Football Season Guide

Dartford secured a chance to compete with the best teams in the non-league after narrowly beating Welling in the Blue Square South play-off final in May and now manager Tony Burman will be determined to keep the club there and show that they deserve the promotion. The Darts are a small club and will rely on local players from the London area to form a decent squad that could battle against relegation. They are very much work in progress still despite only a week left before the start of the season as only 14 players are on the books at the moment. Mark Arber is the notable of the new signings having joined from Dagenham and Redbridge while the manager is expecting big things from Jacob Erskine who found some good form at the end of last season after changing countless teams over the last few years. It is difficult to assess Dartford at the moment but they work hard for each other and the togetherness of the players is a big plus. They did beat the reserves sides of West Ham and Arsenal in pre-season and seem to be in good nick ahead of the season but it still looks difficult to back them for survival given the tough competition.