Dartford 1 Chelmsford 2 match report: Maxwell Statham scores but Harvey Bradbury is sent off in National League South

Harvey Bradbury saw red as Dartford lost a fiery encounter with Chelmsford on Tuesday night.

There was an edge throughout the contest with clearly no love lost between the two sides.

Chelmsford had come from behind to lead by the time Darts were reduced to 10 men.

Luke Jenkins went down off the ball on the edge of the penalty area but it then took around three minutes until referee Nick Dunn - presumably on the advice of his assistants, neither of whom flagged at the time - showed a red card.

Whether it was the reaction of the players, or even Jenkins himself who had to be restrained by both physio and the Chelmsford goalkeeper - it was enough for the officials to finally intervene. One spectator also ran onto the pitch, presumably in an attempt to confront Bradbury.

Dartford captain Luke Coulson and Chelmsford’s Henry Ochieng were both booked and play didn’t restart for six minutes.

It was an unsavoury incident that overshadowed what had been a decent battle between two sides trying to advance their claims for a play-off berth.

The Darts named the same side that started against Weston-super-Mare last midweek while Chelmsford made five changes having drawn at 10-man Tonbridge on Saturday.

Unlike seven days earlier, it was a fast start made by the hosts - no doubt a fact pointed out by manager Alan Dowson prior to kick-off.

Indeed, it was his opposite number who could be heard above all others during the opening stages - Chelmsford boss Robbie Simpson frustrated by his goalkeeper’s reluctance, in particular, to play the ball out from the back instead of going long.

Any watching managers who have fallen foul of the apparent clampdown on foul language coming from the technical area may have been left wondering why nothing