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Samir Carruthers scored his first goal of the season, as Dartford secured victory against a spirited Erith Town side to progress to the next round of the Velocity Cup.
As the 187 supporters enjoyed a cool night under the Stanmore Stadium floodlights, the two protagonists worked through a scrappy ninety minutes with neither side able to gain a sure foothold on proceedings.
The first real opportunity fell to the visitors, after a late challenge saw them awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position in the eighth minute. And it was the skipper for tonight, Samir Carruthers who took the set-piece, sending it straight through and beyond goalkeeper Nathan Edwards to give the Darts an early lead.
The visitors were on top for most of the first-half, but just couldn’t add to their slender lead. First, Eddie Dsane saw his effort saved well by Edwards, after brilliant work by the lively Gabe Campbell (17), before the Erith Town shot-stopper was at it again to save an Olly Box strike after more good work by Campbell (28).
In between those opportunities came one for The Dockers, which saw David Aziaya saving well to prevent Harry Taylor from equalising after 19 minutes.
Yet that was pretty much it in terms of goalscoring opportunities, despite the best efforts of Eddie Dsane, Olly Box, and Gabe Campbell, as the visitors just couldn’t find that final killer touch.
The half ended on a rather sour note, after Jerome Jayaguru committed an awful challenge on Eddie Dsane right at the end of the half. The foul left the Dartford dugout incensed that no booking was issued to Jayaguru, let alone a penalty, as referee Mr Michael Scott awarded a goal-kick to The Dockers instead!
Such was the challenge that, unsurprisingly, Dsane didn’t return from the half-time interval… his replacement being Denzelle Olopade. Ady Pennock would follow that change by swapping Jeremiah Pinder for Samir Carruthers later in the half (72).
As for the hosts, boss Adam Woodward used four of his five available substitutions this evening. Ramez Hefzalla and Callum McGeehan were replaced by Ollie Milton and Tom Ash (55), before Andrew Dythe and Harry Taylor made way for Sidney Petters and Brandon Hatega (74).
If goalscoring opportunities were in short supply in the first-half, then they were virtually non-existent during the second forty-five. What was evident though, was that tackles were flying in quite often, as both sides cancelled each other out.
However, the longer the game went on, the more adventurous the hosts became. And, in an effort to draw themselves level, they began to pin the Darts back into their own half of the pitch.
Sidney Petters came close with a low drive from distance, which David Aziaya saved comfortably in the 77th minute. That was soon followed by James Miles surprising himself by having breached the Dartford defensive line. But, a combination of him struggling to keep the ball down, as well as excellent defending by Sam Odaudu and Luther Williams kept the visitors’ lead intact (84).
The Dockers had a glorious opportunity to equalise in the 89th minute, after David Aziaya slipped while trying to keep hold of the ball after initially saving it. The loose ball fell to Ollie Milton, who had the goal at his mercy, only for an alert George Whitefield clear the ball off the line to all but secure the victory.
Tyler Christian-Law almost had the last laugh deep into stoppage time, but his curling effort flew narrowly wide of the Erith Town upright (90+3). But one goal proved to be enough, as Dartford went into the hat for the next round of the Velocity Cup after a rather scrappy game which saw David Aziaya collect his second clean sheet in three games for the Darts.
TEAMS
ERITH TOWN: Nathan Edwards, Jack Holland, Andrew Dythe, Callum McGeehan, Jerome Jayaguru, Luke Leppard, Ross Craig, James Miles, Kola Solami, Harry Taylor (c), Ramez Hefzalla.
SUBSTITUTES: Tom Ash, Ollie Milton, Brandon Hatega, Sidney Petters, Aaron Jeffrey.
DARTFORD: David Aziaya, Sam Odaudu, Samir Carruthers (c), George Whitefield, Olly Box, Dean Nayler, Luther Williams, Tyler Christian-Law, Eddie Dsane, Gabe Campbell, Nelson Ajayi.
SUBSTITUTES: Jacob Marsden, Denzelle Olopade, Blu Husthwaite, Todd Brand, Jeremiah Pinder.
Chris Palmer