Dartford 4-2 Wivenhoe Town

A BRENDON Cass hat-trick inspired Dartford to victory against Wivenhoe Town on Saturday.

With the late autumnal sun dipping below rooftop level, the two teams set out into the unknown at Princes Park.

Dartford were slightly more tense as they had everything to lose and Wivenhoe had all to gain.

Football can give you a slap in the face and the visitors, newly re-shuffled, were up for it.

As is customary, Phil Williams made the first two forays into enemy territory hoping to break his duck against cellar-dwellers Wivenhoe.

He tried just a fraction too hard and was thwarted by visiting keeper Karl Daniels.

On the right flank, Ryan Hayes was checking out the visitors with trademark left-foot curlers.

At the back, Darts were making sure not to put a foot wrong.

It quickly became clear Wivenhoe, whose display belied their lowly status, would get the bulk of the 50-50 decisions and so it proved just after the half-hour.

A flowing two-pass move out of defence after McClements had lost possession on the edge of the Wivenhoe penalty area ended with Liam Cockerill opening the scoring with a shot which trickled in via Tony Kessell's left post.

Stung, Darts upped the pace and Daniels had to be alert to prevent the hosts from levelling.

Here again, the 50-50 theory kicked in.

More than once Daniels muffed his catches, but there was always a Wivenhoe boot or knee to fend the danger away.

Darts' football was the now familiar one-touch stuff and Cass, inevitably, equalised from a precision cross from Hayes two minutes from the break.

Wivenhoe hit back and Kessell was called upon to make a smart save.

In the final minute of the half, the visitors went ahead with a goal from Michael Brothers which had more than a suspicion of offside about it.

The second half was delayed as Rob Thorne received lengthy treatment in the Dartford penalty area and was finally replaced by Adam Hampson.

Darts really began to get right into their rhythm from thereon and kept Wivenhoe under severe pressure with a flurry of corners.

On 68 minutes, Jamie Coyle levelled matters by being in the right place to convert a Hayes corner.

Before Wivenhoe could gather breath, Daniels had dropped the ball after colliding with a defender to allow Cass to put Darts in front for the first time with 20 minutes to go.

Once ahead, Darts were in the mood to make the scoreline a truer reflection of the difference between the sides and, naturally, Cass killed them off with his hat-trick goal two minutes later.

There was plenty of time for the crowd to enjoy the one-touch magic which is Darts' style nowadays and for 900-plus voices to shout for a penalty for handball, but to no avail.

Dartford: Kessell, Coyle, Norman, Flanagan, Osborne, O'Brien, Hayes, J May (Bradbrook 83), Cass (Lewis 83), McClements, Williams (Green 75). Subs not used: Avery, Moore. Att: 917