JEFFERSON Louis turned creator as Wealdstone beat Dartford to climb out of the bottom three on Saturday at The Vale. Injuries again forced changes to Stones line up and in came young Oliver Duffy at right back who performed well.
Louis made the opening goal for Tom Hamblin and claimed a second assist when Shaun Lucien made it 2-0 after the break.
Tom Bradbrook’s header set up a tense finish, but Stones held on for a vital three points, stretching their unbeaten league run to five matches in the process and moved up to 17th in the National League South table
Dale Binns cleared an early corner off the line for the hosts who had shouts for a penalty waved away whenloanee Matthew Lowe stumbled in the box.
That aside, a somewhat drab affair was ambling towards half-time goalless when Louis controlled a corner from the left and held off the challengers before squaring for Hamblin to drill his shot calmly through a crowd of bodies.
Dartford’s lack of confidence was palpable and the Kent side struggled to find control of the ball and too passesmany were lumped forward aimlessly
Stones lead doubled on 54 minutes. Louis’ strength showed again as he ran across the box before teeing up Lucien, who side-footed a calm finish to the far corner.
Dartford rallied with Bradbrook firing one chance inches too high before sending a thumping header in off the bar to halve the arrears with just over 15 minutes to play and a tense finish
However, great defending, marshalled by the outstanding Joshua McLeod-Urquhart meant an Andy Pugh shot straight at Jonathan North in 5 minutes ofstoppage-time was as close as Dartford came to a point.
Coach bookings are being taken for next Saturdays FA Cup tie at Brockenhurst, Contact Alan Palmer – details via www.wfcsc.co.uk/news
Attendance: 665
Wealdstone: North, Duffy (Corcoran 82), Binns, McLeod-Urquhart, Hamblin, Godfrey, Wright, Lowe, Louis (McGleish 90), Ball (Davies 76), Lucien
Subs not used: Hudson-Odoi, Calcutt
Dartford: Ibrahim, Gardiner, Wynter, E Bradbrook, McNaughton, Noble, Harris (Hayes 53) , Adams ( Cogan 53) , T Bradbrook, Pugh, Simmons (Dembele 67).
