Dartford boss Steve King says he has completed an early goal by leading side to Kent Senior Cup final
Published: 06:00, 05 March 2020
Updated: 12:17, 05 March 2020
Steve King has achieved his first objective as Dartford manager – by getting to a cup final.
The Darts booked their place in the Kent Senior Cup final on Tuesday night with a 5-1 defeat of Phoenix Sports at Princes Park.
It’s a competition that some clubs don’t take seriously but King believes a good cup run can go alongside success in the league.
He led Welling to London Senior Cup success and a third-place finish last season.
“We got to the final – that was the objective,” stated King. “If we’d won 2-1, we’d still get to the final. Sometimes it’s not about how you play but just getting through.
“I really wanted to get to the final. Being new at the club I think it’s nice to get a team into the final for the fans and have a nice day out at the end of the season.
“Since we won against Maidstone, we’ve taken this competition seriously and put strong teams out.
“I wanted to get Dartford to the final – and why not? We’ve got a good squad, a squad that’s capable so taking one out and putting one in didn’t really damage the team in any way.
“There is a feel-good factor now so why not get to a semi-final and try to win it? It makes no sense not to try and win it.”
Darts will play Whitstable, Dover or Gillingham in the final - the latter two sides meet in their quarter-final next Tuesday.
Darts will look to strengthen their hold on a top-seven place in National League South when they visit relegation-threatened St Albans on Saturday.
St Albans sit second bottom in a congested lower half of the table but have taken a number of notable scalps in recent weeks.
“Their last four wins have been against Bath, Havant, Maidstone and Slough so they’ve got capabilities in their squad,” warned King.
“We’re taking them deadly serious – they’re second bottom so they are 100% up for the game. We need to keep doing what we’re doing.
“Games against the teams in their position are just as hard as any other match. They are fighting to stay in the league which means they want it even more than trying to get into the play-offs.”
King is still looking to add to his squad, as he aims to ease the burden on goalscoring hotshots Elliott Romain and Darren McQueen, although he may not get his man before the weekend.
“We’re trying to do a little bit of business,” added the Dartford boss. “I just feel that we’re missing something and we need to try and get it. It will be the last piece of the jigsaw for the last 10 games. I think we rely on Elliott and Macca too much.
“We need some help because they’ve scored 30 goals between them and have done brilliant since I’ve been here but we can’t just rely on them – we need to address that.”
Sanchez Ming should return to action but Nick Arnold is out for a fortnight with a twisted knee and Ky Marsh-Brown (ankle) is still two weeks away from a return.
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Matthew Panting