Hard work pays off for Dartford's former Aston Villa midfielder Samir Carruthers with his goal from a corner in win against Tonbridge Angels

The hard work paid off for Dartford midfielder Samir Carruthers on Saturday in their win over Tonbridge.

Carruthers had been working on how he planned to test the away defence from corners in the build-up to the National League South derby encounter and it certainly worked.

Having already put visiting goalkeeper Jonny Henly under a lot of pressure, the 29-year-old scored direct from a corner to put his side ahead in the first period before Pierre Fonkeu came off the bench to seal a 2-0 success.

“Believe it or not, during the week in training, I actually had been working on that,” he revealed.

“They said to me to put it on the goalie.

“After training on Thursday night, I stayed out for another 10 minutes or so - repeating it over and over again, trying to hit the back post. Trying to shoot from a corner, basically.

“As you saw from the corners before we actually scored, we were close to scoring with a couple and then, fortunately for me, that one beat everyone and went into the top corner.

“I was surprised that it went in to be honest! But practising it and practising it, you reap the rewards from it.”

His goal put the Darts in command after Tonbridge had started brightly.

Carruthers, once of Aston Villa, making his Premier League debut at Anfield, was cautioned for a foul on Tonbridge’s on-loan full-back Jaden Crowhurst in the early stages and he felt that moment helped to wake the Darts up.

He reflected: “They started off quite well, to be fair to them. We knew they play at a high tempo and they try to get into you as soon as possible.

“I think I was half asleep so, once I kicked that kid, it woke me up! I know I can laugh about it now but, at the time, we weren’t really sharp enough, quick enough and we were off the