Louie Soares ends the poor run of home form

During that recent run of defeats which saw us slip down the table, we battled hard and went down, rather unluckily, to four 1-0 defeats in succession, but Tom Meechan finally put us on the score-sheet at Chelmsford where we held the Clarets to draw and at last picked up a point, but were still perilously near a relegation spot.

This victory over league leaders Dartford again showed our will-to-win and the spirit of the managers and players and saw us climb a couple of places in the league, warming our supporters on a chilly day at Bulpit Lane and rewarding them for their support.

We had an early scare when Marcus Beauchanmp’s clearance went straight to Danny Mills, but the defenders were alert to the danger and covered well and took the lead midway through the half, when Tom Meechan tricked his way through and was brought down by Alex Brown, giving Louie Soares the chance to beat Deren Ibrahim from the spot with a well-taken penalty.

Mills had another half-chance when the ball was deflected to him off James Rusby but his shot whistled past the top corner and half-time came with no further chances to either side.

Down the slope after the interval Soares earned a couple of corners as we continued to look the more likely to score, although a shot from Elliot Bradbrook flew just over the bar when the visitors threatened. Our defence still looked fairly secure but Dartford began to put on more pressure in a desperate attempt to save the game and, with the 5 minute board being shown at the end of the 90 minutes, threw caution to the wind and pushed everyone forward but we somehow held on, and when the Darts did get the ball in the net when the ball rebounded off the bar to Pavey the linesman’s flag ruled it out., we were able to see out time to record a memorable win.
Team;Marcus Beauchamp, Rhys Tyler, Paul Stonehouse(Ian Herring), James Rusby, Matt Williams, Richie Whittingham, James Clark, Anton Rogers, Tom Meechan, Luke Hopper, Louie Soares(Stefan Brown Subs not used; Alex Fragata, Dan Bailey, Conor Lynch.