Dartford 1 Carshalton Athletic 4 match report: Isthmian Premier title goes to Horsham as Billericay and Dartford miss out on final day

Dartford head into the Isthmian Premier play-offs on the back of a home defeat on Saturday.

The Darts will host Cray Valley in the semi-final at Princes Park on Wednesday night, having seen their title hopes fade in the final week of what has been an excellent campaign for Ady Pennock’s men.

There were two changes for Dartford from the team that drew at Cray Wanderers with Samir Carruthers and Tyler Christian-Law replacing Sam Okoye and Louis Dunne.

The hosts needed both leaders Billericay and Horsham to slip up while winning their game as well.

It was always a tall order but any hope they had of putting pressure on their rivals disappeared after 10 minutes when Carshalton took the lead.

The lively Abdulla Salami twisted and turned his way into the box before firing brilliantly across keeper Jacob Marsden into the far corner.

Understandably, it was a largely subdued opening half from the Darts, who were only knocked off top spot on Monday.

Billericay and Horsham both conceded early goals but even that didn’t change the mood at Princes Park.

Defender Michael Olarewaju took matters into his own hands on 26 minutes, letting fly from 30 yards to produce an excellent save from keeper Aaron Watkins.

Olly Box tried his best to spark the Darts into life, narrowly missing Christian-Law’s cross after a quickly taken free-kick before seeing his 20-yard shot deflected wide.

Carshalton had plenty of pace in attack and Salami almost added a second when he fired against the post five minutes before half-time.

But the visitors did double their advantage in the sixth minute of stoppages when Salami crossed to give Brian Ifeanyi a simple tap-in. By then, Horsham had turned their game around and were on course for the title with both the