Darts sign off with facile Bognor win (From News Shopper)

Bognor Regis 0-2 Dartford

4:54pm Sunday 25th April 2010 in Sport By Mike Brett-Smith

DARTFORD ended the campaign in style at Bognor Regis Town’s neat Nyewood Lane ground with a comfortable victory over the relegated host club.

En-route, three milestones were ticked off.

One hundred league goals for the second time in three seasons, together with ever-present league appearances for Andrew Young and Adam Gross, the latter being the only Dart to appear in every competitive fixture during the campaign.

The Rocks were lively enough with Dan Beck putting in an off-target shot in the opening minute.

Darts hit back with a right cross skimming the home crossbar. For a while thereafter it was routine, half-pace, end-to-end stuff without an end product.

In fact, the Rocks shaded this period but lacked the guile to open up Dartford’s confident rearguard.

Lee Burns was replaced early on after taking a knock and almost at once, the visitors took the lead.

A searching Adam Gross free-kick way out left found Jamie Coyle’s head to put the Darts 1-0 ahead.

Six minutes later it was 2-0 when quickly-taken free-kick flat-footed Bognor’s back four and, in splendid isolation, Lee Noble calmly slipped the ball past Anthony Ender for Darts’ second.

The battle on the pitch was over, the battle of the terrace voices and drums continued until the final whistle.

With the half coming to an end, Noble came off worse in an aerial collision, suffering a partially-severed ear which bled profusely and needed heavy bandaging and then hospital treatment.

He was replaced by Ryan Hayes for the second half.

Darts lowered the pace after the break and treated the Rocks’ best crowd of the season to a full repertoire of training-ground routines much appreciated by the viewers.

Included were the usual Hayes routines, less free-kicks and some neat play from Allan Tate.

Thus the curtain came down on a long, hard but highly rewarding season.

Dartford: Young, Johnson, Gross, Flanagan (Burgess 80), Coyle, White, Noble (Hayes 45), Shinn, Tait, Burns (Haworth 16), Harris. Subs not used: Beales, Dafter. Att: 868.