Dartford’s woes against sides at the bottom of Blue Square Premier continued as Barrow made the long trip South to secure three vital points in their own relegation fight.

A tight game which was always going to decided by just a solitary goal or mistake and so it proved, yet in Darts boss Tony Burman’s eyes whilst the solitary goal came from an undisputed Barrow penalty, the mistakes came from referee Breakspear who not only appeared to deny Dartford their own clear cut penalty just two minutes after Barrow took the lead when Danny Harris was crudely sandwiched between two defenders, but also in Burman’s eyes, when the official failed to send off Barrow defender Steve Williams for crudely stopping Elliot Bradbrook’s charging run as the Darts skipper burst through midway through the first half.

The game’s only goal arrived with just 18 minutes left on the clock as a mazy run from Alex-Ray Harvey completely bamboozled Dartford full back Richard Rose, and from the spot Richie Baker rolled the penalty almost straight down the middle of the goal as Marcus Bettinelli in the Darts goal dived to his right.

“Three decisions have gone against us tonight – they’re blatant decisions and I think the referee has got two of them wrong,” admitted Burman after the game.

“He’s given his honest opinion and thinks it’s not a penalty to us and it’s not a sending off but I’m sorry but I disagree with him.”

“That said I have no complaints at all about their penalty – the decision was 100 percent right, but I think he’s got two others completely wrong – there’s a decision where our players going through and the last man’s taken him out and that should have been a sending off – I never want to see players sent off – but that’s the laws of the game and then there’s our blatant penalty that to me was as obvious as theirs!”

Yet over the 90 minutes, it was Barrow who created the better chances as the points disappeared back to Cumbria as the Darts failed to score against a side threatened with relegation for the second game in a row.

Indeed the Darts goal had an incredible escape on seven minutes when the visitors incredibly had FOUR goal scoring chances within a matter of seconds.  Danny Rowe broke into the Dartford box following a mistake only to be denied by a fabulous Bettinelli block.

The ball then ran free to Baker whose shot from the edge of the box was cleared off the line and when the ball ran free again only a marvelous goal line clearance from Lee Burns stopped Adam Dawson from scoring.  From the resulting corner, the Dartford defence conceded a free kick on the edge of the box from which Bettinelli produced a magnificent save away to his right to deny Baker.

As if rattled by this early let off, the Darts couldn’t get going as they pressed forward, yet on 20 minutes came the first of the decisions that was to anger Burman so much as the evening wore on.

Bradbrook burst through the Barrow defence only to be brought down by Williams, who must have held his breath as the referee consulted with his assistant before “only” brandishing the yellow card!  Indeed it was the Darts skipper who was to have the side’s best chance in an otherwise disappointing first half for the home team.  From a deep corner for the left, Bradbrook managed to free himself of some very tight marking and managed to get in a diving header which somehow was brilliantly headed off the line by Garry Hunter.

The second half began just as the first with Dartford almost shooting themselves in the foot and gifting Barrow the lead just past the hour.  After Burns had done very well to have held off the challenge of Rowe, yet as the ball seemed  to have rolled through to Bettinelli, the Darts stopper lost control of the ball, and whilst he did well to deny the Barrow man at first, Rowe skipped round the keeper to drive in an angled shot only for Burns to yet again come to his keeper’s rescue and clear the ball off the line.

It only though sadly delayed the inevitable by 10 minutes, as with just eighteen minutes left, Harvey’s run was ended by Rose, and Baker easily rolled the ball into to net to send the thirty or so Barrow fans behind the goal into scenes of wild celebration.

Yet just 90 seconds later, those same fans must have had their hearts in their mouths as Harris burst into the Barrow box, only to become the “meat” in a Barrow sandwich.  Few in the crowd would have been surprised if the official had pointed to the spot – many in the crowd though were insensed when referee Breakspear waved play on!  In the officials defence, he was well positioned, but still his decision left many, including Darts boss Burman, shaking their heads in disbelief!

The frustrations of some of the players boiled over in the closing stages and there were a couple of squabbles but these were soon sorted out by the officials, but at the final whistle it was the visitors who celebrated as they closed to within a couple of points of safety.

For Dartford meanwhile, Burman wont accept that their position in the Division is guaranteed quite yet for next season.

“Will 50 points be enough?” he asked after the game with his side marooned on 49.  “The truth is that I don’t know…”

Three points on Saturday against a Gateshead side who are “playing catch up” and three games a week (they lost at Alfreton on Tuesday and play Newport on Thursday) will certainly help ease any worries the Darts boss may have at the end of what has been a great season for the club!

DARTFORD – Bettinelli, Rose, Champion, Bonner, Hayes (Noble), Bradbrook, Harris, Arber, Burns, Evans (Collier), Prior (Erskine)

Subs – Wallis & Rogers

BARROW – Hurst, Skelton, Hessey, Owen, Baker, Boyes, Rowe, Dawson (Flynn), Harvey, Hunter, Williams.

Subs – O’Donnell & Tonge

Referee – Charles Breakspear
Assistants – Alex Neil & Jonathan Pickford

Attendance – 908