bit like the start of the season and hopefully we can do that, but we know that they’re tough games, that’s for sure.

“Everyone’s behind now in their games,” added the boss.  “Usually around this time everyone’s played, probably 20 games.  It’s that sort of time we have to move on but it’s going to be very difficult for players and club’s with so many games to play.”

Dartford are a club that should be competing a lot higher in the table than being in the bottom six, but rivals Welling United (fourth in the table) and seventh-placed Ebbsfleet are enjoying good campaigns.

“Both club’s have done so, so well and credit to them,” said Burman.  “They’ve got their points in the bag and they can carry on.

“The table doesn’t lie, they’ve done very, very well and we need to get some points on the board and start getting two or three wins in succession, which will obviously help our cause.”

Burman revealed that his side trained once last week and he will put his players through their paces at training tonight.

But Michael Shinn (who will miss the Welling game) and striker Carl Rook (Ebbsfleet) will serve one-match suspensions.

Burman can’t wait to get back.

“I think people are crying out now for a little bit of football to be fair,” he laughed.

“They’ve probably done enough shopping to get the right hump with it but people want to have a football match, start talking, having a drink and getting in the festive spirit and what people like to do in their leisure time.”

But Dartford’s players will be taking it easy when it comes to eating mince pies.

Burman said: “To be fair to the players they tend to look after themselves.  A lot of them are naturally fit, which is a credit to them.  We’ve got a training session tonight and they know that they have to be prepared so I’ve got no problems with the players’ attitude with that sort of thing.”

Reflecting on the year 2010, Burman said: “Winning the Ryman League and we’ve come up into the Conference South and it hasn’t gone as we’d expected, but we’ve been close and we can tell that with the Cup games.

“The local derbies are like Cup games as well, there’s a bit of pride for the supporters and things like that and we know that we’re close and wee just need to try and get that belief and confidence in the games and I’m sure the Port Vale and Crawley games will help us bond a little bit better.

“The table doesn’t lie unfortunately we are there at the moment.  It is a matter of picking up the points but I feel the players are good.”

Burman revealed that he has managed to persuade York City to allow attacker George Purcell to extend his loan spell at Princes Park for another month.

“We’ve done a deal with York this week and he’ll get some more games.  He’ll be with us for another month,” added the manager.

Kent clubs can look forward to a lucrative festive period and Burman hopes big crowds will supplement the recent crippling cold snap.

He said: “We’re all looking forward to it and we all just want to get back playing a game of football.  Hopefully the games over this period will give all club’s that little bit of financial help so to speak.  

“People have been struggling without having any income and it’s going to be tough, tough times for club’s and I hope lots of them will pull through it.”


Dartford  v  Welling United
Blue Square Bet South
Boxing Day, Sunday 26th December 2010
Kick Off 1:00pm
At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT








 

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