Dartford manager Alan Dowson reacts to 1-0 home defeat against Taunton Town

Dartford manager Alan Dowson believes two more wins will be enough to secure second place in National League South.

The Darts are making hard work of nailing down the runners-up spot behind champions Ebbsfleet, and securing home advantage for both play-off matches.

They lost 1-0 at home to Taunton on Thursday night but have four more games to play, starting away to Tonbridge on Saturday. They then visit Concord, host St Albans and end their regular season at Hampton on April 29.

“We’ve got a lot to be thankful for, being second,” said Dowson.

“When you have clubs who have been near the top all the time, you can have nights like this and make it into a disaster.

“But we’ll crack on, we’ve got four games left and probably need to win two of them to finish second.

“If we do that then we’ve got a great chance.

“It’s just mistakes that we’re making for the goals. We’ve lost 14 games this year and it might be eight or nine in the last five minutes I’d imagine.

“We’re still in pole position, we’ve had a bad day at the office. I’m as gutted as anybody but I can’t really moan about the players as they’ve been up near the top all season.

“You get daft people, daft sayings, ‘we’re lucky to be second’ – not for months you’re not.”

Dowson praised Taunton for their victory at Princes Park, although he felt the match had a pre-season feeling to it.

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “We find ways of losing games. I knew it would be a tough game because I think their manager should get manager-of-the-year and their team should for the amount of travelling they do.

“We lacked energy and I thought their three centre-halves were excellent, they battered our centre-forward around a bit to be honest and did very well.

“We were camped in a bit in