Dartford captain Elliot Bradbrook earned the praise of his manager after filling in for injured defenders Mat Mitchel-King and Nathan Collier against Welling on Tuesday night.

Mitchel-King suffered a back injury in the warm-up before Saturday's FA Cup tie at Bromley, during which Collier picked up an ankle knock.

Their absence left Darts boss Tony Burman with a problem on Tuesday. He looked at bringing in a loan signing to play alongside Rory McAuley but in the end, midfielder Bradbrook got the call.

He barely put a foot wrong all night as Dartford won 2-1 to move out of the Conference drop zone.

Burman said: "I did try to get someone in on loan but it didn’t happen. I couldn’t get the people I wanted.

"But I’ve got to give credit to Elliot. He’s gone in and played at centre-half and he’s done OK.

"Once I couldn’t sign anyone on loan, that was the option I was most comfortable with, without making too many other changes. I only told him when he got to the ground that that’s what he was going to do – but he felt he might have done that anyway.

"Elliot’s done well in there. It gives him a little bit of a change, so hopefully he can recharge his batteries for when he moves further forward.

"He’s someone I can put in there and I’m pleased that we did."

Burman did have defensive cover on the bench in the form of new signing Callum Driver and former academy player Ronnie Vint.

He said: "We’ve got a decent squad and I’ve pulled in Ronnie Vint, who’s been playing for Cray Valley (in the Southern Counties East League). I’ve had great reports about him from playing there.

"Callum’s now come in, so all of a sudden I’ve got some players there to make some changes when we need to do it."

Burman felt Tuesday's margin of victory didn't do his team justice against a Welling side who had Jake Gallagher and Chris Bush sent-off late in the game.

"I felt we had enough possession in the second half when they had 11 men," he said.

"We were causing them problems and should have finished the game off even further.

"The players were obviously buzzing after Saturday. There’s a bit of discipline in the side and there’s a little bit of belief. On Saturday, they kept plugging away and they kept going.

"It was on such a heavy pitch, I don’t think people realise that. My side are a fit side and they’ve done well again. In the last 10 minutes we had few tired legs and maybe that’s where the goals’s come from, I’m not sure.

"Everything was great, other than having a goal scored against us, but we’ve got three points – which is the most important thing."

Victory lifted Dartford above Welling and out of the Vanarama Conference relegation zone.

Burman said: "That’s a boost because you don’t want to be in there. You keep having to look forward and you keep moving on.

"We’ll train again on Thursday and we’ll prepare ourselves for Southport, another big game. They’re doing well at the moment and we’ve got to try to get three points, simple as that."