The only way is up! DFC Women scoring for fun as season gets off to a flier.
Dartford Women’s Co-Manager Martin McCarthy gives his view on the season so far, the FA Cup match this weekend and changes being made behind the scenes.
DFC Women may have a larger squad and a host of new faces, but it’s been business as usual on the pitch so far.
Four wins in the last four, with plenty of goals and a mean defence have helped the team recover after an opening loss.
But it’s the way the team is playing that is really pleasing Co-manager Martin McCarthy.
He said: “It’s 20 goals scored in the last four games with just one conceded. We are playing really well at the moment and the feedback we are getting is that the style of play is really attractive to watch and better than last year.
“I’d say there’s more cohesion and more emphasis on attacking, so after the shock of the first game, we have come back really strong.”
With seven new signings and a few departures, it’s a new look squad taking shape under the watchful eyes of Martin and Co-manager Connor. But the new players are settling in well.
He continued: “Amy Russ has come in and scored seven goals in four games. She’s done really well. Then some of the youngsters have settled in really well. The energy levels are brilliant.
“We had to make the squad bigger this season so have 21 players in the first team. We obviously finished second last season so felt we had to get better payers in, not just to try to go one better, but also from the mentality point of view, we didn’t want any complacency.
“Now the girls know if they go on holiday, they aren’t guaranteed to get straight back in the team and from a competition point of view, it’s become a lot harder for them. To be fair to the girls, they’re all embracing it.
“For a long time, Dartford has been about bringing in players from our community, whereas now we’re trying to bring in some outside players that are better technically.
“We are all excited about the challenge, but it’s now a different challenge to obviously make the right decisions to keep the whole squad happy.”
Aside from the great start to the season, another change that the management team has overseen is linking up with the new Under-18s side.
He continued: “We lost the development side, but have been able to kind of try and replace it with the new Under-18 side. They now train here Wednesdays and Connor and I have been able to help coach them too.
“We are trying to bring in a whole coaching pathway across all of the sections that we’ve got. So, all teams train in some of the same way as the seniors and have a similar style of play. We are trying to establish a blueprint for how each team should play, which doesn’t really get done at many other clubs.”
For now, focus is on the next round of the FA Cup on Sunday vs Actonians.
Martin added: “We are taking one game at a time, a run in the FA Cup would be great for the club.
“Then we’ve got a couple of midweek games. For the first time in women’s football, they’re trying to put midweek games on now to get them under floodlights, which is a huge progression.
“But we’re not looking too far ahead. We’ve always said we shouldn’t be in the league that we’re in. In the FA Cup wins last year, we beat a team from the league above, so we know our standard. Unfortunately, only one goes up.
“The girls who have come in have played at a higher level and have said the facilities we have and the professionalism here, is far better than those they’ve had at higher levels.
“So, if we get out of this league, then we expect to go up again, because we think there are more chances for promotion in the league above.
“But we haven’t got a budget like a Fulham, so it’s going to be hard. But our ethos at the moment is to provide the best coaching possible in the area and keep on pushing as hard as we can.”
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