In front of a near 2000 crowd of supporters who braved the weather conditions, both sides started at a high temp in an evenly fought first half.
The first opportunity came fell to Tom Bradbrook who hit a left foot volley from outside the box, which pulled off a great save from Maidstone United keeper Lee Wogan, pushing the ball out for a corner. Dartford had a number of free kicks and although the delivery was good they didn’t manage to get on the end of anything inside the box.
The first effort from Maidstone came from Alex Flisher who shot towards goal but was blocked by Ronnie Vint, causing the away fans to appeal for a penalty. A 0-0 score line was fair reflection on the first half
In the second half the game started at a high tempo but the weather conditions changed with Dartford playing against the wind. Maidstone forced a number of corners and with one of those being cleared by Deren Ibrahim, Matt Bodkin crossed in again only for Callum McNaughton to head the ball against Alex Flishers’ head and the ricochet went into the back of the Dartford net to take Maidstone one nil up.
Dartford went on the front foot with Ryan Hayes hitting the post, and from a corner Elliot Bradbrook hit the bar. Dartford made two changes with Andy Pugh coming on for Tom Bradbrook, and Jack Simmons on for Barry Cogan. Dartford changed formation to a 4-4-2 system and got their just rewards when a ball was crossed by Hayes, to be cleared out to Elliot Bradbrook by Maidstone defenders, and Elliot Bradbrook shot from 12 yards out which went into the goal.
There was an appeal for offside for Maidstone, but the referrer who overall had a very good game, overruled the decision and this put Dartford on level terms.
Dartford still pushed forward to try and get the winner, and Mark Onyemah after a good move crashed the ball against the bar from 8 yards out. All in all it was another good performance from the team, who one against came back from being a goal down.
Tony Burman said ‘ I was very pleased with the performance especially with the weather conditions but I must say that the pitch was in excellent condition. Credit goes to Andy our groundsman and his team for that. After hitting the woodwork three times and scoring a goal, I feel that we deserved a point at least and in all fairness I think we probably should have won the game.’
Captain Elliot Bradbrook added “It was a very good performance today against a team doing well lately. I thought we dominated the game in every way, hit the post or bar three times and in the end a little bit disappointed to only keep a point. But it keeps our unbeaten run going which is great and keeps things moving in the right direction.”
Dartford FC: Deren Ibrahim, Tom Gardiner, Mark Onyemah, Ronnie Vint, Callum McNaughton, Lee Noble, Ryan Hayes, Elliot Bradbrook (C), Tom Bradbrook, Barry Cogan, Danny Harris
Subs: Kaka Dembele, Andy Pugh, Jack Simmons, Ebou Adams, Tom Wynter
Maidstone United FC: Lee Worgan, Callum Driver, Tom Mills, Jamie Coyle (C), Manny Parry, James Rogers, Matt Bodkin, Joe Healy, Jay May, Alex Akrofi, Alex Flisher
Subs: Jack Paxman, Frannie Collin, Adam Birchall, Steve Watt, Bobby-Joe Taylor
Attendance: 1909
From www.dartfordfc.co.uk
