As light rain drizzled down during the first-half, it was a slow start by both sides on this Tuesday evening under the floodlights. Aside from a couple of half-chances at both ends, neither goalkeeper was tested during the opening twenty minutes.

Olly Box did come closest to breaking the deadlock after eighteen minutes though, when Sam Odaudu intercepted a Whitehawk pass before finding Box, who saw his effort deflected behind by a defender.

Five minutes later saw the Dartford number eleven put in a terrific challenge to thwart the visitors from breaching the host’s defence, before he then broke the deadlock with a wonderful strike in the 25th minute following Eddie Dsane’s excellent pass.

Jacob Bland, who was also having a good game on his home debut for the Darts came close with a neat effort of his own (35), before Dsane’s dangerous ball into the box late on caused havoc before eventually being cleared by a Hawk defender (42).

The visitors, who’d created virtually nothing meaningful during the half, came agonisingly close to levelling the score with arguably their best move of the game. A long pass left the Dartford back door wide open, enabling a Hawk to race through. But, up stepped Jonny Henly to pull off an excellent save to ensure the hosts went into the break ahead (44).

Unfortunately for Hawks boss Shaun Saunders, he’d already lost two of his players to injuries within the opening 37 minutes of the game. Both Charlie Lambert (21) and Harry Bridle (37) had to leave the field to be replaced by Ed Leach and Alfie Rogers respectively. The visitors would go on to make one further change late on, with Archie McGonigle coming on for Charlie Harris (86).

The second forty-five began with both sides initially playing at a higher tempo. However, that soon changed as the Darts started to control more of the ball.

Jacob Bland was the first to test goalkeeper Francis Hurl with a teasing effort (50), before Olly Box doubled the lead with another superb finish to score his ninth goal of the season (62).

Jacob Bland then tried his luck with an acrobatic effort (72), before Eddie Dsane forced Francis Hurl into a routine save after picking the pocket of Stefan Wright (74).

It was then Ady Pennock’s turn to make a few changes to his personnel shortly after that Dsane effort. And the Dartford boss would use all five of his available substitutions this evening…

First to leave the field was Samir Carruthers, who was replaced by Sam Smith (75). Then Dan Carter came on for Eddie Dsane (80), Michael Olarewaju came on for Sam Odaudu (86), Ben Frempah came on for Joe Tennent (90), before Richie Atkins came on to replace Jeremiah Pinder (90+2).

In amongst the changes, the Darts still found time to add a third goal of the evening which arrived in the 88th minute. And it was Olly Box who was at the centre of the action once again, when he danced his way through a couple of Hawk defenders before creating space… and, despite being on for a possible hat-trick, he unselfishly set up teammate Callum Jones instead, who finished well to score his third goal of the season.

Jonny Henly secured his second clean sheet of the campaign, as Olly Box’s performance earned him a thoroughly deserved Man of The Match award in what was an excellent Dartford performance to stretch their unbeaten league run to eight games. The result also means that the Darts leapfrog tonight’s opponents to finish the night in seventh place in the Isthmian Premier League table.

DARTFORD: Jonny Henly (c), Sam Odaudu, Joe Tennent, George Whitefield, Samuel Okoye, Jacob Bland, Jeremiah Pinder, Samir Carruthers, Olly Box, Callum Jones, Eddie Dsane.
SUBSTITUTES: Sam Smith, Ben Frempah, Dan Carter, Richie Atkins, Michael Olarewaju.

WHITEHAWK: Francis Hurl, Stefan Wright, Hugo Odogwu-Atkinson, Andrew Briggs, Nathan Cooper, Grant Hall, Harry Bridle, Joel Daly, Rob O’Toole (c), Charlie Harris, Charlie Lambert.
SUBSTITUTES: Josh Shattell, Josh Nandhra, Alfie Rogers, Ed Leach, Archie McGonigle.

Match Photos Gallery

Chris Palmer