A TRICKY FA Trophy tie at Sittingbourne’s Central Park for Dartford was comfortably negotiated on a dull afternoon, which matched the industrial background.

The Brickies’ manager had hyped up the game midweek by claiming he might play loanee goalkeeper Derren Ibrahim against his parent club.

That hype turned out a myth as the player was unable to play due to injury.

The Central Park grass was longer than previously witnessed and the warm-up period revealed lumps, bumps and furrows which dictated the playing policy for the afternoon.

Drafted into the starting line-up were Danny Dafter, Lee Noble, Jay May and Danny Harris – a goodly quartet by any measure.

As supposed, the Brickies started at a gallop but Darts soon counter-attacked and Ryan Hayes brought a flying save from home keeper Steve Williams.

Soon Darts had eased comfortably into the game and, in view of the uneven surface, took no risks.

In front of the impenetrable back four, the midfield settled down in the distributive role while Allan Tait operated as a latter-day Hidekuti.

Throughout the half Noble was engaging in trade-mark long runs.

Although they had plenty of the ball, Sittingbourne had only two successive corners to show for their efforts in the opening 45 minutes.

Approaching half-time, May had the ball in the net from a corner but had handled in the process and then Tait was pulled down in full flight but, instead of the expected penalty, he was shown the yellow card, as had May just earlier.

Much of the second half was highly forgettable with many a miss hit pass.

But on 73 minutes all was redeemed when an astute Harris pass reached Tait on the edge of the area and, checking the location of Williams, he delivered a peach of a lob to put Dartford one up and seal the tie.

Dartford: Young, Burgess, Gross, Flanagan, Beales, Dafter, Hayes, Noble, Tait, May (Bradbrook), Harris (Burns). Subs not used: Coyle, White and Kessell. Att: 473