Dartford begin their F.A Trophy campaign with a long journey to Leiston this weekend.
The Darts are looking for their first F.A Trophy tie victory in almost five years having gone out at the first hurdle in the last four attempts. Joint top of the Isthmian Premier League, Ben Greenhalgh’s side will be desperate to progress in the competition.
Leiston have made it to the first round in five of the last six seasons. Chris Wigger’s team are hovering just outside the playoff places in the Southern Premier Central division.
Famous Cup Run
It’s been 16 years since Dartford secured a place in the F.A Cup first round by beating Leiston. At the time three divisions separated the two sides with the Darts in the National South and the Blues in the Eastern Counties League.
Led by Tony Burman, Dartford avoided a cup upset by drawing 0-0 in their last visit to Victory Road. In an uneventful game Charlie Sheringham came closest for the Darts, but a replay was required three days later.
The Darts booked a place in the first round with a 3-2 win back at Princes Park and were awarded with a tie against Port Vale. The hosts went two up through Danny Harris and Carl Rook. Leiston pulled a goal back almost immediately when Stuart Broadley scored. However, Tom Bonner restored the two goal advantage before a last minute consolation from Leon Ottley-Gooch.
Highlights courtesy of the late sonytino
Bright Future
Saturday will be Dartford’s third cup game in a row after the F.A Cup win over Hayes and Yeading United and the Kent Senior Cup victory over Ramsgate. Success is adding more fixtures to the list leading Greenhalgh to use his squad wisely.
The player manager made ten changes to the side that progressed in the F.A Cup handing full debuts to academy players George Boulton and Maybin Calvert. Later in the cup tie Harvey Smith, Kane Stewart, Finley Williams and Fred Moore all came on as substitutes, adding to the names making their journey through Dartford’s youth set up.
Lorenzo Duncan netted the opener and his maiden Dartford goal against a Ramsgate side led by former Darts boss Adrian Pennock. Wrapping up the win, Louis Atkins celebrated his first senior start with a first senior goal for the club.
Squad Confidence
Once again Greenhalgh is likely to shuffle the pack when naming the starting line up. A run of seven matches unbeaten, which includes five wins on the spin gives the squad the confidence to rotate players. What is more impressive is that despite a number of injuries to defenders, the Darts have managed five clean sheets during this current run.
Since Bank Holiday Monday, Dartford have collected a maximum of nine points in the league and progressed through two cup competitions. Two of those Isthmian Premier victories came against the top two. Now the Darts are joint top and if they avoid defeat next Tuesday they will be outright leaders.
Steady Blues
Leiston have finished in tenth place for the past two seasons in the Southern Premier Central. The Suffolk side switched from the Isthmian Premier in 2019 and are in their 15th campaign at step three.
This term they are sitting in ninth after a midweek defeat at Peterborough Sports, who leapfrogged the Blues in the standings. Tuesday’s loss ended a run of four unbeaten in all competitions.
A last gasp winner by Eddie Jackson helped Leiston into the next round of the F.A Cup last weekend. Adam Mills had earlier put the Blues in front with his eighth of the season. Mills enjoyed a purple patch in August scoring six over five consecutive matches.
Trophy Record
When it comes to the F.A Trophy, Leiston reached the first round last season going out to AFC Sudbury, but they did beat Lewes on the way. The Blues have reached at least the first round in five of their last six attempts. In 2022/2023 they set a club record of reaching the fourth round (last 32) finally getting knocked out by National League side Aldershot Town.
In the event of a draw after 90 minutes the tie will go straight to penalties.
Manager’s View
The win over Ramsgate was a proud moment for Greenhalgh who has been developing players from the academy. Being able to work with the youngsters means a sense of consistency in how they play and a degree of trust, he told Dartford FC TV after the game: “I thought it was absolutely brilliant, just a great occasion in general. I’ve said all along, we’re not just going to give players opportunities for the sake of it. You can see their quality and they were so dominant all night”, he continued: “It’s rare to find in any game of football 14 out of 16 players being academy players and that’s something that we’re almost celebrating now”.
Focus now shifts to another competition and the player manager can’t wait, he added: “I’m looking forward to it. It’s something different. We want to be effective in every competition we’re playing”.
Interview courtesy of Dartford FC TV
Team News
Greenhalgh is hoping the majority of the players that picked up injuries last Saturday will be back, that includes Tyler Ibe, Emmanuel Oke, Adrian Gyamera and Ikechukwu Orji. Longer term absentees include Ben Swift and Joe Tennent.
Current Form
| DARTFORD (DWWWWW) | LEISTON (LDWWWL) | ||||
| Ramsgate (KSC) | H | 2-0 | Peterborough Sports | H | 0-2 |
| Hayes & Yeading Utd (FAC) | H | 4-2 | Hitchin Town (FAC) | A | 2-1 |
| Enfield Town | A | 2-0 | Banbury United | A | 2-1 |
| Carshalton Athletic | H | 3-0 | Grays Athletic (FAC) | H | 5-0 |
| Westfield (FAC) | H | 2-0 | Grays Athletic (FAC) | A | 0-0 |
| Westfield (FAC) | A | 1-1 | Bury Town | A | 3-4 |
FAC – F.A Cup / KSC – Kent Senior Cup
Head to Head
Dartford wins: 1 / Leiston wins: 0 / Draws: 1
Previous Meetings
Dartford 3 – 2 Leiston (26/10/2010 – F.A Cup)
Leiston 0 – 0 Dartford (23/10/2010 – F.A Cup)
Statistics
- Dartford have won two of their last 16 F.A Trophy ties (D6*, L8) – * includes penalty shoot outs
- The Darts have scored once in their last five F.A Trophy matches
- If selected, Sam Odaudu will make his 150th appearance for Dartford (142 starts, 7 sub, 8 goals) and Jez Pinder his 100th (60 starts, 39 sub, 9 goals)
On This Day
Dartford have never played a F.A Trophy match on this day, however their last two fixtures on 26 September have been in the F.A Cup. The second qualifying round games had different results. In 2015, Uxbridge caused an upset by visiting Princes Park and winning 1-0. The Essex side were two divisions below the Darts at the time.
Six years earlier Dartford avoided an upset by beating Worthing 2-1 on the road. The Darts led the Sussex side a division below them with goals from Elliot Bradbrook and Jay May. A late Jamie Brotherton goal set up a nervy finish.
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