Yesterday saw The Darts hold off league leaders Maidenhead United in their home match on Non League Day, ending in a goal less 0-0 draw at Princes Park.
Tony Burman’s starting 11 saw Elliot Bradbrook back from injury and wearing the Captains armband, and also Andy Pugh returning with Ryan Hayes starting the match on the bench. New injuries hit the Dartford team once again, with Lee Noble being left out of the squad due to a back injury sustained at training on Thursday evening.
Ronnie Vint remained out once again this season, after the Referee made the decision he couldn’t play with his wrist cast.
The game started well for the Darts with Duane Ofori-Acheampong testing the Maidenhead United goalkeeper within the opening minutes with a low shot on goal.
Maidenhead United were given a couple of freekicks and a corner early in the game, which didn’t seem to affect Deren Ibrahim at all, who pulled off a couple of saves to deny the lead being taken.
Luke Wanadio once again made himself known on the pitch crossing a lovely ball into Danny Harris who just missed the chance of a header on target and the ball went over the goal.
The injury curse struck once again for Dartford, seeing Keaton Wood substituted around 15 minutes into the game after receiving treatment for an earlier knock, and Ellis Brown was brought onto the field.
A corner for Maidenhead United forced a number of saves from Ibrahim, and the Dartford defence battled hard to stop the ball from going into the net and was eventually cleared away for Bradbrook to take back up the pitch and pass through to Wanadio who tried his best to feed the ball into Pugh who was denied when Maidenhead picked up the ball instead.
Harris worked well with Ofori-Acheampong and the Darts were eventually given a corner which Wanadio stepped in to take. Crossing the ball in, Tom Wynter jumped up to try and get his head to it but was beaten and The Darts were given another corner. Maidenhead worked well to force the ball away again.
A good chance fell to Pugh who went one on one with goalkeeper Carl Pentney, who had been spoken to on several occasions throughout the first half for time wasting, forced Pugh to fire the ball out of the stadium.
Frustrations were running high for both teams as they headed back to the changing rooms after 2 minutes of additional time.
The second half saw Burman change the formation, with Harris moving back in defence as The Darts came back out to try and secure a win.
Both The Darts and The Magpies battled hard to keep possession for as long as they could, and tried to attack at every opportunity, but each time nothing came of it for either team.
Maidenhead very nearly took the lead when Sam Barratt took a free kick which hit the woodwork, which Sean Marks then booted into the net. Unfortunately, the linesman had already called for offside and the celebrations were put on hold.
Burman made two substitutions with Ofori-Acheampong and Ellis Brown coming off to make way for Ben Francis and Ryan Hayes.
Wanadio had a great chance on the 77th minute, but Dean Inman cleared for the ball to just go over the bar.
The match continued with a couple of chances falling to Francis and Bradbrook, but it wasn’t meant to be for either team, and at the final whistle ended the match and both teams walked away with a deserved point.
Dartford FC: Ibrahim, Gardiner, Wynter, Bonner, Wood, A Brown, Harris, Bradbrook, Ofori-Acheampong, Pugh, Wanadio
Subs: Hayes, E Brown, Francis, Dembele, Seixas
Maidenhead United FC: Pentney, Peters, Steer, Smith, Massey, Inman, Barratt, Comley, Marks, Mulley, Pritchard
Subs: Forbes, Hammond, Wiltshire, Strutton, Olorunfemi
Attendance: 1083
Man of the Match: Luke Wanadio