romain

Fleet boss praises matchwinner as fans return

Dennis Kutrieb says Elliott Romain’s displays are exactly what he wanted from the Dartford signing after the striker added the winning goal yesterday to his two in midweek at Chatham.

“It was a very clinical finish. He’s a great striker, a natural goalscorer and he’s an outstanding fighter on the pitch,” Kutrieb said after the game. “And sometimes a little bit nasty, that’s exactly what you need and exactly what we’ve needed in this squad. He’s a very good addition for us and it doesn’t matter if he comes off the bench of if he starts the game, he will help us.

“I had a chat with him yesterday and I said you don’t need to hurry, I don’t want to rush you, take the time you need to get prepared because part-time to full-time [football], the body needs to adapt. We will give him that time because he will help us definitely over the season.”

And having fans back in the Kuflink Stadium for the first time in 500-plus days was another bonus for the Fleet boss, who thinks the sway home fans can exert over referees, their own players and the opposition is what’s been missing for all that time.

“All footballers love playing in front of fans,” he said. “So you can see even the referee, so many small different situations, because it was the first time [fans were back], I could see different things [happening]. Every player is so relieved the fans are back and they did a great job for us because they tried to push the boys. If we have more people in the stadium during the season, it would be brilliant, if we can achieve one win after another, that will be great.

“Conditions were not easy but the boys were brilliant. Everyone was spot on… but when you see the fans back after 16 months, everyone was buzzing. We were happy to be back on our pitch, the pitch was great so it’s a perfect day. The only thing is we’re not in a league game so we didn’t get three points for it!

“We worked on our own gameplan and especially in the first half, very few mistakes technically and for this reason I’m very happy. We put a lot of effort into the second-half as well and came back after the early goal conceded. It was an easy mistake but that’s what we always say to the boys, don’t make easy mistakes. But it was good for the fans and for our team that we came back with such a great goal.”

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