Playing four games a week is difficult, says Burman

Thursday 25th March 2010

AS DARTFORD continue to seemingly stutter towards the finish line in the race for the Ryman Premier League title, manager Tony Burman is becoming an increasingly worried man, writes Mike Green.

Despite the Darts still being 10 points clear at the top of the table, the Darts 1-0 defeat to Margate on Tuesday set the Burman alarm bells ringing.

The Darts boss told www.kentishfootball.co.uk this week, “There was no spark in our legs Tuesday night and we were always going to be open to the break and that’s what happened. We didn’t get enough crosses in the box to score the goals.”

The level of expectation amongst all Kent football fans that the Darts are all but Champions is a strange kind of pressure that seems to be currently directed at the Darts.

Burman said, “We conquered the pressure last week and came back with two wins – we just didn’t have any life in our legs! We went with the same side Tuesday and in hindsight that wasn’t right.”

The weekend sees Hastings United head for Princes Park, and so the Darts go from hosting a Kent derby against a side battling for their lives to a side chasing a Play Off place, not that Burman is counting any chickens.

He said: “It wont be any easier for us at the weekend playing a side that are chasing the play offs. They know they’re coming to face us in a really big game, but that said we know just how big the game is – we’re just hoping that by having a couple of days off and not having to play on Thursday will give a few of our tired legs the chance to recover.

“We had them in Thursday and we’ll just have to wait and see.”

There were boos at the end of Tuesday’s defeat, but Burman was quick to rightly defend his players. “This squad of players we mustn’t forget have had an incredible season so far – their work rate is one of the things that have got us to where we are today,” the boss said, “but they are tired but we cant make too many excuses on those lines.

“After all we won two games last week – against Horsham and Maidstone – and we didn’t look tired then, and if we had won Tuesday the subject probably wouldn’t have been raised at all.

“But having said that, it is going to be difficult especially for the teams that have had to play all the games, and those who haven’t had to play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and so on will obviously be fresher.

“But with Easter looming on the horizon too, we’re going into another huge two weeks for this football club, but we must be focused on Saturday now and get the three points – that’s our number one priority!”

Visit Dartford’s websites: www.dartfordfc.co.uk & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk

Dartford v Hastings United

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 27th March 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT