PITCHING-IN ISTHMIAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
DARTFORD 2 CRAY VALLEY (PM) 3 - 25 APR 2026 - ATT 1.088
Goals: D - Dsane 33, Olarewaju 52
CV - Evans 50, Dickson 68, 93

Three second half goals one from Makise Evans and a Chris Dickson Double earned Valley the three points but with Carshalton Athletic winning by a solitary goal at home to St Albans City it wasn't enough to prevent Valley from returning to step four in their second season at the higher level. Despite a late rally with just one defeat in their final six games including three wins it still left the Millers just shy of finishing outside the bottom four.

It is arguably the club's first ever relegation certainly since they were made to start in a lower division of the South London Alliance League following the closure of the paper mill in 1981. A successful decade in the Kent County League in the 2000's was followed by obtaining senior status at step 5 in the now SCEFL for the 2011/12 season with promotion to step 4 in 2018/19 and step 3 in 2023/24.

Here are extracts from the match report by Chris Palmer courtesy of Dartford FC website

"Ady Pennock’s reign as Dartford boss came to an end with a rare home defeat, as Chris Dickson scored twice to earn Cray Valley PM all three points at Princes Park. With the Dartford boss’ recent announcement that he’ll be moving on to pastures new, coupled with the fact that the Darts were secure in sixth place of the Isthmian Premier League table, meant that proceedings felt a little flat in front of the 1,088 supporters.

Meanwhile, Kevin Lisbie’s visiting Millers still had an outside chance of avoiding relegation, and they played with a fighting spirit which caused problems for the Dartford defence.

Dartford keeper Jonny Henly was in for a busy afternoon, as he put in an excellent shift to earn a deserved Man of The Match award at the end of the game. And he was forced into action early, as he pulled off an excellent save to thwart the lively Makise Evans in a one-on-one situation (12). The Dartford defence then blocked Alfie Newby’s goal-bound effort (31), before Eddie Dsane put the hosts ahead with a close-range finish following good work by Callum Jones (33).Joe Tennent came close to doubling the hosts’ advantage (42), before the visitors headed over a glorious opportunity (43), as Ady Pennock’s side secured a half-time lead.

As we returned to the action Makise Evans was on hand to reach Chris Dickson’s cross to pull Cray Valley level (50). However, the hosts responded immediately via skipper Michael Olarewaju, who headed in an excellent goal to restore his side’s lead barely two minutes later! The visitors rallied though, and it wasn’t long before Jonny Henly was called into action to pull off a superb double-save to prevent Fumnaya Shomotun and Makise Evans’ efforts from going in (63).

Five minutes later saw the visitors equalise via a wonderful curling drive from Chris Dickson. The Darts responded via Evans Kouassi, who came agonisingly close to scoring a third goal for the hosts following excellent work by Eddie Dsane (81). Chris Dickson then scored his second of the afternoon deep into stoppage time, as The Millers took all three points (90+3)."

Darts: Henly, Okoye, Jones (Vaughan 49), Olopade, Dsane, Box (Kouassi 56), Tennent, Williams, Bland (McLeod 76), Olarewaju (c) (Whitefield 76), Pinder (Carter 56)
Caution: Olarewaju

Millers: Adegoke, Ming (Green 65), Tumkaya, Ekpiteta, Newby (Asiedu 80, Shomotun, Adebiyi, Agyemang (Okewoye 74), Evans, Liburd (Ibrahiym 64), Dickson, Sub not used: Benedict
Cautions: Evans, Dickson

Referee: Sam Wigington
Assistants: Ellis Lander and Joe Wise

Post Match Interview: Kevin Lisbie
https://www.crayvalleypmfc.com/videos/kevin-lisbie-reaction--32-win-vs-dartford-not-enough-to-stay-up-25426-219046.html

Match Photos: Romana at Inspire Socials
https://www.crayvalleypmfc.com/photos/dartford-v-millers-25426-photos-inspire-socials-1171120.html