Dartford manager Alan Dowson reacts to 0-0 draw with Bath City in National League South

Dartford boss Alan Dowson claimed he could have played in the first half of their goalless draw with Bath on Saturday.

The 52-year-old was far from impressed with his team’s performance level on a freezing cold afternoon at Princes Park.

It led him to state that he could have featured in his back four, given how deep they were playing in the first half.

“I’m delighted with a point as I thought we got battered,” said Dowson.

“In the first half I blame the back four, they were shocking as they wouldn’t get out and stayed on the 18-yard box.

“I could have played in the back four in the first half as they didn’t want to get out, they wanted to sit in there and didn’t give the midfield lads the chance to push on and it looked like we were playing with one up top.

“It took 24 minutes to get into their 18-yard box. The back four had cigars out in the first half.

“When it’s cold and bumpy I found out one or two things. I’ve got some decent players but they’re decent players on nice grounds and pitches. When you get them on a day like that and the ground’s a bit hard I thought we were second-best all-round.”

The only positive for Dowson was that his team avoided defeat.

It was a game they could have easily lost at the end, with skipper Tom Bonner twice denying Bath a late winner.

“Bonner saved us twice so we were lucky to have him,” added Dowson.

“Except for Bonner, in the second half I didn’t see any plusses at all. I thought we were weak around the team, we kept giving the ball away.

“There were a lot of things wrong so I’m delighted with a point as we would have lost that last week.

“I’m trying to look at the positives but the only positive is the point.

“The two wide men were poor, the midfield were non-existent, up front we