Dartford 2                      Cheshunt 1 

Carruthers 36 pen         Wood 61

Whitefield 78

863 supporters enjoyed a tight well contested match at Princes Park, with the away support for the Ambers in fine voice once again out singing the Dartford faithful, despite considerable numerical disadvantage. 

Twice Tommy Wood threatened the Dartford goal in the opening exchanges, first when Hassan Nalbant crossed low from the right forcing the Dartford keeper to smother at the Amber striker’s feet, then again from the right Alex Gibson Hammond repeated the cross, again the keeper did well to get off his line & smother bravely at the feet. In between these chances Dartford did have a goal chalked off for offside, and Brandon Bryan Waugh kept his head to control & clear a goal bound shot on the goal line.

As the half went on, Dartford assumed control with Carruthers & Oladape passing game starting most moves, they forced three corners in succession & had Cheshunt under the cosh. R’avan Constable saved a close range shot & Dartford hit the post with the rebound before Carruthers opened the scoring for the home team when a deep looping cross at the back post drew Constable off his line to punch clear, alas taking the jumping striker out too, with enough contact for the referee to award a penalty. ( Later deemed a reasonable but harsh decision, on the basis Cheshunt would have been disappointed if it were not given, had it happened at the other end) Constable went the right way, got a hand to the ball, but it was a well struck spot kick & made the corner for 1-0 to the hosts. Cheshunt fought back & Dartford captain Hill found himself in the book breaking up a promising Cheshunt attack, from the resulting free kick Tommy Wood’s glancing header clipped the wrong side of the post. The Cheshunt midfield had worked hard to try & suppress Dartford , MJ Muyembe & Jack Thomas covering every blade of grass, and they could feel unfortunate to be behind to an unfortunate penalty.

The second half saw Dartford go close with two chances looking suspiciously offside, the answer being coach Preston Edwards asking the defence for a higher line, The Dartford frontline didn’t handle the change as well as the nearside assistant who rediscovered his flag more regularly. Fionn Murphy & Alex Gibson Hammond were combining well on the Cheshunt left and created multiple opportunities, the Dartford keeper saved well from a Vas Vasiliou volley when a cross field ball from Murphy picked out the Amber danger man in space on the edge of the Dartford area. 

The Ambers equalised when quick thinking and incredible accuracy from keeper R’avan Constable found Vasiliou in space on the right with a long distance pass, he advanced turning the Dartford defence around then crossing low to the near post, this time Tommy Wood beat the keeper to the ball & his quick feet saw him round the keeper & stroke the ball home from a tight angle,  with sub Tobias Braney cleverly shepherding the ball across the line to prevent any last moment clearance from a defender. The crowd were then treated to a masterclass in wriggling free when Alex Gibson Hammond found himself closed down & surrounded on the edge of his own area, he selected a mixture of drag backs, feints & a graceful pull spin from his bag of tricks to leave the Dartford players in his wake. Another Cheshunt free kick into the danger area saw a powerful header from Raul Da Silva go just wide, alas the Dartford response was then devastating,  A pass inside on half way to Whitefield saw the centre half advance unchallenged deep into the Cheshunt half, with no passing options available , he struck an unstoppable shot into the top left corner beyond the desperate dive of R’avan Constable.

The Ambers pressed for an equaliser with the fresh legs of Sam Granville & Jeremy Bisau, and forced Dartford to defend deeper, Braney broke clear on two occasions but the defence just recovered in time to smother his attempts on goal. The Ambers just  couldn’t find the one killer move to draw level again & the clock ran down. Dartford’s power, strength & a wonder strike took the points, but there were some committed confidence boosting performances from Cheshunt to take us into the next two matches, The Charity Cup v Berko & the Velocity Cup v Billericay. 

More action pictures from the lens of Amy Eve available here