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Dartford assistant manager Paul Sawyer looking forward to taking on Maidstone United at the Gallagher Stadium

Dartford are determined to quieten the Gallagher Stadium crowd by getting their play-off hopes back on track at Maidstone this weekend.

Saturday sees the two promotion-chasing Kent rivals clash in one of the biggest games of the season, with plenty at stake for both clubs.

Dartford are three points outside the top-five with four games left while Stones still have an outside chance of winning National League South.

Dartford and Maidstone drew 1-1 at Princes Park in November Picture: Andy Payton
Dartford and Maidstone drew 1-1 at Princes Park in November Picture: Andy Payton

Big games have brought the best out of the Darts at times this season and assistant manager Paul Sawyer hopes that trend will continue on Saturday.

He said: "It’s a massive game and there will be a big crowd down there. Maidstone have still got a lot to play for.

"It’s a big derby, we enjoyed the game at Ebbsfleet last week and we’re looking forward to Saturday’s game as well.

"We’ll go there and play our normal game. We need to make sure we don’t get carried away with the crowd, concentrate, be organised and make it hard for Maidstone.

"They’ve got their own pressures at the moment and we’ll enjoy it there.

"We’ll give it all we can and hopefully come away with three points."

Dartford have been in and out of the top-five regularly since first breaking into the play-off places in January.

Victory at home to Maidenhead on Saturday was followed by a 3-0 defeat away to Truro in midweek, allowing Maidenhead to climb back above the Darts into fifth.

Sawyer said: "It’s disappointing and it’s happened a few times but we’ve still got 12 points to play for.

"It’s a big game on Saturday and if we can reverse Tuesday night’s score on Saturday and get a good result down there, everything’s back on again.

"Four games is still a lot of points to play for. There will be results which are unexpected.

"We were probably surprised to get back in the top-five at the weekend, disappointed to drop out again but there’s no reason we can’t get back in there again."

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