Dartford 2-7 Norwich City

The fixture was arranged as part of the deal which took Cody McDonald from the Darts to the Canaries last season and the striker came off the bench for the final 20 minutes to give his former fans one last glimpse of what he can do.

McDonald was unable to mark the occasion with a goal of his own, but his club certainly didn’t disappoint as they hit seven in an entertaining encounter.

Ryan Hayes tried his luck from range in the opening minute but his low drive was always going wide.

But the Canaries gained an early advantage on three minutes when Micheal Nelson climbed high at the back post to head home Simon Lappin’s free-kick.

Nelson was unfortunate not to double his and Norwich’s tally five minutes later with a header which was only inches off target.

But the Darts were back on terms within 60 seconds when Lee Noble was ideally placed to connect with Hayes’ right wing cross to fire past Declan Rudd with the home side’s first attack of the game.

Only a crucial deflection off a Norwich defender prevented Noble’s 15th minute free-kick from finding the target.

Darts keeper Andrew Young did extremely well to save Chris Martin’s 23rd minute goal-bound shot from 18-yards.

Jamie Coyle’s 33rd minute header from Jamie Day’s corner forced Rudd to get down low to gather as Dartford again tested their higher league opponents moments before Noble was replaced by Husein Isa.

Young was ideally placed to again deny Martin with another fine stop.

However, there was nothing the keeper could do to keep out Scott Neilson after the Canaries trialist picked up possession on the right before going on a run which took just inside the area before he unleashed a perfect shot into the bottom corner.

Young produced a superb one-handed side to keep out Michael Spillane’s effort but the resulting corner was headed home by Gary Doherty at the near post a minute before half-time.

James White almost pulled it back to 3-2 in first half stoppage time with a 25-yard shot which came back off the post.

Neilson’s 48th minute attempt was comfortably dealt with by Young but he was again unable to prevent Martin extending Norwich’s advantage seven minutes later after the striker got on the end of substitute Matt Pattison’s 60 yard pass.

One minute later, Young was replaced between the sticks by Sam Mott, while John Beales made way for Seun Eferakorho in a double substitution by Tony Burman.

Martin made it 5-1 after 65 minutes when he headed in Neilson’s cross beyond Mott.

But the Darts were able to reduce the arrears within four minutes when James White got his head on the end of Adam Burchall’s dipping delivery.

The much-awaited return of McDonald finally took place with 20 minutes to go when he entered the field to replace Martin, much to the delight of the home supporters in the 1,910 crowd.

Norwich were awarded a 75th minute penalty when McDonald was fouled by Billy Burgess and although Mott did exceptionally well to keep out Jamie Cureton’s initial effort, there was nothing he could do to deny him when he tapped home the rebound.

Cureton produced a delightful lob over Mott to add his side’s seventh with 10 minutes remaining.

The final score may sound harsh on the Darts, but they certainly didn’t disgrace themselves against a side who are fancied to win promotion from League One at the first attempt.

Burman will take plenty of positives from this display, notably the way his side performed in the first half when they gave the Canaries a real run for their money.

Dartford entertain another League One outfit this Tuesday evening when Gillingham make the short trip to Princes Park from Medway.

Dartford: Young (Mott 56), Burgess, Gross, Beales (Eferakorho 56), Coyle, Dafter (Dent 71), Hayes (Dingri 81), Day, Burns (Burchall 64), White, Noble (Isa 34 (Crouch 81)). Att: 1,910.