Dartford next up...

Decent preview of tomorrow's match here...

https://www.dartfordfc.com/match-preview-dartford-v-bath-city/

Dartford’s squad is insane. They’re going to have some decent players sat at home most weeks. But nothing to be overawed by, finally got over that hoodoo against them last season (fittingly when I wasn’t there) and if we defend like we have recently we can easily pinch a result.

And yes, it’s an excellent preview.

One of their fans has posted on the Dartford forum...

Delighted that the club have changed the suppliers of the streaming "service". Fingers crossed this will be a lot better and we will actually be able to concentrate on watching the match. I'm looking forward to it.

Should I chance it?...

Despite our dreadful record at Princes Park I've got happy memories of their old Watling Street ground. Probably the most memorable was our last visit in 1990 when a Gary Smart goal virtually eliminated the Darts from the three horse race with ourselves and Dover for the title.

We had four draws there in the late 70s, and I'm sure in one we hit the woodwork several times because I can remember kicking the offending post after the final whistle!

And we must always be grateful to the Darts for selling us George Gibbs for just £500!

Yes remember the 1-0 win there. Car wouldn't start after the game. Waved the coach off as I waited fir the AA. They must have got to Bath before I got home to Luton. Crazy points total by the top 3 that season. Then Dover had a ground problem....

If you keep buying this seasons programmes you will see the story of 1989/90 unfold... (so I won't spoil the ending!).

I was behind the goal for Gary Smart’s scrappy winner. Remember shouting at Peter Taylor in a fairly negative way but I am older and calmer now!

P. S enjoying the programmes. Keep up the great work.

Yes. Remember the day well. Gary scored some great goals in his time with us.
On another occasion, I recall saying to others at the game that when he scored an early goal at Craven Cottage in the fa cup that we needed it to be in the 90th minute.
Still, the Fulham game was a night full of memories and some excellent Fullers London Pride, and the win at Dartford was also brilliant.

Kermit I think that day to Dartford featured ‘Young’s’ ale. Splendid day out.

comrade powell wrote:Decent preview of tomorrow's match here...

https://www.dartfordfc.com/match-preview-dartford-v-bath-city/

I can't see a lot of goals in this game,  Dartford 0 or 1, City 0 or 1 but if City have at least three of their forwards available then 2 is more than possible.

I have been very impressed with Conway and Hinds, Tomlinson made an impressive debut and I predict all three will improve again as they get more game time;  with Tom Smith yet to hit the heights of last season scoring wise and Harley and Pope showing class there are a lot of encouraging signs for scoring goals.  

So far stream has been fine but sound is dreadful.

I can't get BCIR!

Just think, if fans had been allowed in there might have been a qualified official in the crowd...

I just wanted to say a big thank you to the commentators on the BCIR today. I think they did a brilliant job to keep talking all through the delay of finding a replacement assistant referee .   Congratulations for not sounding as if they were losing the will to live (even if they felt like it   ) and for keeping our interest when not a lot was happening.
Well Done .

comrade powell wrote:So far stream has been fine but sound is dreadful.

I realised soon after posting that there were breaks in the commentator’s delivery rather than any problem with the stream. But it was good to be able to watch the whole match without interruptions despite the disappointing result.

The streaming was ok for me. Picture quality was at times a bit fuzzy ( I hadn't been drinking!), and the sound was about 10 seconds ahead of the picture for me.
Tried listening to BCIR but that started off about 2 minutes ahead at the beginning and ended up way behind at the end.
During the prolonged half time I listened to BCIR and realised how lucky we are to not be allowed to go to games and be spared the cold conditions they had to endure whilst we are tucked up in front of the fire!

Can not argue with result or streaming. Mind you once again we were playing Oxford City (AKA Brazil).

We have to accept there will be an element of bias toward the home side but the number of times we heard " what a fantastic pass " just before the ball ended going out of play.

As said above the streaming was fine but it did seem as if the camera would have benefited from a telephoto lens.  Of course it could be that I need an up to date sight check at Specsavers or a drive to Barnard Castle

I don’t suppose we can expect supporters of the home club to conceal their bias when the dreadful tv summariser Steve McManaman could be heard celebrating as Liverpool scored their first today!

As usual lately it’s more about the stream than the game. Did we play badly?

I thought we played pretty well, but I’ve maybe been swayed by our final 15 minutes which made me forget about two hours previous when we were penned in at the start.

That and compared to our previous miserable defeats at that place this was a very good performance. Batten was good again.

I’m starting to think we play at the worst level ever. How many times have we had an injured official now? It’s elite enough to not have crowds but you can’t find enough spare officials, or even anyone to show the stoppage time board now. Then again I wouldn’t stand in a dugout near King all game if you paid me. He’s not streaming a load of expletives but he does what he can to get in a referee’s head and is more obvious when you’re sat 20 feet from it.

Who was the replacement official? From their commentary it sounded like he had been summoned from somewhere in the town. Were both managers happy for him to stand in as at one point during the discussions it looked like the ref was going to call it off.

My question is answered in Jerry’s interview. Sounds like you almost made a wasted trip, Junior. I wonder what the NL’s response would be to the request for 4th officials to be present.

NLP described us as lack lustre, didn't see the stream but by all accounts we were under the cosh. JG and Evans post match talked about us getting more crosses in the box but have we the forward physicality to convert them? Hopefully returning players will ease the pressure and Wilson can finally appear.

I settled for the BCIR commentary - excellent as always and I thought they dealt with the long delay very well.

Early on sounded like we could be in for another Wealdstone but in the end losing 1-0 to what seems a very good Dartford side not the end of the world.

Interesting to hear Jerry's interview, and explains why when the game eventually restarted you could hear someone from Dartford - almost certainly Steve King - saying something like "They don't want this remember, they don't want this".      

Good to hear that Wilson might be back next week, but I wonder if he might start on the bench, especially as it is likely to be a physical game against Havant.