Dartford 6-1 Sutton United - Everyone in the stadium was pleased with that, says Tony Burman

To paraphrase a famous beer commercial, if a certain Danish company did football matches, they would probably be the best football matches in the world, and this one, in my opinion, was the best of the season. 

It had everything – two sides intent on pacy, attacking football, two sides searching for the three points and seven goals of the highest quality.

As well as praising his players after the game, Tony Burman commented on the part Sutton had played in an enthralling spectacle by saying “I think everyone in the stadium was pleased with that.  I’m delighted.  We’ve been a bit renowned for being slow starters, and Sutton have come out and made a game of it. 

“I thought it was an excellent first half, but we’ve shown our fitness in the second half. 

“Sutton gave it their all for 45 minutes, making it a real tough game, but we got the goal at the right time at the start of the second half.

“I didn’t expect a result like that, but I said at half-time that we’d hit a post so it could have been 3-0, but we’ve gone in 2-1. We’ve played some good stuff, but it has helped that Sutton have come here looking to win, and fair play to them.”

After a delay to kick-off due to problems with the nets at both ends after the warm-ups, Dartford were slow out of the blocks as Sutton’s movement and the pace of the four front men (former Gillingham man Leroy Griffiths, Craig Watkins, Craig Dundas and Harry Beautyman) pulled the home defence left and right, but the only real threat to the Dartford goal came from a Paul Telfer corner that Watkins fired wide on the turn.

With their first attack of the game though on 16 minutes, Dartford showed they could put Sutton’s back four under pressure as Danny Harris broke away down the left, drove into the area and fed the ball across to Jacob Erskine, whose first time shot was blocked by the legs of Sutton’s Kevin Scriven.

Within a minute, the hosts took the lead, wholly through the endeavour of the outstanding Lee Noble. 

A poor clearance by Sam Page was charged down by Noble, who ran through to the edge of the area and calmly dinked the ball over the advancing Scriven.

The goal rattled Sutton and three minutes later, Simon Downer bundled through Harris in the area as they fought for a Noble cross and after Elliot Bradbrook had miscontrolled, the official, who had been playing advantage, awarded the spot kick, that Adam Green converted with aplomb, sending Scriven the wrong way. 

Although in the keeper’s defence, it is unlikely he would have reached it anyway as the penalty was placed in the top right corner.

Dartford thought they had added a third on 25 minutes, as Noble, who terrorised former Scotland international Telfer all night, beat three Sutton defenders as he weaved across the edge of their area. 

Noble fired a left foot shot against the right hand post, which rebounded for Erskine to tap in, only for Mr Poynter’s flag to rule offside against the Darts forward.

But if they were down, Sutton certainly weren’t out of the game, and clawed their way back into it on 29 minutes as Griffiths deep cross from the left was met by Beautyman, arriving late and unchallenged, who headed down into the corner giving Louis Wells no chance.

There were chances aplenty in the remainder of the half, with Harris dinking another effort over Scriven only to see it scrape past the left post, Erskine fired a spectacular volley over the bar from 10 yards and Bradbrook outmuscled ex-Barnet defender Anwar Uddin, only to see his shot blocked by Scriven, who was quickly off his line again.

In return, Beautyman had a shot from 25 yards that drew a full-length, one-handed save from Wells, before Luke Wilkinson, rounding off a breathless first half, saw his header sail past the post from a Tom Champion cross.

Within 82 seconds of the restart, again delayed due to problems with the nets, Dartford increased their lead, and seemed to knock the stuffing out of their visitors. 

Noble was the creator, breaking down the right behind Telfer and firing a low cross to the near post where Harris somehow twisted his body to fire a header high into the net.

Dartford lost Jon Wallis to injury on 50 minutes, but this allowed Bradbrook to move into a more favoured central position, but this didn’t affect the hosts play. 

Harris curled a shot past the left post before Darts added a fourth on 69 minutes as Wilkinson’s towering header flew over Scriven into the top of the net.

Griffiths volleyed wide from the edge of the area, but Dartford’s superior fitness was telling as wave after wave of pressure fell on the Sutton defence.

Bradbrook added a fifth on 82 minutes, with arguably the goal of the game. 

The Darts’ skipper robbed Lewis Hunt 30 yards from goal, ran forward into space and curled a gem of a left foot shot past the helpless Scriven; a shot that barely got three foot off ground at any point in its flight.

Dartford scored a sixth with five minutes remaining as Erskine got the goal that his performance deserved. 

Lee Burns, on for Harris, drove into the left side of the box, laid the ball back to Erskine 8 yards out and the forward side-footed into the area, sending Scriven the wrong way.

Burman was full of praise for his two forwards saying “Danny and Jacob caused real problems, and Jacob is starting to show much better fitness now, he got through the 90 minutes, which is great.  We brought Danny off as a bit of a precaution, but when he plays like that there is no stopping him.  That’s what we want here; people to work hard, do their shift, and it is our main strength, that the players do work hard.”

And looking forward, the Darts’ boss added “Dorchester on Saturday is another three points and we’ve got to look to take them, that’s all we can do at this point.  We’ve got to give the players a lot of credit.  The form and the run that they’ve been on is excellent and I’m delighted for them.”

Dartford:  Louis Wells, Matt Jones, Adam Green, Tom Bonner, Luke Wilkinson, Tom Champion, Lee Noble (Ryan Hayes 83), Jon Wallis (James Rogers 50), Jacob Erskine, Elliot Bradbrook, Danny Harris (Lee Burns 76).
Subs: Tony Garrod, Deren Ibrahim

Goals: Lee Noble 17, Adam Green 21 (pen), Danny Harris 47, Luke Wilkinson 69, Elliot Bradbrook 82, Jacob Erskine 85

Sutton United:  Kevin Scriven, Simon Downer, Anwar Uddin, Craig Dundas, Lewis Hunt, Sam Page (Michael Boateng 46), Anthony Riviere (Bradley Woods-Garness 60), Craig Watkins (Kyle Vassell 80), Leroy Griffiths, Harry Beautyman, Paul Telfer.
Subs: Romone McCrae, Tony Taggart

Goal: Harry Beautyman 29

Booked: Anwar Uddin 68

Attendance: 1,022
Referee: Mr Dean Treleaven (Chichester, West Sussex)
Assistants: Mr Chris Pollard (Basingstoke, Hampshire) & Mr Guy Poynter (Stowmarket, Suffolk)