Dartford manager Alan Dowson believes criticism of his team has been too excessive in some quarters.

The Darts have made a slow start in National League South and were once again knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle.

Serial promotion winner Dowson turned their fortunes around last season to guide Dartford to second place behind runaway champions Ebbsfleet and could be forgiven for thinking he deserves more respect.

“I feel that one minute I’ve got the club to second in the league, I’ve got the club together as it went a bit pear-shaped community-wise,” said Dowson.

“And then after six or seven games they wanted me out, it’s a bit unfair to be honest.

“The board were supportive, which I appreciate. But the bottom line is football can be like that, I had it at Woking where I got them promotion, we made half a million pounds for them but a new owner came in and got rid of me.

“I feel a bit hard done by at times but I’m not daft and if I’m not winning football matches then I’m not going to get praise, that’s for certain.

“I try to be as open as I can, I let everyone in the office, I help the club with charity games and try to build the club up but if it’s not right on the pitch then I’m going to get stick.

“I think I deserve some of the stick, I do, because people want to see us winning football games. But when they talk about launching it long, it’s pathetic. They can come and sit in my office and I’ll show them how we do play.”

Dartford took the first step toward turning their season around with a 1-0 win over Tonbridge last Saturday.

Dowson has come under fire from sections of the Darts fanbase but no one had taken the FA Cup loss to Welling harder than the man at the helm.

“It was a horrible week and I hated every minute of it,” he revealed. “I didn’t sleep at night and I felt that I was letting the club down, that’s how I felt. I walk in and people look at you differently.

“Look, I’ve been successful in these leagues so it might feel a bit unfair. I feel I haven’t quite done the job right myself.

“I’m my worst critic, every time I see people they say all you want to do is whack the ball long - I’ve never said that once. We’ve got some great footballers here but I do want my defenders to clear their lines.”

That cup exit prompted Dartford’s board of directors to go public in their backing of Dowson.

It was a sentiment that pleased the manager and he appreciates the close relationship he has with co-chairman Steve Irving.

“Fair play to the chairman and directors, I’ve always got on well with them,” said Dowson.

“They said they’re going to come out publicly and say you’re the man to take the club forward, and you can’t ask for much more than that as the manager.

“Steve cares very much for the whole club, the ladies’ team, how the club is in the community and he knows I care about it as well. But I know that if you employ a manager, his main job is to get points on the board.

“If I get spare time then I always put that energy into building the club up or helping out wherever I can.”

While it was all about the result against Tonbridge, Dowson was pleased with the performance. Dartford could have easily won by a greater scoreline but he was impressed that his team saw the game out without much alarm.

“I thought we started very well, we could have gone in 2-0 at half-time and if we’d got a third goal second half everyone would have been buzzing about it,” said the Darts boss.

“The honest truth is that even if we’d won 6-0 or 1-0, we needed a win. I’m not daft, I knew that, so hopefully we can use it as a springboard to kick on again. People have done it against us lately and I’ve said after those games that we don’t see matches out as well as other teams did.

“We kept it in the corner, you know me, if we get one goal then I want to get two, but I even put a midfielder in and took a forward off just to see it through. I thought the players did that very well so fair play to them.

“We need everyone back fit. I can go two up top or three up top but my options have been stuffed. Even the time when we won two games in a row, I thought we could kick on, but then I lost Lewis Manor and Tommy Block, while Harvey Bradbury played when he was ill.

“I just want a chance to get everyone fit, and then judge me on that - I’ll be happy to be judged on that.”

With no FA Cup action this weekend, Dartford will host Harrow Borough in a London Senior Cup First Round tie at Princes Park (3pm).