Dartford manager Ady Pennock reacts to 2-1 Isthmian Premier win at Cray Valley thanks to Denzelle Olopade’s 30-yard goal

Dartford manager Ady Pennock saw Denzelle Olopade score a stunning winner on Saturday and then admitted: “It didn’t surprise me!”.

The 22-year-old former Norwich and Crystal Palace midfielder ended last season in step 4 at Phoenix Sports.

But he showed his pedigree with a blistering 30-yard right-foot finish to give Dartford a winning start in Isthmian Premier at Cray Valley.

“It didn’t surprise me!” said Pennock. “I’ve seen him do things like that before but I saw him do other stuff that I wasn’t happy with today.

“He’s a young man who I think has got lost in the system a little bit. He’s got incredible ability as he showed with that finish, he’s got great energy and those go-go gadget legs.

“It’s just consistency really now, if he keeps listening and doing the right things then he’s another one who could catch the eye. Obviously, we want him to go on this journey with us.”

Pennock was impressed with his team’s first-half display at Cray Valley, and knew they should have been more than one goal ahead by the break.

“We’ve got a good mix of youth and experience,” said the Darts boss. “I thought the first 25-30 minutes was excellent and we should have been 4-0 up by half-time.

“We had some great chances but when it’s only 1-0 then you know it’s always going to be difficult.

“They went down to 10 men and I didn’t really want that to happen – I know that sounds crazy. But you see it all the time when teams go down to 10 men, they seem to find that extra gear.

“We conceded the goal which was a free-kick for a foul on the keeper all day long, if there was VAR it would have been given. But we bounced back and scored a wonderful goal, Denzelle’s goal was great to see and it’s nice that it was a winning goal.”

On the red card