A lack of self-belief is threatening to derail Dartford’s hopes of winning automatic promotion from Blue Square Bet South this season.

The Darts were just one point behind leaders Woking in mid-October but a run of disappointing results in recent weeks has seen the gap widen to nine points after Woking’s midweek draw with Chelmsford.

Manager Tony Burman watched his side throw away a 2-0 lead at Eastleigh on Saturday, returning with just a point despite playing for an hour with a man extra.

Having dropped eight points in games against Boreham Wood, Truro and Weston-super-Mare, the Darts were unable to maximise their powerful position at Eastleigh and Burman could not hide his dismay at the capitulation.

He said: "The way we performed in the second half wasn’t good enough.

"There seemed to be a lack of belief that we could win and that’s disappointing.

"The players have to sort that out because if they can’t play with confidence and belief when we’re fourth in the table, we’re going to be in trouble.

"We played with a lack of intelligence and belief. That’s strange, with the way the game went."