Dartford manager Ady Pennock saw Denzelle Olopade score a stunning winner on Saturday and then admitted: “It didn’t surprise me!”.

The 22-year-old former Norwich and Crystal Palace midfielder ended last season in step 4 at Phoenix Sports.

But he showed his pedigree with a blistering 30-yard right-foot finish to give Dartford a winning start in Isthmian Premier at Cray Valley.

“It didn’t surprise me!” said Pennock. “I’ve seen him do things like that before but I saw him do other stuff that I wasn’t happy with today.

“He’s a young man who I think has got lost in the system a little bit. He’s got incredible ability as he showed with that finish, he’s got great energy and those go-go gadget legs.

“It’s just consistency really now, if he keeps listening and doing the right things then he’s another one who could catch the eye. Obviously, we want him to go on this journey with us.”

Pennock was impressed with his team’s first-half display at Cray Valley, and knew they should have been more than one goal ahead by the break.

“We’ve got a good mix of youth and experience,” said the Darts boss. “I thought the first 25-30 minutes was excellent and we should have been 4-0 up by half-time.

“We had some great chances but when it’s only 1-0 then you know it’s always going to be difficult.

“They went down to 10 men and I didn’t really want that to happen – I know that sounds crazy. But you see it all the time when teams go down to 10 men, they seem to find that extra gear.

“We conceded the goal which was a free-kick for a foul on the keeper all day long, if there was VAR it would have been given. But we bounced back and scored a wonderful goal, Denzelle’s goal was great to see and it’s nice that it was a winning goal.”

On the red card picked up by Cray Valley’s Hassan Ibrahiym, for a second yellow card after what appeared to be a 50/50 challenge with Luther Williams, Pennock said: “I thought it was harsh to be honest.

“I was surprised it was a free-kick as they both went for the ball but I don’t want to get involved in referee decisions. It was harsh but I’m sure we’re going to have decisions go against us as well so we just have to move on.”

The key outcome was three points, however, and Pennock was impressed by the backing of Dartford’s travelling support.

“We’ve got to be very pleased with the three points,” he added. “You always want to start with a win.

“If we were standing here and it was 1-1 after playing against 10 men for so long, we’d be disappointed.

“The fans were great, they’ve turned up in big numbers and with so many games being quite local in the season that support will be a big advantage to us.

Match report: Cray Valley 1-2 Dartford

“The players are young but they’ve got to get used to our supporters. The youngsters aren’t going to be 9/10 week in, week out, because if they are then they won’t be with us for two minutes. But the players have to get used to the bigger crowds.”