MATCH REPORT | DARTFORD 2 HASHTAG UNITED 0
Dartford secured a tenth consecutive win to remain top of the league, after a hard-fought game against Hashtag United on a cold afternoon at Bericote Powerhouse Princes Park.
As the 1,353 supporters wrapped up and got comfortable, the early signs favoured the hosts as they created some good opportunities. Olly Box was a lively character as usual, who came close within eight minutes as The Tags struggled to contain him.
The youngster forced Jack Giddens into a good save (16), before Callum Jones was brought down inside the box by Joshua Rusoke following a wonderful ball from Michael Olarewaju. The Hashtag player received a yellow card from referee Mr Peter Conn, before Jones converted the spot-kick (18) to net his eleventh goal of the season.
The goalscorer came close to adding a second from a spectacular effort (20), before Sakariya Hassan missed the target with a glorious opportunity at the other end (21).
The pendulum swung in favour of the visitors from that point onwards (until the break), as their pacey attack pinned the Darts back for long periods.
Max Cornhill’s low long-range drive was stopped by a superb diving block by skipper Josh Hill (28), before Marsden raced off his line to prevent Tobias Aromolaran from scoring (31). The goalkeeper then pulled off an excellent save from a close-range effort, following brilliant work by Joshua Osude and Matthew Wooldridge (40).
Yet for all their efforts, they couldn’t find that equalising goal, something that would come back to haunt them later on in the game.
The second forty-five saw the Darts contain the visitors for longer periods while looking the more likely to score that important second goal.
Only a superb save by Jack Giddens prevented Callum Jones from scoring after 55 minutes, before a desperate defensive clearance stopped another effort following Louis Dunne’s dangerous corner (65).
Dunne then came agonisingly close following brilliant work by Olly Box and the excellent Sam Odaudu (71), before Giddens thwarted Callum Jones (74).
The Dartford number three was soon at it again, as he combined well with Box before setting up the youngster to fire home Dartford’s second goal to seal the win with five minutes to spare, much to the delight of everyone involved with the club.
As far as substitutions are concerned, Ady Pennock made his first change in the 76th minute, when Jeremiah Pinder replaced Louis Dunne. That was followed by a double swap on 88 minutes, as Michael Olarewaju and Olly Box left the field to be replaced by Samuel Okoye and Eddie Dsane respectively, before Tyler Christian-Law came on for Callum Jones deep into stoppage time.
Olly Box won the Man of The Match award for his excellent performance, while Jacob Marsden’s exploits secured him a tenth clean-sheet of the season in what was a highly entertaining game of football.
TEAMS
DARTFORD: Jacob Marsden, Sam Odaudu, Josh Hill (c), Michael Olarewaju, Luther Williams, George Whitefield, Hayden Bullas, Denzelle Olopade, Louis Dunne, Olly Box, Callum Jones.
SUBSTITUTES: Duane Ofori-Acheampong, Samuel Okoye, Tyler Christian-Law, Eddie Dsane, Jeremiah Pinder.
HASHTAG UNITED: Jack Giddens, Matthew Wooldridge, Nathan Smith, Thomas Anderson, Max Cornhill (c), Sakariya Hassan, Misha Djemaili, Tobias Aromolaran, Jermaine Anderson, Joshua Osude, Joshua Rusoke.
SUBSTITUTES: Harry Haysom, Alexandru Bolovan, Ayo Olukoga, Mert Apat, Luke May-Parrott.
Chris Palmer
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