TONY Burman’s plea for an early home goal was misconstrued by the sporting gods for, after initial Darts’ pressure on the Academy End, the visitors were gifted an unearned penalty which Jamie England promptly dispatched.

The orange-clad home custodian Andrew Young, however, made amends with a couple of flicked saves from right-side crosses, the resultant corners being duly cleared.

Ashford’s perceived dominance lasted all of five minutes before Darts were level thanks to a fiercely-driven Ryan Hayes free-kick out right was turned past his own keeper by loanee Femi Ilesamni.

The scoreline became slightly more reflective on the balance of play 11 minutes later.

A cross into Ashford’s penalty area was headed back by Elliot Bradbrook and the sparkling Danny Harris sprung head and shoulders above the flat-footed defence to briskly nod in Darts’ go-ahead goal.

In front, Darts went for a third goal but, despite prompting by the busy Lee Noble in particular, the two or three chances created didn’t quite get the final touch.

It was a pity as Ashford, playing some neat football, fashioned a goal seconds before the break when England managed to squeeze an effort just inside Young’s left post, thus sending Ashford into the dressing room with a somewhat fortunate draw.

Not for long.

On 47 minutes, the marauding Billy Burgess provided a ball which Lee Burns knocked past Ashford Town keeper Paul Burgess to restore Darts’ one-goal advantage, which they held for the rest of the game.

True, the visitors had the majority of the ball in the second half. True it was pretty football, but ineffective against Darts’ one-five-four formation.

With 20 minutes remaining, Carl Rook replaced Hayes.

Rook had time to work out its trajectory with the first pass played up to him, look around to see where the defenders and then control the ball in one simple move. Sheer class.