A relatively even start soon saw the visitors begin to impose themselves more and, by the tenth minute, a Dan Smith strike was blocked by a Whitehawk defender following good work by Olly Box and Samir Carruthers.

And six minutes later saw Dartford edge ahead after the excellent Sam Smith had done a stirling job of holding the ball up long enough to feed Olly Box through. Freed from the defender’s shackles, Box was able to calmly fire a low drive beyond Francis Hurl and into the bottom corner to score his eleventh goal of the season (16).

However, the Darts’ lead lasted just five minutes after Grant Hall capitalised to strike home the equaliser after the Dartford defence was unable to deal with Andrew Briggs’ free-kick (21).

Denzelle Olopade came close with a low drive at one end (25), before a swift counter-attack from the Hawks released Charlie Lambert, who fired straight into the arms of Jonny Henly at the other end (27).

The impressive George Whitefield came agonisingly close with a header a minute later, before Charlie Harris sent a long-range effort straight at Henly (37).

Sadly, an entertaining first-half of football ended on a sour note with referee, Mr Patrick Jolliffe, being forced to dish out four cards… Two of which were red.

Having already booked Charlie Harris for a late challenge on Samir Carruthers earlier (31), Harry Lodovica floored Joe Tennent with an elbow to the face deep into stoppage time. The foul sparked outrage from the Dartford camp and, once the referee had regained control of the situation, both Lodovica and Michael Olarewaju were shown red cards! Whitehawk’s Joel Daly was also cautioned for his actions during the flare-up as well.

The second forty-five saw Charlie Harris try his luck from distance straight after the restart, which proved to be an easy save for Jonny Henly (46).

Ady Pennock then moved swiftly to introduce midfielder Jeremiah Pinder for Dan Smith (49). The Dartford boss would go on to swap Samir Carruthers with Sammie McLeod (83), before replacing Olly Box with Elliot Oviawe late on (90+1).

As we return to the action, Samir Carruthers’ strike was excellently blocked by the Whitehawk defence but the loose ball eventually fell to Denzelle Olopade, who pulled the trigger on a long-range pyledriver which flew narrowly over the top of Francis Hurl’s crossbar (55).

With chances few and far between during this half of football, the best move arguably went the way of the visitors when Box was played through but was unable to keep his effort down (74).

However the young starlet was at it again five minutes later, only on this occasion he was brought down inside the Whitehawk area. The referee awarded the penalty, and Box calmly tucked the ball home to edge the visitors ahead once again (79).

The hosts responded and came agonisingly close to equalising again ten minutes later, as Jonny Henly pulled off a good save to prevent a corner kick from going in. Olly Box subsequently cleared the ball, which released Callum Jones to race clear. However, Francis Hurl made a good save to keep his side’s slim hopes of a recovery alive (89).

The Darts remained solid for the last few minutes though to secure a second victory on the road this season, which sees them climb up into fourth place in the Isthmian Premier League table.

WHITEHAWK: Francis Hurl, Archie Harland-Goddard, Stefan Wright, Andrew Briggs (c), Grant Hall, Joel Daly, Destiny Ojo, Charlie Harris, Harry Lodovica, Harry Bridle, Charlie Lambert.
SUBSTITUTES: Josh Shattell, Jerson Dos Santos, Oscar Lambie, Lewis Heywood-Oriogun, Archie McGonigle.

DARTFORD: Jonny Henly, George Whitefield, Michael Olarewaju (c), Joe Tennent, Luther Williams, Denzelle Olopade, Sam Smith, Samir Carruthers, Olly Box, Callum Jones, Dan Smith.
SUBSTITUTES: Carter Sullivan, Ben Frempah, Elliot Oviawe, Sammie McLeod, Jeremiah Pinder.

Chris Palmer