Eddie Dsane opened his account for Dartford, as the visitors put an end to Carshalton Athletic’s unbeaten start to the season in front of 540 supporters at the War Memorial Sports Ground.
The game wasn’t easy on the eye though, as the weather conditions made for an extremely scrappy affair. And, despite Denzelle Olopade firing wide of the target in the 5th minute, it was the Robins that enjoyed much of the play across the ninety minutes.
Yet, they failed to capitalise on their possession during the opening exchanges and Dartford duly punished them in the 18th minute. Denzelle Olopade was the threat once again, only this time he played a sweet ball into the path of Eddie Dsane, who placed his shot beyond goalkeeper MacKenzie Foley and into the bottom corner.
The striker almost made it two in the 33rd minute, only for Carshalton goalkeeper MacKenzie Foley beat him to the ball on this occasion.
With goal-scoring opportunities few and far between during a tight first forty-five, the Darts were good value for their lead despite neither side gaining a firm grip of the game.
However, the hosts did exactly that after the restart, as they started on the front-foot. Determined to get back on level terms, Fabio Camacho-Saraiva forced an excellent save out of Matt Kerbey in the 50th minute. The goalkeeper then managed to get to Thomas Stagg’s rebound, before Josh Hill booted the goal-bound ball clear in a frantic start to the half.
Four minutes later saw the Dartford shot-stopper save brilliantly from Dominic Vose, as the hosts threw men forward and pinned the Darts back into their own half.
For all their possession though, the Robins just couldn’t create a clear-cut opportunity due to the determination of the Dartford defence. Captain Josh Hill and his Dartford defence were in no mood to let the hosts back into this game, as they put in an excellent display to keep the Robins out in what was a spirited performance to say the least.
In fact, the visitors could have added more shine to their victory if Jeremiah Pinder (65) and Samir Carruthers (80) managed to test MacKenzie Foley with their efforts.
Samir’s return to action was well-received by the Dartford faithful, as he came on to replace Olly Box in the 77th minute. He was the first of three substitutions made by Ady Pennock this afternoon, the others being Dean Nayler on for Tyler Christian-Law (83) and Ben Allen on for Eddie Dsane (90+5).
But Dsane’s first-half strike proved to be enough, as an excellent defensive display earned Dartford a third win in four games as well as a second successive clean-sheet for Matt Kerbey.
TEAMS
CARSHALTON ATHLETIC: MacKenzie Foley, Luke Read, Oliver Hamstead, Oluwafikayo Atewologun, Abdul Sankoh, Dominic Vose, Fabio Camacho-Saraiva, Tommy Bradford (c), Mason Saunders Henry, Thomas Stagg, Sharon Ifeanyi.
SUBSTITUTES: Paris Hamilton-Downes, Thomas Jackson, Steve Gody, Andy Kabujko Somo, Darnell Goather-Braithwaite.
DARTFORD: Matt Kerbey, Sam Odaudu, Luther Williams, Josh Hill (c), Samuel Okoye, Denzelle Olopade, Jeremiah Pinder, Tyler Christian-Law, Olly Box, Callum Jones, Eddie Dsane.
SUBSTITUTES: Jacob Marsden, Samir Carruthers, Ben Allen, Dean Nayler, Mert Apat.
Chris Palmer
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