Looking to continue their winning streak and a seventh league win on the bounce, Dartford travel to the Mozzarella Fellas Stadium to face St Albans City this weekend in the National League South.
Despite a shaky start to the season, Alan Dowson’s Darts have started to pick up winning form and now find themselves third in the table after a sixth league win on the bounce against Tonbridge’ Angels. St Albans City have found themselves in mixed form but produced a strong win against Dartford rivals Welling United 3-0 last weekend. A win at home could find them moving up the table to 5th.
In their most recent game, Dartford hosted Tooting and Mitcham in the London Kent Senior cup on Tuesday night. The Darts came out on top with a one-nil win scored by striker Alex Wall and assisted by Davide Rodari. The goal came in the 63rd minute with a great cross from Rodari allowing Wall to slot the ball into the bottom right corner. It was a game full of chances with both teams creating attacking moments.
Dartford had two goals chalked off as offside. The first offside came when Fonkeu whipped the ball to Rodari, he headered it forward to Alex Wall who was able to put it into the back of the net. The second offside was scored by Rodari who rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the goal from an excellent long ball by Luke Coulson.
Manager Alan Dowse used it as the perfect opportunity to use the Darts academy, starting Jayden Boulton and George Whitefield in the back line and substituting on Afo Soyemi-Ololade. Academy graduates Ali Mansary and Sam Odaudu also featured. This match saw the return of Luke Coulson from injury with him being fit enough to play the full 90 minutes.
Dartford’s last league game came against Tonbridge Angels where the Darts produced an impressive two-nil win. Forward Pierre Fonkeu and midfielder Samir Carruthers, both bagged themselves goals.
Samir Carruthers who has been expectational for the Darts this season opened the scoring in the 30th minute with a goal from a corner kick. Fonkeu found luck in a missed effort by Charlie Sheringham who had his chance parried across the line and was able to tap the ball in at the back post.
Christian Jolley spoke to Dartford FC TV post-match about his thoughts on the game, “Fantastic two-nil win at home, clean sheet, three points, great day.
“Really pleased for the boys, really pleased, had some sticky moments at the start of the season when we have been a little bit indicative in which play, we want to play at moments and today I think we had a clear identity and exploit against a Tonbridge team that are strong”. He also commended on the work ethic of Pierre Fonkeu and how he deserved the goal after “starting the season like a house on fire”.
An injured Luke Allen was substituted in the 48th minute and is added to the list of Dartford injuries alongside goalkeeper Dan Wilks.
The Darts won both meetings with St Albans last season, both results ending in a 3-1 win for Dartford. St Albans was the first to host on the opening day of the 2021/22 season in which Ade Azeez scored the opening goal with a header assisted by Danny Leonard who produced the perfect cross. The saints came back with a goal in the 58th minute by Tom Bender. The game took a turn with a Dan Roberts brace coming in the 92nd and 94th minutes.
The second meeting came nearer the end of the season where another brace was scored, this time by Kieran Murtagh. His first came in the 44th minute with a header from a corner and the second, in the 65th minute, was from a free kick taken by Jack Jebb who played the ball into the box and allowed Murtagh to strike the ball into the back of the net. Similarly, the saints got a goal back after Murtagh’s goal, by Shaun Jeffers in the 55th minute.
St Albans City currently sit in eighth place and have enjoyed an up and down start to their National League South campaign. The side, who finished just outside the play-off places last season, sacked their manager Ian Allison after a disappointing run of results at the end of September. David Noble has taken the interim reigns at the club and has remained unbeaten since taking over. Recent wins against Concord Rangers and Welling United has seen the Saints shoot up the league table and will be confident going into Saturday’s game.
| Dartford (WWWWWW) | St Albans City (LWLDWW) |
| Dover Atheltic (A) 1-3 | Worthing (H) 0-1 |
| Hampton and Richmond (H) 2-1 | Farnborough (A) 1-2 |
| Eastbourne Borough (H) 2-1 | Braintree Town (A) 1-0 |
| Hungerford Town (H) 2-0 | Chippenham Town (H) 1-0 |
| Dulwich Hamlet (A) 1-2 | Concord Rangers (H) 1-0 |
| Tonbridge Angels (H) 2-0 | Welling United (A) |
23/04/2022: Dartford 3 – 1 St Albans City
14/08/2021: St Albans City 1 – 3 Dartford
17/11/2020: Dartford 0 – 1 St Albans City
7/03/2020: St Albans City 1 – 2 Dartford
6/08/2019: Dartford 1 – 1 St Albans City
12/01/2019: Dartford 3 – 2 St Albans City
1/09/2018: St Albans City 2 – 0 Dartford
3/02/2018: St Albans City 4 – 0 Dartford
- Dartford won both meetings last season
- Dartford have not lost an away trip since the 3rd of September
- Dartford have won six league games on the bounce.
- St Albans have not lost a game at home since the 3rd of September.
Written by Georgina Anderson.