Dartford endured an afternoon of frustration as they were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Weston-super-Mare at Princes Park on Saturday.

Needing a win to close the gap on Blue Square Bet South leaders Woking - who were without a game - Darts boss Tony Burman named an unchanged side and Jacob Erskine drew a save from the Weston keeper inside 20 seconds as the hosts made a promising start.

Erskine was inches away from connecting with a fine cross from Danny Harris 10 minutes later but against the run of play the visitors stole the lead around the half-hour, Nat Pepperell bundling in from a goalmouth scramble after Dartford failed to deal with a corner.

Darts got back on level terms a minute before the break when Harris muscled his way through the defence, only to see his shot blocked by the keeper, but in the ensuing melee the ball broke to Adam Green (pictured) on the edge of the box to fire in right-footed.

The second half was a testy affair with Lee Noble cautioned for shirt-pulling in an incident which sparked a bust-up which saw two visiting players join him in the book.

Elliot Bradbrook headed over from a Green cross before Erskine became the second Darts player in the book, but inside the last 20 minutes the visitors were reduced to 10 after a nasty lunge by Jamie Price on Noble drew a red card and might have caused the midfielder injury had he not seen the challenge coming.

Substitute Ryan Hayes received a caution in the aftermath of the challenge and moments after hooking an effort over the bar, skipper Bradbrook became the latest Darts player cautioned as the game fizzled out into a draw.

The point sent Dartford in third, level on points with second-placed Sutton and above fourth-placed Welling on goal difference.

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