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Dartford 0 Barnet 2

Jason Prior
Jason Prior

Dartford's losing run continued on Tuesday night and so did their injury crisis.

They suffered a seventh straight defeat at the hands of Barnet and had striker Jason Prior taken to hospital with a serious leg injury.

The visitors had enough decent efforts to have won by a more comfortable margin and only some good goalkeeping by Phil Smith kept the score down.

Elsewhere, Aldershot Town's 2-1 win over Braintree lifted them above the Darts and left Tony Burman's side 23rd in the Skrill Premier having played at least a game more than every other side on the division.

Dartford, beaten 1-0 at home by Gateshead on Saturday, were forced to make one change to their starting XI.

Lee Noble began a three-game ban after being sent off in that game, with Prior drafted in to replace him. That meant Prior partnered Adam Birchall in attack for the first time since August.

Matt Godden, who missed the Gateshead game with a calf injury, was fit enough for the bench.

Barnet boss Edgar Davids played for the Bees at Grimsby on Saturday but he was neither on the pitch or in the dugout at Princes Park. Former Dartford striker Harry Crawford, who left to join Barnet in January, didn't feature either.

The first chance of note fell to the home side. Dave Martin whipped in a free-kick from the left and Elliot Bradbrook hooked a volley goalwards which Graham Stack saved.

But it was Barnet who took the lead on 18 minutes. Ahmed Abdulla played a terrific ball down the inside-right channel and Keanu Marsh-Brown smashed an unstoppable shot high beyond Smith.

Birchall drilled a low shot straight at Stack from the left-hand corner of the Bees box but Dartford were soon 2-0 down.

Luisma Villa let fly with a free-kick from 20 yards and his shot was too hot for Smith to handle, the on-loan Portsmouth man able only to help it into the net.

Things got worse for Dartford when they lost Prior to injury. The big centre-forward was involved in a whole-hearted challenge with Jack Saville and he went down straight away, clutching his ankle. Prior returned to the field after treatment but less than a minute later he pulled up and had to go off.

Martin had a cross volleyed crisply over by the industrious Birchall, before Smith got down to grab a deflected George Sykes effort at the other end on the stroke of half-time.

Bradbrook had barely emerged from the tunnel for the second half when he went down holding his ribs. The Darts skipper cracked two in the FA Cup tie against Ebbsfleet four weeks earlier and had only returned from the injury at the weekend. However, he managed to play on despite the discomfort.

Dartford's next change was an attacking one, Lee Burns making way for Godden.

They almost fell further behind, though, when Luke Gambin struck the woodwork twice in as many minutes. He curled one effort against the far post with the outside of his left boot, before rattling the crossbar with a magnificent strike from 30 yards.

At the other end, a determined run from Birchall earned him a yard of space in the Barnet box. His shot took a deflection and almost looped over Stack, but the goalkeeper recovered to tip the ball behind.

Bees substitute Kieron Cadogan forced a good low save from Smith, who was then called into action again to claw Marsh-Brown's wicked strike out of the top corner.

The Darts huffed and puffed in the closing stages but they never really had Barnet in trouble. Godden beat two defenders to create an opening but the Scunthorpe loanee lashed his shot well wide.

Dartford: Smith, Collier, Clark, Essam, Sterling, Harris, Burns (Godden 60mins), Bradbrook, Martin, Prior (Woodyard 42mins), Birchall. Subs not used: Mitchel-King, Fry, Akinwande.

Barnet: Stack, Yiadom, Johnson, Weston, Saville, Marsh-Brown, Gambin (Fletcher 71mins), Abdulla, Villa (Cadogan 65mins), Sykes (Nurse 74mins), Stephens. Subs not used: Byrne, Jupp.

Attendance: 803.

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