Dartford’s Lee Noble was back to his best on Saturday – thanks to a quiet word in his ear before kick-off.

The midfielder started his first game for almost three months as the Darts held high-flying Cambridge to a draw on their own patch.

Noble’s previous start was against Alfreton on December 21, when he was sent-off for the second time in a month and the fourth time in 16 months.

But after impressing in recent cameo appearances from the bench, Noble deserved – and subsequently took – his chance to impress from the start on Saturday.

Darts boss Tony Burman said: "I needed to bring Nobes back in. I felt he was ready to come back in.

"I had a chat with him before the game because I wanted him to do all the right things and let people talk about him for the right reasons."

Noble clearly heeded Burman’s advice because he was the best player on the pitch at Cambridge.

He said: "The manager told me to keep my composure, not to get frustrated if things weren’t going well.

"You’ve got to take your chance when the manager calls on you, however long it’s for. You just want to do a job for him."