DARTFORD had to settle for a share of the spoils at Eastleigh after surrendering a two-goal lead.

Until the weekend Dartford had journeyed hopefully to Eastleigh three times – the result always being disappointment.

Perhaps there was an omen on the journey in the form of the pre-match video on the team coach, as the only occasions when there was no video shown were to Basingstoke and Boreham Wood.

However, the tour of the sporting facilities of the locality, while interesting, cut down on the time available for pre-match preparation.

The opening period of the game had attacks testing out defences, with defenders having the edge.

But once Darts got their sea-legs working, they took control typified by the busy Danny Harris, who put in a low left-side cross which Elliot Bradbrook just failed to convert.

Lee Noble was his usual busy self on the right and, with Lee Burns in the striker role, Darts carried the major threats in the half. Just before the half hour, though, Andrew White had a shot well fielded by Louis Wells.

Darts then won a corner on the left which was pulled back to Noble whose thunderous shot had the beating of home keeper Jack Dover when Ian Herring stuck his arm in the way.

Adam Green despatched the resultant spot kick with consummate adroitness.

Herring completed a miserable afternoon when he upended Harris and collected his second yellow soon afterwards. The visitors made it 2-0 couple of minutes later as a partially-cleared Dartford corner was driven home by Jon Wallis on 36 minutes.

With half-time approaching, Danny Smith struck for the Spitfires in off the crossbar. A fracas as the players left the pitch at half-time resulted in a calm-down meeting between the referee and assistant managers.

The second half saw Eastleigh come out in sleeves rolled-up mode and it paid off after 58 minutes when skipper Tom Jordan headed home the leveller from a right-side cross. Almost immediately it seemed as though everybody got into a job done frame of mind.

Certainly the Dartford faithful seemed strangely muted at this time.

For Darts headers from the likes of Tom Bonner and Ryan Hayes went wide instead of in, as they usually would have done. Just before the end Jacob Erskine was pulled back when clear of the home defence, only to be adjudged offside.

In the end it was a first point at Eastleigh, another added to the tally for the end of the season.

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Dartford: Wells, Jones (Erskine 75), Green, Bonner, Goodacre, Champion, Noble (Hayes 75), Wallis (Graham 70), Burns, Bradbrook, Harris. Subs not used: Rogers, Ibrahim. Att: 604.