DARTFORD’S away blues continued on Saturday but it could have been a lot worse had Tom Bonner’s late goal not earned the visitors a point at struggling Lewes’ Dripping Pan ground.

It says something about Lewes when, as the home team kicking down the slope, it took them 41 minutes to earn their first corner.

It was a scruffy affair, which earned them an equally scruffy lead stabbed home by Paul Olima.

Not for the first timethis season, Tony Burman had to change his pre-match plans with Elliot Bradbrook having to withdraw due to a hamstring injury.

Despite this Darts took the game to Lewes from the start with Ryan Hayes cutting in from the right to fire across the face of the goal before a tricky Lee Noble run saw him beat three men before firing over.

Lewes made an early substitution with Andre Taiwo replacing Sonny Cobbs on 12 minutes. The home side’s new manager obviously made defence his first priority and his players responded by getting bodies in the way as much as possible. Apart from the goal, the Rooks’ only threat came on 26 minutes when a John Whitehouse throw was intercepted but hit wide.

The second half saw Darts look for the leveller with a free-kick on the edge of the box going narrowly over, a Danny Harris shot suffering the same fate and Noble bringing a save from keeper Chris Winterton. A high ball into the home penalty area was completely misjudged by Winterton but it bounced away from danger. It was that sort of afternoon for Darts.

A triple Dartford substitution on 75 minutes saw Charlie Sheringham, James White and Adam Burchell replace Carl Rook, Noble and Michael Shinn respectively. Darts were fired up and a couple of 20-man handbag scuffles followed. Going into four minutes of time added on, Darts had an obvious penalty call dismissed when Jamie Crellin clearly fouled Danny Harris.

A free kick for Darts was quickly taken and Bonner fired them level with a low drive past Winterton to rescue a point.

Dartford: Whitehouse, Burgess, Bonner, Champion, Goodacre, Shinn (Burchell 75), Hayes, Noble (White 75), Rook (Sheringham 75), Burns, Harris. Subs not used: Bruce, Berquez. Att: 953.