Dover Athletic 1 Dartford 3 match report: First-half goals from Samir Carruthers, Luke Coulson and Maxwell Statham earn Darts win at Crabble

Dartford took the derby day spoils as they won at Dover in National League South on Tuesday.

First-half strikes from Samir Carruthers, Luke Coulson and Maxwell Statham put the Darts in command and, despite a strike from Dover’s Luke Baptiste, Whites have now lost five of their past six matches, falling to a 3-1 home loss.

Prior to the contest, a minute’s silence was observed by both sets of players within the centre circle as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

There was a cagey start to the action at Crabble in front of a 626 crowd and it took six minutes for the first chance to be created. Alfie Paxman’s long throw fell kindly to Dover midfielder Baptiste who blasted high and wide.

It was an impressive start by Andy Hessenthaler’s men, though, and a Paxman corner in the 12th minute just evaded centre-back Jake Goodman.

Soon after at the other end, the Darts went close for the first time, as Keiran Murtagh fired wide.

Both sides then went close midway through the first period in a matter of minutes.

Luke Wanadio, who was at Dartford last season, clipped the ball in from the left for the hosts and the hard-working George Wilkinson - on his first start this season - saw his header land on the roof of the net.

For the away team, Adam Lovatt drove forward, only to drag wide from a good position.

But Alan Dowson’s side drew first blood against the run of play in the 28th minute. The returning Carruthers cut in from the left and saw his shot loop over the head of Dover’s veteran goalkeeper Stuart Nelson and into the roof of his net.

Four minutes later, Nelson was dinked again as the Darts doubled their advantage. Murtagh picked out Coulson who beat the offside trap and home right-back Myles Judd