A summer trip to the north Kent coast to play Herne Bay will continue preparations for Dartford on Tuesday night.

The Darts look forward to their first away fixture having played two at home so far. At Princes Park, Adrian Pennock oversaw a narrow defeat versus Charlton Athletic and a win against Eastbourne Borough on the weekend.

Dartford fielded a strong team on Saturday and made ten changes with an hour played. Samir Carruthers scored the only goal after 15 minutes, but manager Pennock isn’t too bothered about the results during pre-season. He spoke to Dartford FC TV and said: “It was a good run out, a lot of players had an hour. We’re just getting the minutes under our belt. I’m pleased with the fitness levels. I promise you now I’m not really worried about results”.

Herne Bay began their pre-season early starting on the first day of July. Tuesday night will be the Bay’s sixth friendly. Under new head coach Liam Friend, the Bay have won all but one of their friendlies. Kennington were beaten 3-1 before Hollands and Blair were defeated 5-0. Herne Bay lost their next fixture 2-0 against Phoenix Sports. Over the last week the Kent side recorded a 2-0 victory over Chipstead and a 7-2 win versus Hythe Town. The Darts should provide a tougher test as Bay’s opponents so far have all come from a lower division.

Tyler Christian-Law won’t have to wait too long to see his old teammates again. The midfielder has signed for Herne Bay after making 42 appearances for the Darts last season.

It was back in the nineties when Dartford came up against Herne Bay during the Kent League days. The Darts began their journey back up the footballing pyramid after reforming in the early part of that decade.

At the time of applying for promotion to the Southern League, Herne Bay won the Kent League in 1993/94. Despite becoming champions the Bay stayed in the division. It was during this period when the Darts faced Herne Bay six times in the league. Goals were at a premium though as half of those matches finished 0-0.

It took until Dartford’s promotion season to record a first league win over the coastal club. However, the Darts have won the last three meetings all in different competitions. The most recent victory was a Kent Senior Cup tie in February 2016.

Whilst for Herne Bay, after finishing runners up in consecutive seasons they finally won promotion via the playoffs in 2012. They had one campaign in the Isthmian Premier before returning to step four a couple of years ago.

The Bay spent the second part of last season hovering around where they finished in 16th spot. Although the Isthmian Division One South East side enjoyed some big wins towards the tail end of the season. One of those victories was a 9-1 mauling against last place Lancing.