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 haven’t scored in two games, I could have played in the back four and the keeper wasn’t at his best so it goes through the whole team. If its like that then you’re happy to get a point.

“We were lucky to get away with a point. We never put more than three passes together, we didn’t compete very well.”

Darts striker Charlie Sheringham had a goal disallowed early in the second half for a foul.

“I thought it was a soft foul with Charlie for the goal,” said Dowson.

“I’ve looked on the video and it’s pretty harsh. I’ve seen them given and seen them not given. They had one disallowed that was probably offside.

“I don’t think they had the penalties looking back at the video. It was an awful game of football with them being slightly the better team.”

Dartford handed a debut to Malachi Napa, who has joined on loan from Woking.

It’s a player that Dowson tried to sign in the summer but the former Oxford man struggled to get into the game.

“Malachi showed glimpses but it’s his first start so he’ll get better as he goes on,” noted Dowson.

“We need pace in the team but we didn’t get him the ball to feet, he’s not going to get it if you whack is at the full-back’s head.”