Tommy Sampson's first game in charge of the Darts ended in a 2-1 defeat at Lincolnsire side Stamford on Saturday.

While he would have been encouraged by some aspects of the team's play, he would not be happy with a result which leaves the side precariously placed in the Dr Martens Eastern Division going into the crucial festive-time fixtures.

Stamford, winners of five of their prevous six games, showed their confidence is high by going ahead after just 11 minutes.

David Staff evaded the Dartford defence before stroking his shot past Tony Kessell.

The Darts rallied and they were denied an equaliser when Stamford goalkeeper Steve Corry made several fine saves.

But they did level midway through the half when when Lee Guiver collected Adam Morrish's pinpoint pass before chipping the ball past Corry from just inside the penalty area.

But Dartford had a few scary moments at the other end, not least of all when when Matt Green hit the post and Tony Kessell was forced to save brilliantly from Carl Holmes' header.

Malcolm Ndekwe hit the bar on the hour, but the Stamford striker had better luck 10 minutes later when he scrambled the ball into the Darts' net from close range after Nick Ashby's attempt had been blocked but not cleared.

December 20, 2001 12:30