Out of the personnel who took to the pitch for the Dartford v Welling United match, only six of those who met at Princes Park on Boxing Day 2013 were on the pitch and one was referee Nicholas Kinseley.
Until the game boiled over towards the end, there was not the intensity you would expect from a local derby and the game did not have the atmosphere that a Christmas fixture might have had.
Kieron St. Aimie drew a save out of Darts goalkeeper Jason Brown and Peter Sweeney drove wide for the Darts.
So scrappy was the game, that it came as surprise that the strike for the opening goal was of such quality.
Danny Harris delivered a wonderful cross that Barney Williams did superbly to clear, but Max Cornhill followed up with a clean shot that flew inside the far post for the one moment of quality in front of goal in the first half.
At the break, Harry Crawford replaced Andy Pugh and made his mark six minutes after the break. Ryan Hayes had time to look up before delivering a perfect cross for the Darts substitute to head home.
Harry Beautyman had a shot deflected wide but Welling struggled to create an opening against a team that did not show fatigue despite a tough game three days earlier.
Substitute Malachi Hudson then also saw a shot blocked away for a corner, then a low drive from Jamal Fyfield was claimed at the second attempt by Brown as St. Aimie closed in.
In reply, Cornhill came close with a curling free kick and a Hayes drive came back off Welling’s goalkeeper. Jonathan Henly.
Having been booked harshly earlier, the referee chose to show no leniency when Gallagher mistimed a challenge on Peter Sweeney and showed him a second yellow.
There were four minutes left on the clock when Welling gave themselves a lifeline. Hudson did the hard work and when the ball came out, Beautyman smashed home from twenty yards with the help of a deflection off Tom Bender.
Any hopes that Welling had of getting something out of the game were lost when Welling were reduced to nine. Although Lee Noble’s challenge on Chris Bush was poor, the retaliation gave the referee no choice but to brandish his red card again.
Dartford: Brown, Burns (Driver 87), Bender, Cornhill, McAuley, Bradbrook E, Hayes (Daley 85), Noble, Pugh (Crawford 46), Sweeney. Harris.
Unused substitutes: Ibrahim, Vint.
Welling United: Henly, Williams, Jefford (Chambers 67), Day, Bush, Fyfield, Beautyman, Gallagher, St Aimie, Penny, Healy (Hudson 67).
Unused substitutes: Fagan, Bassele, Corne.
Referee: Nicholas Kinseley
Attendance: 1,512
Man of the match: Elliot Bradbrook
Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.