Dartford 1 St Albans City 1 (St Albans won 5-3 on pens) match report: National League South Play-off Semi-final

Dartford suffered play-off penalty heartache for the second successive season – and the third time in four years – to lose Sunday’s National League South Play-off Semi-final against St Albans at Princes Park.

Samir Carruthers saw St Albans keeper Dylan Berry make a fine save low down to his right from Dartford’s first spot-kick. It proved a telling miss.​​​​​​

Shaun Jeffers had already put St Albans ahead, and Glenn McConnell, Zane Banton, Chay Cooper and Joe Neal all netted.

Dartford’s Luke Coulson, Charlie Sheringham and Keiran Murtagh all converted their penalties but St Albans made it five out of five to book their place in next weekend’s final.

It was a fourth play-off defeat in six years for Dartford whose quest for a return to the National League goes on for at least another 12 months.

The game started at a ferocious pace with St Albans immediately looking for the silky skills of Zane Banton down the left wing while on-loan Charlton man Richard Chin was prominent for the hosts – both covering back to double up on Banton as well as an attacking force.

Inside three minutes, Chin fed Maxwell Statham, whose shot was beaten away by keeper Dylan Berry following a long throw-in from Sam Odaudu.

Long throws were an early feature of Dartford’s game plan with centre-backs Tom Bonner and Connor Essam both going forward as they looked to utilise their height advantage.

After 10 minutes, Harvey Bradbury flicked the ball on for Chin, whose right-foot shot lacked enough power to trouble Berry.,

But the breakthrough arrived just two minutes later. Statham won an excellent tackle against Mitchell Weiss on halfway and the ball looped perfectly into the path of Bradbury. His first touch was perfect, the lob over keeper Berry was