Dartford 2 Wrexham 1
Elliot Bradbrook wins this aerial battle
against Wrexham. Picture: Andy Payton
Dartford produced a superb second-half fightback to secure a
memorable 2-1 win over leaders Wrexham at Princes Park on Saturday
lunchtime.
The Blue Square Bet Premier clash was postponed due to a
waterlogged pitch and heavy rainfall on Friday night, however after
a pitch inspection the game eventually began at 1pm the following
day.
The visitors – who had been forced to spend a second night in a
local hotel – controlled much of the opening 45 minutes, though the
hosts came close to the opening goal when Jacob Erskine’s header
from a corner on 23 minutes was nodded off the line by Dean Keates
with keeper Chris Maxwell nowhere.
The scare spurred the Dragons into life however and they took
the lead just three minutes later when the influential Kevin
Thornton freed Danny Wright to beat Marcus Bettinelli.
Although Darts were chasing the game, the closest either side
came to adding to the scoring before the break was a rising shot
from Wrexham’s Joe Clarke shortly before the interval.
The game eventually changed with the introduction of Jack Evans
from the bench 22 minutes from time and just five minutes after
coming on he collected a ball only half-cleared by the Wrexham
defence and drilled a low shot under the dive of Maxwell from the
edge of the box to restore parity.
The hosts continued to pile on the pressure and Maxwell produced
a fine save to deny Elliot Bradbrook while the Darts saw an
87th-minute winner ruled out for offside.
However the clincher was even more dramatic, arriving two
minutes into stoppage-time when Bradbrook rose highest to head home
an inswinging corner and send the Darts fans wild.
The visitors - who had lost just once in their 17 previous games
and not since 2012 - had one final chance to snatch a point, only
for Wright to screw his shot wide of goal from an angle.
The points briefly saw Darts return to the top-10, although they
settled in 12th after the day’s other games, while Wrexham remain
top on goal difference.
10/03/13