v Dartford

[Reading Rebel]

The scoreline makes it sound like a real hammering but probably doesn't reflect the game as a whole.

We produced some decent football going forward without that crucial cutting edge to finish off the chances created.

Unfortunately defensively and to a lesser extent in midfield we made far too many mistakes gifting Dartford 3 or 4 of their goals.   

The result didn't matter but in front of our second biggest league crowd of the season the scoreline did. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Reading Rebel

[Rebellier]

Disagree.  It was a hammering. 

They scored at will.

Even if Lench shot had gone in instead of smacking the bar they would have crushed us.

Big gulf in class sadly. 

[Reading Rebel]

2 hours ago, Rebellier said:

Disagree.  It was a hammering. 

They scored at will.

Even if Lench shot had gone in instead of smacking the bar they would have crushed us.

Big gulf in class sadly. 

The scoreline say's it was a hammering but not on actual chances created.

No denying that Dartford were the better side but some really poor defending and lack of any decent finishing from us has meant the score ended up at 6-0.

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Reading Rebel

[Rebel Wokingham]

Agreed RR, it was never a 0-6 performance.
Let’s not dwell on today and move on to next season.

[Reading Rebel]

12 minutes ago, Rebel Wokingham said:

Agreed RR, it was never a 0-6 performance.
Let’s not dwell on today and move on to next season.

Ok, next season.

If nothing else this game has again highlighted our need for at least one proven striker at this level or above and an experienced, hopefully 6ft 2'' plus center back to complement our two young central defenders.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Reading Rebel

[GlenSTFC]

9 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Ok, next season.

If nothing else this game has again highlighted our need for at least one proven striker at this level or above and an experienced, hopefully 6ft 2'' plus center back to complement our two young central defenders.

I’m sure we’ve all got our player wish lists. Looking at our leaky defence and lack of goals you could say we need 6 or 7 players but on the whole our goalkeeper and defence aren’t that bad just need to tighten up and stop the silly goals getting through. Although saying that I wouldn’t e surprised to see at least 1 new defender sign. I feel it’s the attacking areas we may see more activity. Currently we have 1 senior striker who let’s be fair can’t give a full season. So really we need a couple of experienced attackers plus maybe a winger too. Presuming no one leaves I think we’re ok in the midfield area although you wouldn’t say no if a better affordable prospect became available.

[Irishadrian]

According to the Dartford forum the declared  attendance was 961  Were there many there from Dartford?  Shame to have such a large crowd to witness such a heavy defeat.

[Reading Rebel]

1 minute ago, Irishadrian said:

According to the Dartford forum the declared  attendance was 961  Were there many there from Dartford?  Shame to have such a large crowd to witness such a heavy defeat.

I would guess at about 50 to 60ish behind the goal and a few sprinkled around the ground.

Not sure that's a good away following for a club fighting it out for a top 3 position with an average home attendance of over a 1,000. 

[Irishadrian]

Agree RR  At this stage I was expecting to be told 100/150  very poor for them and makes our turnout more impressive.

[3spirit]

12 hours ago, Rebellier said:

Disagree.  It was a hammering. 

They scored at will.

Even if Lench shot had gone in instead of smacking the bar they would have crushed us.

Big gulf in class sadly. 

I didn't see it that way, Rebellier. Slough had six good chances to score, with better finishing we would have been in the game.I don't believe we would have won but the scoreline would have been better. 

Dartford have a great squad and it was always going to be an uphill task for Slough to get anything from that game. Then to start with such an inexperienced back line and not have Lee Togwell, Freddie Grant, Aaron Kuhl and Sean Fraser in the starting line up was asking for trouble. I can see why Bakes and Unders test some of these youngsters out but I would have preferred if they could have done it away to Hampton FC[a mid table team] !  Playing such a good team as Dartford at home[any top 5 side to my mind] I would have liked to have seen our better players play. That said, I didn't think Slough were terrible yesterday and to me a 0-6 scoreline is harsh.

Next season's recruitment of players is going to be pivotal in what direction we go in the table. What I learned yesterday was Gabe George is promising but nowhere near ready to play a significant role in Slough's side yet. Any of our full backs would have had trouble containing Dartford's number 7 [right winger] but may have been able to stop the cross coming in but Gabe couldn't. Two of Dartford goals came from this.  I'm not singling out our young lad out here,as I think this will be a good learning curve for him as he goes on. On a positive note he won't play the calibre of player like that every week. Kelvin Kalala, I think the Dartford's right wingers name is,whatever he was strong,leggy and powerful. Young Gabe had his work cut out. I would keep Gabe for next season,though but loan him out to a Step 3 side when we can for a period. Joe Dandy did ok at centre back but to me should be starting at right back next season with Josh Jackman in front of him, who in my mind should be starting on the right wing for Slough next season. If we get Guy Hollis back and still have Lee Togwell, Edon Pruti and possibly Ryan Bird back we may be able to cope without recruiting another centre back in next season given that we have the option of Dandy,Jackman or Grant playing there. If we do recruit a centre half I wouldn't mind a left footed one who can fill in at left back as an alternative to Freddie Grant,who we could then use as a left winger sometimes, and who would also gives Gabe George a chance to learn from plus give Gabe a few more games to get up to speed with the Conference South.

Centre midfield yesterday, I thought George Hunt deserved his Slough Man Of The Match as he put in plenty of effort and covered a lot of ground, in what was a warm to hot day. With Matt Lench, Aaron Kuhl [if we can keep], Scott Davies, Lee Togwell, George Hunt and the options of Kurtis Cumberbatch and Eitel Goueth we seem well covered in the midfield area and I wouldn't say we are desperate to recruit anybody there although if a tricky flair winger with dazzling ball dribbling skills came up in a similar vein to say Jake Parsons ie can play on both flanks, I'm sure that would enhance our midfield choices.

Up front is definitely the area where Slough need to add to, as yesterday proved. I thought Imran Kayeni had one of his better games in the matches I've seen this season and he did one delightful piece of skill when he feigned one direction and turned back inside,I wondered if that had come from the book of tricks of Manny Williams ! Imran is worth keeping but still seems to drift in and out of a game and needs to add consistency to his game. He actually may be better suited to play on the wing. That leaves us with Ben Harris as our only out and out striker,who with the best will in the world seems unable to play a full 90 minutes, although we now have James Beauchamp who I've yet to see, so can comment on him] and from what I've seen of Joe Lawal he needs reguar games at a lower level.

As for our goalkeeper I think Jonathan North is worth at least another season with Slough. In the games I've seen he's been bloody good. He drops the odd gaffe but what keeper doesn't? 

Pity Dartford wasn't a nearer town to us, as their front line options are amazing and they have an abundance of talent in their squad in all positions. We lost to better,more experienced team yesterday[no shame in that] but to me the Slough side wasn't totally outclassed. Bit of over confidence on our managers part to play certain young players where they did against Dartford but not a game they can't learn from.

Anyway Rebellier, I don't view it as a hammering as in the first half it could easily have been 3-3. However, I agree the gulf in class was obvious as the game wore on, and nobody could say Dartford didn't deserve to win handsomely.          

               

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, 3spirit said:

I didn't see it that way, Rebellier. Slough had six good chances to score, with better finishing we would have been in the game.I don't believe we would have won but the scoreline would have been better. 

Dartford have a great squad and it was always going to be an uphill task for Slough to get anything from that game. Then to start with such an inexperienced back line and not have Lee Togwell, Freddie Grant, Aaron Kuhl and Sean Fraser in the starting line up was asking for trouble. I can see why Bakes and Unders test some of these youngsters out but I would have preferred if they could have done it away to Hampton FC[a mid table team] !  Playing such a good team as Dartford at home[any top 5 side to my mind] I would have liked to have seen our better players play. That said, I didn't think Slough were terrible yesterday and to me a 0-6 scoreline is harsh.

Next season's recruitment of players is going to be pivotal in what direction we go in the table. What I learned yesterday was Gabe George is promising but nowhere near ready to play a significant role in Slough's side yet. Any of our full backs would have had trouble containing Dartford's number 7 [right winger] but may have been able to stop the cross coming in but Gabe couldn't. Two of Dartford goals came from this.  I'm not singling out our young lad out here,as I think this will be a good learning curve for him as he goes on. On a positive note he won't play the calibre of player like that every week. Kelvin Kalala, I think the Dartford's right wingers name is,whatever he was strong,leggy and powerful. Young Gabe had his work cut out. I would keep Gabe for next season,though but loan him out to a Step 3 side when we can for a period. Joe Dandy did ok at centre back but to me should be starting at right back next season with Josh Jackman in front of him, who in my mind should be starting on the right wing for Slough next season. If we get Guy Hollis back and still have Lee Togwell, Edon Pruti and possibly Ryan Bird back we may be able to cope without recruiting another centre back in next season given that we have the option of Dandy,Jackman or Grant playing there. If we do recruit a centre half I wouldn't mind a left footed one who can fill in at left back as an alternative to Freddie Grant,who we could then use as a left winger sometimes, and who would also gives Gabe George a chance to learn from plus give Gabe a few more games to get up to speed with the Conference South.

Centre midfield yesterday, I thought George Hunt deserved his Slough Man Of The Match as he put in plenty of effort and covered a lot of ground, in what was a warm to hot day. With Matt Lench, Aaron Kuhl [if we can keep], Scott Davies, Lee Togwell, George Hunt and the options of Kurtis Cumberbatch and Eitel Goueth we seem well covered in the midfield area and I wouldn't say we are desperate to recruit anybody there although if a tricky flair winger with dazzling ball dribbling skills came up in a similar vein to say Jake Parsons ie can play on both flanks, I'm sure that would enhance our midfield choices.

Up front is definitely the area where Slough need to add to, as yesterday proved. I thought Imran Kayeni had one of his better games in the matches I've seen this season and he did one delightful piece of skill when he feigned one direction and turned back inside,I wondered if that had come from the book of tricks of Manny Williams ! Imran is worth keeping but still seems to drift in and out of a game and needs to add consistency to his game. He actually may be better suited to play on the wing. That leaves us with Ben Harris as our only out and out striker,who with the best will in the world seems unable to play a full 90 minutes, although we now have James Beauchamp who I've yet to see, so can comment on him] and from what I've seen of Joe Lawal he needs reguar games at a lower level.

As for our goalkeeper I think Jonathan North is worth at least another season with Slough. In the games I've seen he's been bloody good. He drops the odd gaffe but what keeper doesn't? 

Pity Dartford wasn't a nearer town to us, as their front line options are amazing and they have an abundance of talent in their squad in all positions. We lost to better,more experienced team yesterday[no shame in that] but to me the Slough side wasn't totally outclassed. Bit of over confidence on our managers part to play certain young players where they did against Dartford but not a game they can't learn from.

Anyway Rebellier, I don't view it as a hammering as in the first half it could easily have been 3-3. However, I agree the gulf in class was obvious as the game wore on, and nobody could say Dartford didn't deserve to win handsomely.          

               

Apart from the obvious need for a proven striker I would like to see a different type of player recruited for our midfield.

We have players in our midfield who are relatively similar in that they are all mainly ball players and not really ball winners.

Someone who is solid and can stick their foot in and rally the troops when the going get tough.

I have no idea who was given motm yesterday but again I thought Matt Lench was always in the thick of the action putting in another decent performance and would of been my pick for motm. 

On the bit about team selection I tend to agree with you. Being at home with a decent crowd and up against a very good side I would have started with our strongest 11 and gone more with our youth for the Hampton game.

 

[rebelade]

Slough had 19 shots to Dartford’s 18, the difference is the quality of finishing. Slough hit bar, forced 5 good saves from keeper and had effort cleared off the line. Look at the bench that Dartford had.

Disagree about George Hunt yesterday as that was not a MOTM performance, gave the ball away with one leading to fourth goal. Unfortunately most of our players would have got a  5 out of 10 yesterday when you really need 7 and 8’s.

It’s a learning curve and we move on.

[3spirit]

7 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Apart from the obvious need for a proven striker I would like to see a different type of player recruited for our midfield.

We have players in our midfield who are relatively similar in that they are all mainly ball players and not really ball winners.

Someone who is solid and can stick their foot in and rally the troops when the going get tough.

I have no idea who was given motm yesterday but again I thought Matt Lench was always in the thick of the action putting in another decent performance and would of been my pick for motm. 

On the bit about team selection I tend to agree with you. Being at home with a decent crowd and up against a very good side I would have started with our strongest 11 and gone more with our youth for the Hampton game.

 

Sounds like you would like to add a 'Wilko' type to the team, Reading Rebel.

The trouble with this notion, is who would you leave out in centre midfield? Given Bakes and Unders favour a 4-4-2 in most games, I can't see the logic of wasting money bringing in this sort of player, unless you aim to not have Scott Davies in the team, doing what he does, and dropping the talents of Aaron Kuhl,George Hunt,Matt Lench,Lee Togwell or Kurtis Cumberbatch from the team. Scott has been great this season and is worth keeping because of it. Aaron Kuhl has been a revelation and with George Hunt's mobility they have, at times, struck the right balance. I think Kurtis Cumberbatch has done enough to stay with our team next season. For me if we could get Matt Lench fit pre- season he would be my first choice in centre midfield, as he doesn't shy away from tackles but is also so great at creating opportunities going forward. My thinking is often for a fluent 4-4-2 that changes to a  3-4-1-2  when we attack, the 1 being Matt Lench or Kurtis Cumberbatch but being open to the good midfield players we have. I would say Lee Togwell could play the role you are talking about, if we look to bring in another centre half. The good thing with current crop in central midfield, is we have a broad range of players that are easily up to the rigours of the Conference South.

In defence, we can mix and match and just about get by with what we have.

If we are going to spend money on anything, we need an out and out number 9 [goal poacher], and it would be handy if we could purchase a good number 10, to go with him. I would put most of our efforts in finding these two players for our squad first. If we only can afford two players,then it is two forwards I would put money on getting, not a defensive holding player.

       

[3spirit]

5 minutes ago, rebelade said:

Slough had 19 shots to Dartford’s 18, the difference is the quality of finishing. Slough hit bar, forced 5 good saves from keeper and had effort cleared off the line. Look at the bench that Dartford had.

Disagree about George Hunt yesterday as that was not a MOTM performance, gave the ball away with one leading to fourth goal. Unfortunately most of our players would have got a  5 out of 10 yesterday when you really need 7 and 8’s.

It’s a learning curve and we move on.

Agree totally about the finishing, hence the need for two new forwards in my book.

Disagree about George Hunt, I thought Scott Davies didn't have his best game in centre mid. Scott did most of his passing well but George did all his running and had his work cut out battling it out in those conditions, being largely the one actually trying to win the ball back. Matt Lench also faded badly in the second half and became frustrating to watch,by feigning injury and falling over a lot,when the score had got be 0-4. 

Slough needed to score in the first half, and heads went down when their third goal went in. A match with no real importance to Slough,so nothing to worry about. Even though,we lost 0-6, for most of the match I quite enjoyed the game till the fifth goal went in !

A bit of an embarassing scoreline given our home record but if Dartford's staff and fans look at the players we opted for,they wouldn't be crowing quite as much. They certainly didn't get it all their own way despite their six goals.  

[Irishadrian]

You often get a more balanced idea post match if you read the other sides forums and social media There's no  sense on Dartfords  material that we were poor or a pushover  The number of clear chances we had and didn't convert is commented upon  They did ask why when we were close to the playoff group we were playing U23s if only they knew They are very pleased and surprised at the final scoreline with no sense of not being in a hard game.

[Reading Rebel]

3 hours ago, 3spirit said:

Agree totally about the finishing, hence the need for two new forwards in my book.

Disagree about George Hunt, I thought Scott Davies didn't have his best game in centre mid. Scott did most of his passing well but George did all his running and had his work cut out battling it out in those conditions, being largely the one actually trying to win the ball back. Matt Lench also faded badly in the second half and became frustrating to watch,by feigning injury and falling over a lot,when the score had got be 0-4. 

Slough needed to score in the first half, and heads went down when their third goal went in. A match with no real importance to Slough,so nothing to worry about. Even though,we lost 0-6, for most of the match I quite enjoyed the game till the fifth goal went in !

A bit of an embarassing scoreline given our home record but if Dartford's staff and fans look at the players we opted for,they wouldn't be crowing quite as much. They certainly didn't get it all their own way despite their six goals.  

I thought Matt Lench was putting his foot in where it hurts, came in for some rough treatment and wasn't feigning injury and falling over a lot and in fact was limping towards the end of the match.

The result wasn't of any real importance but the scoreline was. 

As was said before we were playing in front of our second biggest crowd of the season so I'd say a 0-6 scoreline is plenty to worry about if we want some of those new supporters to come back. 

 

[Rebellier]

Due to shift work commitments I couldn't stay on after the match,  how did the presentation night go and who won what?

[3spirit]

15 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

I thought Matt Lench was putting his foot in where it hurts, came in for some rough treatment and wasn't feigning injury and falling over a lot and in fact was limping towards the end of the match.

The result wasn't of any real importance but the scoreline was. 

As was said before we were playing in front of our second biggest crowd of the season so I'd say a 0-6 scoreline is plenty to worry about if we want some of those new supporters to come back. 

 

Perhaps I am being over critical of Matt. I've come to expect so much from him,as I know what a good player he is, and being he has been out injured for a good while, I shouldn't really expect miracles from him, when he has only just got back in the team. I noticed he did have a graze on his knee in the second half but when the team is losing by quite a few goals I want to see the characters in our team stand up and be counted, and be an influence on the others. I saw it from George Hunt but I didn't see it from Matt Lench,as Matt seemed more focussed on trying to get one of Dartford's players sent off in the second half.

I suppose by that time it was frustration on both of our parts,as I increasingly got pissed off watching[at 0- 5] and Matt had obviously got frustrated at not being able to effect the game, and how the game had panned out. 

[Shredding Green]

On 01/05/2022 at 13:27, 3spirit said:

Agree totally about the finishing, hence the need for two new forwards in my book.

Disagree about George Hunt, I thought Scott Davies didn't have his best game in centre mid. Scott did most of his passing well but George did all his running and had his work cut out battling it out in those conditions, being largely the one actually trying to win the ball back. Matt Lench also faded badly in the second half and became frustrating to watch,by feigning injury and falling over a lot,when the score had got be 0-4. 

Slough needed to score in the first half, and heads went down when their third goal went in. A match with no real importance to Slough,so nothing to worry about. Even though,we lost 0-6, for most of the match I quite enjoyed the game till the fifth goal went in !

A bit of an embarassing scoreline given our home record but if Dartford's staff and fans look at the players we opted for,they wouldn't be crowing quite as much. They certainly didn't get it all their own way despite their six goals.  

Having regained third place from Ebbsfleet United, Dartford followed this up with a 0-1 home defeat to Braintree Town yesterday enabling Ebbsfleet United to regain third place after just two days!

[Reading Rebel]

12 minutes ago, Shredding Green said:

Having regained third place from Ebbsfleet United, Dartford followed this up with a 0-1 home defeat to Braintree Town yesterday enabling Ebbsfleet United to regain third place after just two days!

Steve King made 6 changes from their game with us, perhaps he thought he could get away with it?

Either way their supporters are not very happy with the way he's managing the team.