Dartford 1 Hemel Hempstead 1 match report: Paul Rooney scores National League South equaliser for Dartford

Dartford remain in the National League South relegation zone after former boss Alan Dowson failed to mark his return with a win.

Dowson’s Hemel team took a first-half lead on Saturday but Dartford manager Ady Pennock saw his team fight back to end a run of five league defeats in a row.

Hemel had also lost their last six league games so perhaps a stalemate was of little surprise to the 1,310 inside Princes Park.

Dowson had to watch on from the directors’ box as he served a one-match touchline ban for picking up three yellow cards, some of those offences ironically coming earlier in the season while he was in charge of the Darts.

As for Dartford, Pennock handed starts to loan trio Rhys Byrne in goal, Harrison Sodje in defence and Ollie Bray in attack.

Dartford lined-up with a 4-3-3 formation and it was Fumnaya Shomotun who looked their brightest spark in the early exchanges.

He showed good footwork to go past a number of players inside the penalty area in the fifth minute but his goalbound shot was cleared off the line by the alert Chris Smith for Hemel.

Not only was it a return for Dowson, but former Darford forward Pierre Fonkeu was also back at his former club. However, injury cut short his afternoon and he hobbled off inside the first 15 minutes.

Debutant left-back Sodje took time to settle into the game with on-loan Gills man Ike Orji getting plenty of joy down the right for Hemel.

When substitute Giuseppe Iaciofano got past Sodje on 26 minutes he delivered an excellent ball across the face of goal but noone was on hand to touch it home.

Dartford had another good opening two minutes later when Paul Rooney kept alive Luke Coulson’s free-kick but Shomotun rushed his right-foot shot and screwed it horribly wide of the