Dartford 2 v 1 Maidstone United

Ryman League Division One South

Report by Mike Brett-Smith

THE eagerly-awaited clash between Dartford and Maidstone United ended in a Darts victory more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests.

Before kick-off Maidstone chairman Paul Bowden-Brown presented Darts' joint-chairman Dave Skinner with an engraved silver salver commemorating Darts' impending return to the borough.

Darts had newcomer Anthony Hogg on the bench and the only other change from the Dulwich defeat was the return of Anthony Henry with Brad Potter taking Steve Hafner's shirt.

Pre-match rain livened up the grassy Thurrock pitch making the ball skid off the surface resulting in the longer passes being over-hit.

There was little in the opening phase to suggest this would be anything other than a keenly-fought and entertaining encounter as each side took it in turn to go on the attack.

However Darts showed their intent early on with Eddie McClements and Dave Martin in evidence and Jay May winning the aerial battle comfortably.

McClements was pulled down midway in the Stones' half and Ryan Briggs' free-kick was cleared and then McClements set Martin away on the left but the winger's telling cross was cleared.

Maidstone's Roser then bundled May over and another Briggs free-kick went deep with Richard Avery arriving just a shade late to convert the chance.

Maidstone countered with Mario McNish getting behind Tommy Osborne, working his way along the bye-line to see his angled shot end in a corner which Darts cleared.

Another Stones' raid saw Nick Barnes draw a low save from Kevin Hudson.

Darts replied with Brendan Cass setting the marauding Martin free but the latter's angled drive was narrowly wide.

This heralded a period of Dartford pressure which ended with a left-side corner which Avery buried to put Darts 1-0 up on 37 minutes.

The second half started in heavy rain which failed to dampen Darts' dominance.

A sparkling move ended with a McClements shot which was tipped over for a corner by Pat Mullin.

Maidstone had a brief spell when they forced a series of corners but Osborne's men remained calm and the brief danger passed.

A series of neat moves involving McClements, Martin, May and Briggs kept Maidstone on the back foot and twice in succession May was thwarted at the last gasp.

With 20 minutes to go another smart passing movement ended with McClements driving home from 12 yards.

Maidstone were thrown a lifeline when, with the linesman signalling a Stones corner, the referee spotted an infringement and Barnes hit home the resultant penalty.

This was followed with a fracas in the Darts goalmouth as Barnes tried to recover the ball to gain a quick restart.

But it was too little, too late as Darts ran down the clock with ease to leapfrog their rivals in the table.

MATCH FACTS: DARTFORD: Hudson, Osborne, White, Henry, Avery, Potter, Briggs, J May, Cass, McClements, Martin (Hayes, 86).

SUBS NOT USED: Billenness, Hafner, Hogg, Tedder.

ATT: 547.