Dartford manager Tony Burman feels his side were unlucky not to come away with at least a point on Saturday after their fifth defeat in the opening nine matches.

Danny Wright got the only goal for Gateshead eight minutes into the second half and despite heavy pressure from the visitors in the closing stages, Dartford were unable to find an equaliser.

After coming from two goals down to earn a point against Eastleigh last Tuesday, Burman believes only bad luck was the reason for his team’s defeat on Saturday.

He said: “We were fortunate that one of the chances went in against Eastleigh and on Saturday it was just one of those games.

“I felt the players were excellent in their performance and unfortunately we just could not get the equaliser.

“It was good saves from their keeper and we just were not fortunate enough to get back in the game, but we should have and thoroughly deserved to take something from the match.

“We should have got a draw and we possibly could have got the win.”

Burman was also left to rue what might have been after midfielder Peter Sweeney had to be taken off early with a head injury.

The boss said: “Peter was involved in a bad collision and he had to come off after ten minutes.

“Who knows what might have happened if he had stayed on because he is very creative in everything he does and we will never know.

“But having said that, the performance did not drop and I felt it was a very good display from the guys even though we did not get the right result.”

“I think if you look at the stats from the game they were all in our favour and I felt the players put in an excellent performance.”

Dartford welcome fellow strugglers Dover Athletic to Princes Park tomorrow and Burman is confident of getting a result if his side keep up their recent performances.

He said: “I feel if we put in a performance like we have in the last one and a half games then hopefully those chances will go in.

“We like playing at home and I hope we can get the points we deserve.

“I am very pleased we have got a Kent derby on the night. I am happy that Dover were promoted and hopefully other teams can be too and make some of our travels a little bit closer.” 

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt