Dartford v Gloucester City

Report

 

Dartford 4-1 Gloucester City Match Report

Joe Brophy

Dartford returned to winning ways in style with an empathic 4-1 victory against Gloucester City at Princes Park in the National League South.

A double from man of the match Lyle Della-Verde alongside strikes from Warren Mfula and Alfie Pavey sealed the three points for the Darts.

Jamie Edge pulled back a consolation for the away side but the victory catapulted Dartford back to the top of the table on goal difference.

After back to back defeats in league and cup, Dartford raced out of the blocks and Mfula fmade Dartford’s early pressure pay off after 25 minutes with a clinical strike.

Capitalising on a poor clearance from Tom Hadler, Mfula seized upon a loose ball and taking it under control, twisted and turned on the edge of the box before unleashing a left footed strike into the bottom corner.

The floodgates opened for the home side and soon after it was two, Della-Verde punishing sloppier defending from the away side.

A horrendous mix-up between Hadley and Hall allowed Della-Verde to steal in and stroke the ball home into the empty net.

Della-Verde extinguished any hope of a second half comeback five minutes after the restart when he grabbed his second of the match, seconds after Moore had struck the post for Gloucester.

A great switch from Hayes found Della-Verde in space who displayed terrific close control to engineer the space to curl an effort into the far corner to make it three.

Pavey added the gloss to the score line when he embarked on a driving run out wide to get away from his man and fire past Hadley into the far corner.

Gloucester did manage to grab a deserved consolation when Edge’s strike from just outside the area took an unfortunate deflection off Elliot Bradbrook to wrong-foot Deren Ibrahim.

Gloucester almost provided a nervy finish when a scramble from a corner found its way to Storer whose goal bound effort was phenomenally kept out by Ibrahim before a chance for Moore goes begging as he tries to play the ball back across the goal.

An assured overall performance from Dartford as they heeded Tony Burman’s call to go back to basics.

Attendance: 820

Man of the Match: Della-Verde

Dartford FC: Ibrahim, Harris, Onyemah, Bonner, Vint, Noble, Hayes, Bradbrook, Pavey, Mfula, Della-Verde

Dartford Subs: Brown, Sho-Silva, Cue, Habte, Fulton

Gloucester City: Hadler, Thomas, Hall, Cundy, Avery, Knowles, Hanks, Webb, Moore, Parker, Chambers

Gloucester Subs: Parselle, Ten-Grotenhuis, Edge, Storer, Morford