Dartford 1-1 Southport

John Marsden put the visitors in front on the stroke of half-time - and it appeared one goal might be enough as Dartford wasted possession in the second period.

Crawford celebrates his goal

But Crawford netted his fourth goal of the campaign in the 94th minute to earn Dartford a valuable point which keeps them outside of the Vanarama Conference relegation zone.

Manager Tony Burman made two changes to the side which defeated neighbours Welling on Tuesday evening, with Crawford and Callum Driver replacing Andy Pugh and Lee Burns.

Gary Brabin’s men, who had been unbeaten in the league since October 4, were organised and disciplined from the outset.

The Merseysiders created the first substantial chance when Danny Hattersley met a precise cross from David Fitzpatrick, but Jason Brown pushed the header wide of the post.

Midway through the first half the hosts began to threaten but David Raya, who had conceded just four goals in Southport’s last six fixtures, was in inspired form.

The on-loan Blackburn keeper acrobatically grasped Max Cornhill’s deflected shot, while moments later the Spaniard was at full stretch to parry Ryan Hayes’ powerful long range effort.

It was Southport who took the lead shortly before half-time, however, when a cross fell favourably to Marsden (above), who finished neatly.

Dartford responded well after the interval with Crawford and Lee Noble both stinging Raya’s hands with powerful shots, but the home side failed to turn pressure into clear-cut chances.

Darts’ best chance fell to Tom Bradbrook, whose looping header was cleared off the line as the home fans’ belief began to dampen.

And as Darts adopted increasingly offensive tactics, the visitors had a golden chance to kill the game five minutes from time.

The visitors counter attacked with pace and substitute Amadou Bakayoko broke through on goal, but the forward’s close range strike was turned wide by Brown.

Southport were left to rue this miss as Dartford finally broke through the visitors’ defence deep into stoppage time.

The impressive Noble found Crawford inside the box and the 22-year-old swivelled and smashed a low shot into the bottom corner to earn Darts a share of the spoils.

The late equaliser rounded off a fine week for Dartford, who recorded four Conference points and an epic FA Cup victory in the space of eight days.

Dartford: Brown, Bender, McAuley, Bradbrook, Cornhill (Daley 85), Hayes, Noble, Harris (Bradbrook 59), Sweeney, Crawford, Driver. Att: 1,163