Third in the league Dartford, entertain third from bottom Welling United in a Vanarama National League South local derby.  

For the Darts, it will be their second home derby in five days having entertained Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday evening. Although it was a tight match, Steve King’s team claimed all three points courtesy of Jake Robinson’s close range finish in the twenty-first minute. 

That followed their three-two victory at Tonbridge Angels four days earlier which ended a sticky patch for the Darts, during which they had gone six games without a win. 

It has been a quieter time for Welling as they have not played since the previous Tuesday when drawing at Braintree Town. They went in at half time one down and conceded a second almost immediately after the break. However, they showed their mettle by coming back and claiming an important point. Dipo Akinyemi pulled one back with a header and Aaron Barnes also used his head to good effect for the equaliser. 

When the two teams met at Welling in September, it was the Wings first match following the departure of manager Steve Lovell and they were put to the sword. There was less than a minute on the clock when Noor Husin put Dartford ahead. Ade Azeez added a second and Danny Leonard made it three before half time.

After the interval, Luke Allen scored two in three minutes and Azeez claimed his second as Dartford cruised to a six-nil win.

As Welling have gone four games without a win, the odds will be heavily stacked in favour of Dartford but both King and Welling manager, Peter Taylor, have been in the game long enough to know that local derbies don’t always follow the form guide. Both will be making preparations in training to get a positive result.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.