DARTS ARE DENIED BY OWN GOAL
WELLING UNITED scored deep into stoppage time to rescue a draw, as the points were shared in this local derby.
With both sides desperately needing the points, it was Wings boss Danny Bloor who was the happier of the two and understandably so after his team fought back to earn the draw.
Bloor had nothing but praise for his players.
“I think we thoroughly deserved to get something from the game,” he said. “Both games (the Darts won 1-0 on Boxing Day) have been very similar, and I thought we were the better side today. I’d have been really disappointed if we hadn’t picked up something this afternoon.”
Bloor’s delight came after seeing his side level in the 97th minute, via Crossley Lema’s cross that ricocheted in off Moussa Diarra at the end of an entertaining encounter between two sides struggling for form.
Despite picking up four points over the two derby fixtures, Dartford boss Alan Dowson couldn’t hide his disappointment at missing out on a league double.
“It’s definitely two points dropped this afternoon,” he said. “I thought we should have scored more goals at the other end, but Ryan (Sandford) made some good saves today, which I was delighted with.
“I don’t know where he (the referee) got the seven minutes from but, when you’re leading in the 95th minute and the goal goes in, it’s disappointing.”
He continued: “We just shaded it today. We created chances, but just couldn’t get that second goal. But Ryan’s got the man of the match for a reason, and they just nicked the point at the end... that’s football. But four points over the two games is something positive to build on, so we’re happy with that.”
The opening goal came from a wonderful Paul Rooney cross, which Luke Coulson smashed into the bottom corner in the 19th minute.
Sandford then saved well from Cameron Green, before Kain Adom fired narrowly wide of the keeper’s post.
Antony Papadopoulos hit the inside of the Dartford upright from a long-range drive, before Ben Winterbottom saved well from Richard Chin and George Alexander at the other end.
Sandford saved Dominic Odusanya’s 25-yard effort superbly, before Winterbottom rushed out to thwart Coulson from scoring his second in a one-on-one situation.
Sandford pulled another top save out of the bag to prevent Papadopoulos from equalising, before saving superbly once again eight minutes later, this time from Thomas Bramble.
But the clean sheet was lost deep into stoppage time when Lema’s cross deflected into the back of the net via the unfortunate Diarra for the equaliser.