Goals will come says Dartford manager Steve King
Published: 06:00, 23 October 2020
Dartford boss Steve King is not worried by their lack of goals at the start of this season.
The Darts have netted just twice in four matches so far, but having not conceded a league goal at the other end they sit pretty in National League South with two wins and a draw from their first three matches.
They developed a reputation for scoring plenty of goals under King last season but, after winning 1-0 at home to Bath on Saturday in a game they dominated, the manager isn’t worried.
“If we’re not creating chances I would worry and think we’re only creating one or two chances, what’s happening,” said King.
“But we’re not, we created a number of chances to score goals against Bath. A win is a win, you only get three points if you win one-nil or five-nil.
“When we came in last year, we had 23 games. We had the second-best defensive record and the best goalscoring record.
“We’re rock solid, we are always going to give someone one or two chances. But three clean sheets is excellent and it should be four in four - with that penalty in the FA Cup against Slough that shouldn’t have been given.”
Ky Marsh-Brown and Noor Husin have scored for Dartford so far which means forwards Elliott Romain and Jack Barham are still waiting to open their accounts, the latter just returning from a hamstring injury.
“Jack had only played one game before Saturday,” said King.
“He will score goals, 100 per cent. He is getting in the right pockets to score goals. He could have had a hat-trick, that’s what we said in the dressing room and he totally agrees.
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter who scores and winning 1-0 is an art. That’s two one-nils and three clean sheets, the foundations are good so when we do click in the forward areas, someone is going to get a hiding.”
With his defence not giving anything away and the midfielders starting to express themselves, King knows they are only lacking converting those chances into goals.
“The midfield are fantastic,” he enthused. “You’ve got Jordan Wynter holding who has athleticism and the legs to get over the pitch, and then the three in front of him are as good as anything in the division, better than anything when they are on game.
“Noor, Jacob and Jebby complement each other as they’ve got a bit of everything. We just need the front two to get up and running and we’ll be alright.”
Dartford are without a fixture this weekend as their scheduled opponents, Chippenham, are in FA Cup action.
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Matthew Panting