A dejected dressing room knows there is plenty of work to be done. Dartford fans queue for half time refreshments and are left wondering if the season can get any worse. It’s October and Adrian Pennock is trying to rally the troops because his side is three down at half-time against Wingate and Finchley. There is still another forty-five minutes to get through.
We’re a dozen league games into the season and a sense of perspective is required. Fresh from relegation to the Isthmian Premier the Darts kept just three players from last season’s squad. The rebuild started in the summer, but how long will it take for the squad to gel? Should a club of Dartford’s stature be playing at this level? How will we turn around our fortunes? A little more patience and soon the answers began to reveal.
Despite a bright start in August with four league wins in the first five, plus a comprehensive 6-2 victory against Marlow in the F.A Cup, Dartford struggled through September and half of October. Heavy defeats to rivals Dover Athletic and Billericay Town compounded a run of seven league games without a win and by now the Darts were already out of the two major cup competitions. All the way down in 15th and 14 points from the top in November, maybe expectations needed lowering or maybe not…
Ade Yusuff is just inside the Wingate and Finchley penalty box, gets his feet in a muddle, falls over and instinctively with his back to goal sweeps the ball goalwards to make it 3-2. There is hope and a tiny spark waiting to be ignited.
What follows is incredible. It started burning slowly, then grew and grew as the players, the supporters, the club started to believe. A county cup win over Erith Town was merely a prelude. The Darts stopped the losing league rot with a battling 0-0 draw against an in-form Cray Valley Paper Mills, then followed that up with a 1-1 stalemate at Potters Bar Town. Not the most glamorous of results, but a foundation on which to build.
The ball works its way across the Princes Park pitch to George Whitefield 30 yards from the Cheshunt goal. The defender brings the ball under control and smashes it in the top corner. The roof and the season lifts off.
The Darts go on a record equalling 21-game unbeaten league run.
Footage courtesy of kstdart
Yet that run almost ended before it really got going. Dartford are 3-2 down in Essex with just three minutes remaining, the points are all Hashtag United’s. Then the boy wonder, Olly Box calmly volleys home a rebound in the last minute. He’s not the hero though. The Tags break at lightning speed, the goal is open and somehow Jacob Marsden makes the save of the season. It ends 3-3. Pennock has now got his squad refusing to be beaten, showing the character and tenacity to climb the table.
The Darts have just brushed aside Bognor Regis Town, it is their third clean sheet in four games. The defence has tightened up and the wins keep coming. The midfield is strengthened with the loan signings of Hayden Bullas and Louis Dunne, providing depth to the already creative partnership of the influential Samir Carruthers and Denzelle Olopade. The goals are shared out and striker Callum Jones is showing the work ethic that has earned him Player of the Year, everything is clicking into place.
What happens next was near record breaking, literally. A goal deficit at Horsham turned into a 3-1 win, Carruthers, Box and Olopade turning the game around. Folkestone Invicta were the next victims. Box delivers on Boxing Day with a quality brace and once again the Darts come from behind beating Cray Wanderers. Players are now stepping up when the team is down, and confidence is growing. Away clean sheets at Canvey Island and Chatham Town make it five consecutive wins.
The ball comes out to Josh Hill, the defender unleashes a long-range rocket and the goal of the season. The Darts breeze past Whitehawk, defeat Wingate and Finchley before a key home match against Billericay Town.
Footage courtesy of kstdart
The Essex club thrashed the Darts in October, but three months later Pennock’s side is a different beast and boy did it show. A fantastic performance blows away the league leaders. Box, Whitefield, Jones and now even the substitutes are making an impact. Eddie Dsane adds a fourth to banish the Blues and Dartford are serious title contenders. If there is a set of fixtures to showcase how far the Darts have progressed this season it’s the two matches against Billericay Town, but more was still to come.
Victories over Bowers and Pitsea and Hashtag United put the Darts on the verge of breaking the club record of consecutive league wins during one season. The 2-0 home triumph over the Tags equalled the previous best of ten, only Chichester City stood in the way now. Neither side could break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw bringing the incredible achievement to a close.
Carruthers puts home a penalty at Hendon to complete another comeback. The Darts win 3-2 and equal another club record of 21 league matches unbeaten. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and unusually Dartford come out second best in a 3-0 defeat to Cheshunt. So, what better way to bounce back then to face your title rivals next.
The scoreboard at Princes Park shows 87 minutes, Dartford 0 Horsham 1. Sam Odaudu sends in a low cross and George Whitefield stabs the ball in for an equaliser. In these circumstances rescuing a point will do, but not a Dartford team refusing to give in. Carruthers puts in a delightful free-kick, Whitefield gets something on the ball and falling kindly to Dsane the forward cannot miss at the far post. The most dramatic of victories keeps the title dream alive.
Highlights courtesy of Dartford FC TV
There was even more reason to believe despite defeat at Lewes a week later. Billericay Town and Horsham also lost that weekend, was this a sign luck is on Dartford’s side? A fortnight later a day out in Bognor ends in a 2-0 away win and the fans chanting ‘we are top of the league’. Six more games to hold on.
Princes Park is silent for the home side have shipped in two goals in the first-half against Folkestone Invicta. We’ve been here before, two down at the break. Whitefield halves the deficit then late on in the game Olopade is fouled in the penalty area. The pressure is on Carruthers, but he rises to the occasion. It finishes 2-2. Two points dropped or one point gained? Somehow the draw was enough to extend Dartford’s lead by the end of the day. Another sign?
The Darts pick up a win at Whitehawk and then the Easter period has another twist waiting in store. Carruthers has already scored a worldy and Olopade added another before Hill put the third past Kent rivals Dover Athletic. The 3-1 win another measure of how far Pennock’s side have come since that heavy defeat at the Crabble in September.
Footage courtesy of kstdart
Then the twist…Easter Monday is not as good as Friday and the Darts draw 2-2 at Cray Wanderers setting up a final day showdown.
Dartford slip to third on goal difference level on points with Horsham and Billericay Town. Pennock’s side have to better what their title rivals do in the last game, the odds are against them, but whilst there is a chance and all that.
The final whistle has blown bringing an end to the league campaign. The players are devastated in the dressing room. Pennock has been here before, he needs to rally the troops. Got to get ready for the playoffs.