Tonbridge Angels will be a tough nut to crack, warns Dartford boss Tony Burman

DARTFORD boss Tony Burman says he is looking forward to the Kent derby against Tonbridge Angels on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Darts moved into second place in the Blue Square Bet South table following a 2-1 win over Staines Town in midweek and are level on points (23) with leaders Woking.

Woking leapfrogged over Welling United to the summit last Tuesday, following their 4-2 win at Bromley, aided by three mistakes from Bromley keeper, Dean Santangelo, 17, who is on work experience from Championship club Reading.

The Wings fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat at struggling Boreham Wood 24 hours earlier.

Tonbridge Angels arrive at Princes Park with a morale boosting 3-1 home win over full-time Salisbury City last weekend and then a 2-2 draw at Chelmsford City last Monday.

Tommy Warrilow’s side sealed a point, courtesy of two late goals from substitute Chris Henry and leading goalscorer Frannie Collin.

There is a mutual respect between the two sides, Warrilow (who saw the Darts win in midweek) and his assistant manager Alex O’Brien, both turned out for the Darts during their playing days.

“Maybe Tommy Warrilow will buy me a drink,” quipped Burman. 

“But seriously, they’ve come up last year and they’ve had a decent start to life in Conference South and fair play to them.

“It’s a bit of a shell shock as they’re on the back of a couple of good results, just like Staines, who lets not forget got a point off of Chelmsford and then hammered Bromley at the weekend and they came here in good form, regardless of their League position, and Tonbridge will do the same thing.

“Tonbridge had a good win over Salisbury on Saturday and then they got a good point at Chelmsford on Monday night which was a great result, but we’re looking forward to it!”

Tonbridge Angels, who clinched promotion via the Ryman Premier League play-off’s, have picked up 12 points out of the 30 available and sit in fifteenth place in the Blue Square Bet South table. 

Dartford, who went up as Ryman Premier League champions, collected ten points from their first ten games last year.

Burman said:  “They’ve done well and had a better start in this League than we did.  We played all right but we continued losing which over time we’ve put right, but Tonbridge have at least got some wins early doors and will be a tough nut to crack but as I say we’re looking forward to it.”

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

Dartford  v  Tonbridge Angels
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 24^th September 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT