Dartford 2 Gillingham 1

Match 43/15/1248 - Monday, 16th November 2015 - Kent Senior Cup

Dartford (0) 2 Wynter 71, Simmons 79
Gillingham (0) 1 Dickenson 57
Attendance: 361

Entrance: £5 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 61/3,046

Match Report

Gillingham wrapped a sorry 10 day spell in which they exited three cup competitions, each time against lower opposition. This Kent Senior Cup exit may well have resided in the [very] low priority tray but the side fielded by Mark Patterson looked, and indeed should have been, strong enough to have seen this tie through.

A first half passed by, possibly the worst half of football I've seen this season, with a solitary header that cleared the bar from Dartford's, ex-Gillingham striker, Andy Pugh posing the only threat to either keeper.

The game couldn't get any worse in the second half and, thankfully, it improved markedly after the respective manager's words during the break. Gillingham took the lead on 57 minutes with a good strike from Brennan Dickenson. A cross field pass from right to left from Jermaine McGlashan saw Dickenson cut inside and drill a shot home from 20 yards.

Gillingham's advantage lasted until the 71st minute when a corner from Dartford substitute Dajon Golding found another ex-Gillingham player, Tom Wynter, who buried an unchallenged header for a deserved equaliser.

Eight minutes later, Dartford found an winner, and if nothing else, saved the 361 attendees the bother of hanging around for penalties, and, truly out of context with game, it was a bit of a worldie. Fed a pass to the right wing, Jack Simmons cut in and curled an angled shot from 25 yards into the top corner.

A word in passing for the Prince's Park pitch. A year ago, when I visited for a prestigious Premier League Under-21 international competition, the pitch was frankly an embarrassment. But a lot of money has been spent to avoid a repetition and it looked in very good order despite the wet weather recently experienced.