Dartford manager Tony Burman admitted his side won ugly on Saturday after they beat St Albans City 2-0 at Princes Park.

After a dull first half, Dartford emerged brighter following the restart and were rewarded when Danny Harris slipped the ball to Andy Pugh who gave the Darts the lead on 56 minutes.

The hosts then gifted their opposition a number of opportunities to equalise, but secured the win when Pugh doubled his tally as his shot bobbled past Joe Welch in injury-time.

The result saw the Darts return to the play-off positions in the National League South.

Burman said: “I think that if it was a day to win ugly, then we did it.

“It was not the purest of games – in all fairness, the wind and the conditions did not help us on that.

“I was disappointed at half-time because I did not think that we got out of third gear again. We are fortunate at the moment that we have got someone in form up front who has put two good strikes in and won us the game.

“They responded in the second half but I did not think that it was a great performance overall, although we have come away with all three points.

“Today, the performance was not great by any means but we have come away with two goals, three points and a clean sheet.”

The Darts boss was full of praise for scorer Pugh, who has enjoyed a fine run and developed as a real threat up front.

“He is doing well at the moment. We have to hopefully keep him fit,” Burman said.

“He is feeling good and his touch today was very good.

“He got the ball down and knocked it out to our players. We were fortunate enough that he was the one that shone through but having said that, you have to win ugly and that is what we have done.

“He has been unfortunate that when he has had an injury it has been a serious injury. We know that he can play very, very, well and that he can score you goals.

“He was a cut above the rest today - not just the two goals he scored but also his link up play.”

Despite enduring a stuttering start to the campaign, Dartford have put together an impressive run and Burman says it is the players who have instigated the turnaround.

“It is all positive right now – the players have got it in them. They are not a bad group, I think that they have turned it round,” he added.

“We have got three tough away games now but hopefully we can bring some points back from those games.”

Dartford make the long journey to Truro City on Saturday.

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