Lee Noble’s stunning second half volley, after a slightly fortuitous opener from Alex Wall, sealed a victory for Dartford, which extends their unbeaten run to five games as they look to escape from the Skrill Premier relegation battle.

Wall scored his third goal in the fifth game of his loan spell from Luton Town in the thirteenth minute, curling a low ball into the six-yard box that evaded Rhys Evans’ desperate dive as it found the netting inside the left hand post.

Hereford had clear chances to equalise and possibly win the game before Noble’s intervention three minutes after coming on as a replacement for Alex Woodyard. Noble’s strike, hitting a dropping clearance with a volley that flew into the top left corner from fully 30 yards, was against the run of play, but gave Dartford the lift they needed to hold onto a vital three points.

Darts’ manager, Tony Burman, said “One or two of them are shattered, but at least they are shattered with three points. There were some tired legs out there as we played on a heavy pitch on Tuesday, and again today, but the fight and work-rate is something we insist on.”

“We need to get as much as we can from any game and I’ve got to give credit to the players, they’ve been excellent since the turn of the year. There is a little bit of belief, a little spark here now and there is a chance.”

“It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we were under a lot of pressure. They are a big team and get the ball in the box early, but I think we’ve defended really well.”

“Maybe we were a bit fortunate, but sometimes you earn that right. The clean sheet was important as it is another confidence boost.”

“We’ve said there is a little league down here, and it’s a massive league for the teams that are being drawn into it.

“We’ve gone from fourth in it to second, but there are five teams there and we’ve got to keep on plugging away. We’ve ridden our luck a bit, but overall we deserved to get the result today.”

Hereford’s story was one of good chances that weren’t taken, and only rarely was Dartford’s keeper Alan Julian troubled. The visitors had the first chance of the match, with a Michael Rankine header being directed on target, but as in this instance, too often the effort lacked power.

Dartford had a half-chance when a rebound hit Jim Stevenson’s legs and flew wide, but the home side didn’t have to wait too long before they took the lead.

Alex Wall found himself one-on-one with Dominic Collins on the angle at the right edge of the area. The forward took a step left and appeared to curl a ball into the 6-yard box, where Rhys Evans failed to react until it was too late and the ball continued inside the left post.

Rankine and Collins both put efforts off-target as Hereford’s wide men delivered dangerous balls into the Dartford area. But Collins was also a relieved man as his back-header from a hopeful Alex Woodyard ball into the box almost deceived his own keeper; Evans stretching high to catch the ball in his fingertips having advanced from his line.

Evans, who missed Hereford’s seven-goal drubbing by Luton last week, was alert before the interval to save a Wall freekick low to his right. Then, the keeper was brave to twice get down to deny Danny Harris and Wall, as the ball pinballed around the Hereford area, eventually being cleared after a Stevenson shot was blocked by Collins’ legs.

At the other end, Julian was called into action to hold efforts from Rankine and Rod McDonald, but as happened too often, neither attempt stretched the Dartford keeper.

The opening moments of the second half were a different story, as Dartford seemed to have stayed in the dressing room. Sam Smith had a shot from the edge of the area palmed behind by Julian; the keeper appearing to be unsighted until the last moments, before Julian threw himself point blank in front of a Rankine header to maintain Dartford’s lead.

A Wall freekick caused panic inside the Hereford box on the hour as the ball fell first to Rory McAuley, whose stabbed shot was parried by Evans. The Bulls’ keeper was up quickly and bravely threw himself at the feet of Elliot Bradbrook to deny the Dartford skipper before the ball was eventually cleared.

Hereford should arguably have equalised with the best chance of the match moments later. Walker found himself with time on the right wing to measure a cross into the area.

Francis Artus had ghosted into the area unnoticed and his header shaved the left-hand post with the Dartford defence rooted to the spot.

Smith had another shot that was lifted high over the bar then, from another Walker cross, drifted away from Tyrone Sterling to put a header just past the right post.

Lee Noble had been introduced to provide some fresh legs into the Dartford midfield, and within three minutes of his arrival, had struck a stunning second for the home side.

A Noble freekick to the back post was flicked away by Collins, denying Bradbrook a header from five yards, but as the ball was swung back into the area, Hereford thought they had cleared the danger.

The ball dropped to Noble thirty yards out, and he hit a volley that arrowed past Evans’ despairing dive into the top left corner.  Even Julian raced seventy plus yards to join in the celebrations.

Collins fired a shot over, after Walker’s cross had evaded Bradbrook, and Walker saw a shot parried behind by Julian, but the more Hereford pressed for a way back into the game, the more resolute they found the Dartford back-line, well marshalled by the outstanding McAuley.

So it is four wins and a draw from the last five games for Dartford and, just as they did last season, they are gaining these results against the former Football League sides.  But with games coming up against the teams around them, maybe, just maybe, they may be dreaming of “The Great Escape”.

DARTFORD: Alan Julian, Lee Burns, Mat Mitchell-King, Rory McAuley, Tyrone Sterling, Alex Woodyard (Lee Noble 67), Jim Stevenson, Max Cornhill, Elliot Bradbrook. Danny Harris (Kenny Clark 90), Alex Wall (Ben Swallow 83).

Subs not used: Nathan Collier, Mikel Suarez.

Goals: Alex Wall 13, Lee Noble 71.

HEREFORD UNITED: Rhys Evans, Danny Leadbitter, Luke Graham, Dominic Collins, Rod McDonald (Chris Bush 71), Dan Walker, Jonathan Brown, Francis Artus, Rob Purdie (Chris Sharp 71), Sam Smith, Michael Rankine (Cory Williams 77).

Subs not used: Jamie Edge, Daniel Lloyd-Weston.

Booking: Luke Graham 35.

Attendance: 1,137
Referee: Mr Daniel Cook
Assistants: Mr Tim Donnellan and Mr David Spain
4th Official: Mr John Pike