Dartford boss Ady Pennock is hoping an unexpected break from action has come at the right time.

After an opening month disrupted by injuries and suspensions, the Darts travel to Aveley in Isthmian Premier this Saturday on the back of a fortnight off.

While Pennock would have preferred to have been in the FA Cup last weekend, he’s taken the opportunity to get to work with his squad on the training ground.

“We didn’t want to be out of the FA Cup, obviously,” said Pennock. “But we’ve had lots of injuries and suspensions so it has come at the right time.

“We’ve had Dan Smith, Michael Olarewaju, Sam Okoye, Sam Odaudu and Sammie McLeod all out and hopefully a few of them will be involved on Saturday.

“We’ve had lots of knee injuries as well which has been incredible, really. But it can’t be helped, although all of them are key players.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of a blessing having the break, but I don’t want people to think that I didn’t want to be in the FA Cup.

“We’ve had these two weeks off and they’ve been working very hard in training.”

It means new signing Joe Tennent has had five training sessions with the squad after making the switch from Dover.

Pennock is hoping Tennent’s experience can help the young defenders around him.

“We’re pleased with that signing because there’s a bit more experience at the back,” said Pennock. “He’s settled in really well.

“In the second half of games compared to the first half we’ve been chalk and cheese, and we have given teams goals.

“It’s a little bit of naivety, because we are very young and they’re still learning their trade, but we’ve gone half-time two-nil down, three-one down. And then second half, after a few words, we’ve come back and played incredibly well.

“It could be a second-year syndrome situation, where these youngsters have come in last year, and it’s all new to them and exciting, and expectation levels weren’t there.

“This year is where the young ones, they’ve had a year under their belt, expectation has gone through the roof for them, individually.

“Maybe they’re not hitting them heights at the moment, but I’m very optimistic and positive in my thinking that we’re not too far away from being a very good side.”

The topsy-turvy nature of Dartford’s start to the campaign is reminiscent in some ways of last season.

But Pennock has seen enough in games to know that they are not far away if they can put together the performance for 90 minutes, rather than just the second half.

“In the second half of most games we’ve been exceptional and should be winning them comfortably,” he added.

“We’ve just got to get that first 45 minutes right, and it will come. It is really strange, because do I give them a rocket even before they’ve even kicked the ball?

“It’s confusing in some ways, but we’re positive about things because we can see how amazing we’ve been in the second half of games.

“I’m not too worried because we’ve created so many chances. Apart from Dulwich, I think in every single game we’ve played we’ve created so many chances.”

Dartford’s campaign last season was kickstarted by a trip to Erith Town in the league cup.

They meet the same opponents on Tuesday in the Kent Senior Cup and Pennock is hoping that proves a lucky omen.

“We played Erith last season having gone through the same sort of form and maybe it’s an omen that it’s going to happen all over again,” said Pennock.

“We’ve got a lot of games coming up, we’re playing twice a week for the next few weeks, so hopefully we can build some momentum.”