Three defeats for Year 10 on landmark week for Dartford Grammar School Sports

A sense of excitement has been coursing through students who have had an opportunity play football in the DGS maroon and gold for the first time. On Thursday 22nd February, Year 10 Head of Year Mr Burgess fielded three teams to take on a corresponding Maidstone Grammar School side in matches of an hour each.

Before reading the reports of the matches, I would like to say on behalf of DGS Y10 that we are grateful to our Head of Year for his time and decision to set up teams for the students who have worked hard for the school before.

Firstly, the A team set out in Maidstone on their on-site 4G pitch. All three sides were affected by a Rugby 7s tournament that was supposed to be played today, but that did not stop the A team from going toe-to-toe with Maidstone across the 60 minutes. They were still able to field a strong side and they fought well against a well-drilled Maidstone team. Teams in other year groups seem to have struggled to find the back of the net but nothing could stop the talent on the wings that Tolani and Matthieu have. Maidstone struck first, and took a 2-0 lead in the contest. DGS were able to hit back in fantastic style, though. Tolani got a sight on goal from miles out and he did not disappoint with the strike, getting the team back in the game. Matthieu, on the other hand, had defenders dead with his footwork — beating several of them before rounding the goalkeeper and scoring on return to football. The DGS side battled all over the pitch with consistency and intensity but, agonisingly for every player, Maidstone found their winner just 5 minutes from time. The game ended 3-2 to Maidstone. Nonetheless, the manner in which they fought that game out is admirable — especially for a side playing their first football match together. It is important to note that Maidstone Grammar made it to the quarter-finals of the Kent Cup and were unlucky to draw the incredible Hurstmere side in the 2nd round of the national cup.

The B team played at the home ground at Dartford Science & Technology College and were involved in an entertaining 12-goal thriller.

The game kicked off and Maidstone gave a couple of scares in the first couple of minutes, but it appeared that the DGS side were getting back into the game strongly. However, a ball over the top took a surprisingly huge bounce (given the conditions) over goalkeeper Nikita’s head and the Maidstone striker found himself in front of an empty net and he made no mistake in punishing the defensive mistake. About 5 minutes later, Maidstone managed to get a shot off from inside a crowded penalty area after a dangerous corner.

The goalkeeper, blinded by the crowd, couldn’t get his hand to it in time — the late fingertip not being enough to stop the ball from ending up in the goal. DGS strung a few attacks together and found themselves with more possession in the Maidstone half but the visitors found the back of the net for the third time on 20 minutes. As the rain began to hammer down, substitute Joel put away a chance at the first time of asking after having come off the bench. The two sides went into halftime with something to think about, the score at 3-1 to Maidstone Grammar.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Maidstone made it clear that they were not ready to take the pressure off at all, capitalising on a goalkeeping error. Maidstone’s midfielder produced a moment of magic, striking the ball perfectly from the edge of the box to make it 5-1. It did not take long for Joel to respond with another goal. Dartford Grammar’s woes at the back continued as the goalkeeper dropped a catch from a corner under the wet conditions, with the ball finding itself in the DGS net for a sixth time. Left-winger Kunmi added to the scoresheet before Joel completed a hat-trick, but Maidstone scored a final time near the whistle and, at the time of the full-time whistle, the scoreline was 7-4 to the visitors. The match seemed very convincing in attack and the defence needs to play together more to establish a strong back 4 — as it currently seems that the squad had a lot of potential in it.

The C team also played at home and struggled to get going or gain any control in the match. However, how could anyone possibly control a game on a 9-a-side pitch — or score with such small goals? Nonetheless, both teams found the latter very much possible in the end.

Though, just six minutes had passed when Maidstone scored following a lapse in communication from the back — despite early signs of Maidstone being unable to beat the initial centre-back pairing of Sudad and Mokshith, who cleared anything that came at them. A mis-hit clearance fell perfectly for the Maidstone striker at the back post on 17 minutes and he hit it beautifully into the far corner.

The first DGS opportunity came from one of right-winger Sherbek’s silky runs on the ball, from which an attempted one-two was fumbled by the intercepting centre back and Sherbek found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but the recovering challenge was enough to weaken the shot so that the recovering goalkeeper managed to save it on the goal line. With halftime looming, Maidstone pounced on a mix-up in defence to make it 3-0 going into the break.

Dartford Grammar were the first to score after halftime, with midfielder Niall finding the back of the net — sparking much excitement amongst the team as they marked their first goal. It took another 10 minutes for another goal to be scored — Maidstone Grammar making it 4-1. Michael K struck back for DGS with a loose ball falling for him in the centre of the box and he was thrilled, sprinting back to his teammates on the bench and hitting Heung-Min Son’s camera celebration. Unfortunately, it was another mis-hit clearance that led to the Maidstone fifth. Niall, however, found himself in the Maidstone box once again and, having seen his first shot saved, he made sure to tap the ball into the net for 5-3 — which is how the game finished up. There were certainly positive signs when the team developed a fighting spirit in the second half and switched on, and without the errors in clearing the ball (which can easily be removed from players’ game), the C team that played today could be seeing wins in the future.

All in all, for three sides that had never played together before, those were three pleasing results. Most of the weaknesses came out and it will help the teams to develop in training. There is a lot of promise in each of the sides and they will only get stronger the more they play with each other — besides, there are other very capable players who didn’t play today who will be competing for spots across all three teams.

Full Time Scores:

Maidstone GS A 3-2 Dartford GS A (Tolani, Matthieu)

Dartford GS B 4-7 Maidstone GS B (Joel x3, Kunmi)

Dartford GS C 3-5 Maidstone GS C (Niall x2, Michael K)