Dartford manager Tony Burman believes he has the squad to ensure history does not repeat itself.

A year ago Burman’s team went on a run of 10 straight league defeats that ultimately led to them finishing in the relegation zone.

Twelve months on and they find themselves in the Vanarama Conference bottom four again – but the boss feels his side are much better placed this time.

“We’re better placed all right and last year we had an horrendous injury crisis which didn’t help,” said Burman, who takes Darts to Grimsby on Saturday.

“We brought in loan players and had six in at one stage, which tells its own story. The amount of injuries we had would have hurt anyone and it was a dreadful time.

“We were taking the lead in games and still losing. Anything we tried just seemed to backfire but there is more grit in the squad.

“I’ve not been through a time like that too often in the eight or nine years of being manager and it was a difficult one to get through.”

The Darts did come through – albeit thanks to a relegation reprieve.