Dartford 1-0 Waltham Forest

A DRAMATIC injury-time penalty from Jamie Coyle secured a hard-earned three points for Dartford against struggling Waltham Forest on Saturday.

Attacking the Brooklands end, Darts quickly put Forest under pressure and an early corner saw a defensive handball in the penalty area which went unpunished.

The double-marked Phil Williams had two weaving runs thwarted and on the other flank, Ryan Hayes worked hard to create openings and supply astute crosses.

For their part, the visitors displayed a lack of ambition and as the game wore on, relied solely on off-the-ball nudges and time-wasting tactics to keep Darts at bay.

It was the latter ploy which ultimately led to their downfall.

Midway through the half, a neat Dartford move ended with a Brendon Cass shot being smothered by the deceptively useful La Gala in the Forest goal.

Then another smart Dartford move ended with Tom Bradbrook shooting over the bar.

Overall, though, Darts found it difficult to find the range for their crosses thanks to the fickle wind.

Early on in the second half, good work by Bradbrook set up Cass, whose effort was turned aside for a corner by La Gala.

It was around this time the delaying tactics set in with the Forest goalkeeper in particular seeming to be bothered by problems with his gloves and boots in turn.

Fifteen minutes into the half, Cass suffered a slit eyelid following a clash of heads and, after seven minutes of treatment, was replaced by Yohance Lewis.

Phase two of operation delay swung into action with balls being booted over the stands at an alarming rate.

Darts countered with Mark Green replacing Williams and Adam Flanagan moving forward to use his long-throw abilities to devastating effect.

These two gave Darts more variety in their approach play.

Well into injury time, Darts threw everything at Forest to secure the winning goal and the visitors almost profited when they broke into Dartford territory but were denied by the diving Tony Kessell.

Darts immediately got the ball down the other end, where Thomas Howells handled and, this time, the penalty was awarded.

Ice cool Coyle stepped up and sent La Gala the wrong way as he struck the winning goal.

Dartford have had some champagne moments this season.

However, this was more chateau plonk.

Dartford: Kessell, Coyle, Norman, Flanagan, Guest, O'Brien, Hayes, Kadi, Cass (Lewis 61), Bradbrook, Williams (Green 65). Subs not used: Osborne Moore and Ibrahim. Att: 1,249