Dartford will be hoping a midweek injury to striker Charlie Sheringham isn’t a bad one.

Sheringham limped off on Tuesday night shortly after being introduced as a substitute in the pre-season friendly at Chatham, a match that ended 1-1.

The experienced striker, back with the Darts for a fourth spell this season, came off after a challenge from Chatham’s Simon Cooper.

Darts boss Alan Dowson has no issues with the tackle but is hoping for the best with the new league season starting next Saturday.

“We are hoping he will be okay,” said the manager. “We just have to keep our fingers crossed.

“The lad had to go for the tackle, there were no complaints from me, that is football, that’s life.

“I said to them before the match, they will get at you and they did and the lads have to be able to deal with a tackle, no problem at all.”

Dowson should at least have fellow forward Alex Wall back training this week following a niggle. He could be involved at Canvey Island on Saturday if he gets involved in Thursday’s session. Midfielder Luke Allen, meanwhile, came through to play 70 minutes as he returns from his own lay-off.

Dan Roberts scored for Dartford in Tuesday's match, with a simple finish after skilful play out wide by Marvin Herschel. Dan Bradshaw had put the Isthmian League side ahead in what was a good competitive fixture.

Dowson said: “We had to leave players out because they have had a few games lately but fair play to Chatham, I thought they were excellent, they have a good set-up and a good bunch of lads, it was a really good test.

“We have done the same, we played Millwall and Charlton, and all these so-called higher teams but we were given a massive test all round and I thought a draw was a fair result, fair play to them.”

Chatham boss Kevin Hake has his own injury issues, with centre-back Dean Beckwith limping off with a strain.

“We looked like we could have nicked it, it could have gone either way,” he said.

“The main thing is our fitness is starting to get there just under two weeks away from the start of the season.

“I’m really pleased with how pre-season has gone, new lads have come in, existing players have done really well, we are nearly there.”