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Dartford 2 Eastbourne Borough 1

09:09, 30 November 2011

Tony Burman
Tony Burman

Dartford booked their place in the First Round of the FA Trophy after a 2-1 win over Eastbourne Borough in a Third Qualifying Round replay at Princes Park on Tuesday night.

Tony Burman's side booked a trip to Southern League Premier Division title-chasers Brackley Town on December 10 at the second attempt after a goalless draw in East Sussex on Saturday.

Ex-Dart Carl Rook clipped the bar with a header from Borough's first attack and soon after a Ryan Hayes corner was dropped by Eastbourne keeper Clark Masters, only to be regained amid a scramble.

Danny Harris saw a header stopped from an Adam Green cross while the visitors went close to an opener with a lob narrowly over Louis Wells' bar on the stroke of half-time.

After the break Lee Burns fired into the side-netting and Harris flicked a header just off target from a Hayes cross.

The deadlock was eventually broken in superb fashion just after the hour when Tom Champion unleashed a piledriver into the top corner from 30 yards out.

Five minutes later James Rogers saw a shot blocked and Green fired the rebound back across goal where Harris was able to turn into the net to calm the hosts' nerves.

Rook set up a tense finale when he converted a controversial penalty but the visitors saw Masters sent-off before the end for handball outside the area and with no replacement keeper on the bench, played out the final few minutes with outfielder Matt Smart in goal and Jon Wallis almost took advantage, lashing over the bar in the dying moments.

Burman (pictured) said: "We thoroughly deserved to go through. They basically parked the bus and we found it difficult to break them down.

"After the first goal we relaxed and got the second and our confidence and belief came back a bit.

"The penalty was a crazy decision, their player fell over his own teammate, and it was frustrating because we deserved a clean-sheet."

Do you think Dartford can get past Brackley in the First Round proper? Have your say below.

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