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GRANTHAM 4 DARTFORD 2 |
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What's On This Site? League Table courtesy of Football News. Watling Street Revisted courtesy of Mike Floate. And of course... a big thank you...
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On the bare facts of the scoreline, it would appear that Dartford were well beaten by one of the favourites to win the Dr Martens Eastern Division but things could have been so different if the referee had made a different decision in the 49th minute of the game. After 13 minutes, the Darts were fortunate not to go a goal behind when following a free kick from Jim Neil, Dartford goalkeeper, Steve Williams, failed to clear the ball and although Adrian Speed headed goalwards, Danny Evans was on the goalline to head the ball away to safety. However a minute later, the Darts went behind when Brendan McDaid met another free kick from Neil and scored with a header from eight yards out. Dartford began to claw their way into the game and after 25 minutes a speculative cross from Shane Holbrook was tipped over the crossbar by home goalkeeper, Mario Zicardi. Three minutes later, the Darts were level when Holbrook again broke down the left. This time he managed to draw Zicardi out of position before squaring the ball to Chris Arnold who had the simple task of tapping in from three yards out. After 31 minutes, the home side were ahead again when Neil skipped round the Dartford defence before crossing for McDaid to score his second goal from close range. Four minutes into the second half, Simon Roberts played a ball behind the Grantham defence and as Lee Guiver moved in on goal, Zicardi upended him 25 yards out. Remarkably referee Hayes only produced a yellow card, despite the Grantham goalkeeper being the last line of defence. After 66 minutes, Grantham increased their lead when three Dartford defenders failed to deal with a high cross from Neil and McDaid completed his hat trick. When former Barnet striker Gary Bull added a fourth with a quarter of an hour remaining, it seemed all over for the Darts but there was still time for Dartford to pull a goal back when Holbrook latched on to a through ball from Lee Jones and lobbed the goalkeeper from 30 yards out. A minute later substitutes Adam Morrish and Paul Wilson combined and Wilson glanced a header wide from just six yards out. Dartford: Williams, Adlington, Pointer, Evans, L. Morrish, Roberts, Barnes, Guiver (A. Morrish 71 mins), Arnold (Wilson 71 mins), Jones and Holbrook. Sub. not used: P. Johns. Attendance 510.
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