Created 4-Nov-24
63 photos
2 November 2024. Dartford 0:0 Cray Valley Paper Mills. Dartford could only manage a goalless draw at Princes Park.
Dartford earned a hard-fought point against Cray Valley PM, after a stern defensive display in front of 912 supporters at Bericote Powerhouse Princes Park. The visitors were fast out of the blocks this afternoon, pinning the Darts into their own box for long periods of the opening exchanges. But, the backline led by Josh Hill dug their heels in and put on an excellent defensive display to earn a second consecutive clean sheet. The Millers’ attack threatened to overwhelm them, especially during the opening twenty minutes, but the excellent Jacob Marsden was in fine form as well to save Daniel Waldren’s effort, before Freddie Parker’s following strike was superbly blocked… both within the opening four minutes. But, like an Aardvark digging deep to protect it’s young, so the Darts dug deep to protect their goal. Denzelle Olopade tried his luck with a long-range drive in the 10th minute, which Max Ovenden got down low to save. Clement Asiedu then forced a superb save out of Marsden in the 15th minute at the other end, before Parker failed to find the target with the rebound. Having weathered the early storm, the hosts did venture forward more often, but they came across a strong defence themselves, which limited any meaningful goalscoring opportunities. Birthday boy Denzelle Olopade’s effort was soon followed by a double opportunity for Olly Box. The first, after twenty minutes, saw the youngster’s strike saved by Max Ovenden, before the second saw Box send a header over the crossbar (24). Jacob Marsden pulled off another fine save to stop Thomas Beere’s 36th minute free-kick from going in, before the equally excellent Michael Olarewaju blocked the secondary strike from the resulting corner.
The second-half saw very little in terms of goalscoring opportunities, as both sides cancelled each other out in what was a tense affair. Cray Valley PM boss Steve McKimm was first to make a change in personnel, as Matthew Vigor replaced Thomas Beere (64). That was followed by Andre Coker coming on for Michael Ademiluyi (66), Julien Anau on for Daniel Waldren (77), and Adam Coombes on for Freddie Parker (86). Ady Pennock, meanwhile, swapped Ade Yussuf with Eddie Dsane (66) before Jeremiah Pinder came on to replace Olly Box (74). Returning to the action, the first real opportunity of the second forty-five fell to The Millers, as Freddie Parker sent a header wide of Jacob Marsden’s upright in the 71st minute.
Denzelle Olopade failed to test Max Ovenden five minutes later, before Michael Olarewaju found Callum Jones with an inviting ball late on, only for the latter’s header fly narrowly wide of Ovenden’s post (88). With the combination of Jacob Marsden, Josh Hill, Luther Williams, and Michael Olarewaju in particular putting in a solid performance, a Man of The Match was a difficult choice this afternoon. But nobody will begrudge Olarewaju picking up his first award after what was a superb display in a difficult and hard-fought game. Ady Pennock was delighted with his team’s efforts, especially in defence. But more patience is needed, as this brand new team continues to go through the early growing pains. Everything will surely click into place soon.
DARTFORD: Jacob Marsden, Sam Odaudu, Luther Williams, Josh Hill (c), Samuel Okoye, Michael Olarewaju, Denzelle Olopade, Samir Carruthers, Olly Box, Callum Jones, Ade Yussuf.
SUBSTITUTES: George Whitefield, Duane Ofori-Acheampong, Tyler Christian-Law, Eddie Dsane, Jeremiah Pinder.
CRAY VALLEY PM: Max Ovenden, Barney Williams, Mohammed Oshilaja (c), Sonny Black, Freddie Parker, Michael Ademiluyi, Daniel Waldren, Clement Asiedu, Fumnaya Shomotun, Thomas Beere, Daniel Bowry.
SUBSTITUTES: Ali Tumkaya, Adam Coombes, Julien Anau, Andre Coker, Matthew Vigor.
Att: 912
Report by Chris Palmer
Images by Peter White
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