Dartford’s start to life in the Isthmian Premier could not have gone much better, as they recorded an opening day victory against Cray Valley PM.

Manager Adrian Pennock took control of the Darts at the backend of last season and is now set to oversee his first full season at Princes Park. When speaking to Kent Sports News, he expressed his delight with starting the new season on a positive note.

“Refreshing, isn’t it? It’s nice that we got the three points, especially on the road and for the first game of the season. I think they only lost once here last season.”

“It’s a big three points. There’s a lot to improve on, we know that. It’s unbelievable, when teams go down to ten men, they always get that extra step and we took a step back. It’s unbelievable what happens, you should go on and win!”

“I’ve got to say, the first thirty minutes of the game, we should have been four nil up. We played some lovely football, and we had some good chances, we should have buried them really. Give them credit, they really dug in.”

“Our keeper’s got GBH from their goal, but obviously that happens. I thought the game was won on a spectacular goal, a fantastic goal to watch, and he’s got that in his locker [Denzelle] has. It’s a great goal to get the three points.”

Pennock has overseen a complete rebuild of the Dartford squad this summer, with thirteen new players signed and eight academy graduates included in the men’s squad. Five players from the academy featured in Saturday’s win, and he believes their inclusion makes the result a bit sweeter.

“It’s incredible. Olly [Box] hasn’t been training all week, for the last ten days he’s had a groin injury, so I had to be sensible and take him off at the right time. He was a handful, obviously set up the first goal. I think him and Callum [Jones] will do well, and obviously you’ve got Duane [Ofori-Acheampong] and Samir [Carruthers] to come back in.”

“Not just the academy boys, I’ve signed some young ones as well, and even Denzelle’s only young. They did really well. Overall, really pleased.”

One player that did sign was Dwight Pascal, but the right back left shortly after arriving. Trialist Samuel Okoye was signed as his replacement, and he barely put a foot wrong on debut.

“He’s solid, he’s very quick, he loves to defend, he likes to go forward. He’s settled in really well. Obviously, he came off with cramp, but look how well Dean [Nayler] did coming on, he’s from the academy. I’m really pleased with Sam.”

While the new-look squad is relatively youthful, a number of experienced players have also been brought in. Samir Carruthers and Duane Ofori-Acheampong are two such examples; Pennock provided an update on their fitness, as well as plaudits for their impact on the squad:

“Hopefully [Samir] will be a couple of weeks. He’s working hard, and he’s responding to treatment which is good, and he’ll be a very positive signing for us. With Duane, he had a scan on his knee this week and has come back very good, so I reckon about three to four weeks for him to be back in.”

“I think with Samir, with his experience, he’s very good around the young ones, same as Duane, same as Josh Hill, same as Tyler [Christian-Law]. Those experienced players have been invaluable to us, they’ve got to play a big part in what we want to do this year because we are rebuilding, and they’re a big part of it.”

“How I look at it is everybody left, we’re not carrying anybody from last year so there’s no headaches, so it is a clean slate. We’ve got to gel, it’s very early days yet, we’ve got a lot to improve on, which is great. There’s a lot of hard work still to be done, but it’s nice to get three points at the start of the season.”