Dartford defender Paul Rooney reacts to 1-1 draw with Hemel Hempstead and relegation battle in National League South ahead of Truro City game

Paul Rooney wants Dartford to use their weekend draw with Hemel Hempstead as the springboard for a late survival charge.

The Darts remain in the bottom four in National League South but face a crunch Tuesday night trip to face Truro at Gloucester’s Meadow Park ground.

They’ve got just seven games left to avoid relegation but Rooney’s second-half equaliser against Hemel.

“After this point, if we can make it four on Tuesday, then we can kick on from there,” stated defender Rooney.

“We need to beat the teams around us to stay up.

“We need to be on the frontfoot and go at teams, we have the quality to do that and when we get one win that will be it, hopefully it comes on Tuesday and we can kick on from there and go on a little run.

“It hurts, nobody wants to be relegated and no-one wants to be down there. I’ve always been at the other end of the table, that’s why I came to Dartford, to get promoted.

“It does hurt but we have to man up and keep going, we’ve got to get a win.

“With the quality that we’ve got in that dressing room, we can’t be down there. People say you can’t be saying that but we really shouldn’t be down there.”

Rooney was delighted to get on the scoresheet against Hemel but felt it was a game Dartford should have won.

The Darts had an early chance cleared off the line, missed a sitter in the second half and had at least one good penalty appeal turned down.

“We started really well but their goal came in the period when they were on top,” reflected Rooney. “We were the better team throughout the whole game, we just need to take our chances.

“Ady Pennock’s a really calm manager, he told us to relax and said that we would score. We had the better players on the pitch and we needed to be more composed.

“Fumnaya