Joash Nembhard scored twice against his former club to help Dartford beat Havant in National League South on Saturday.

It didn’t prove a happy return to Princes Park for Havant boss Steve King, who was up against his former club for the first time since his departure at the end of the 2021/22 season.

Dartford retained Mitchell Beeney in goal despite bringing in Chris Lewington on Friday to boost the goalkeeping department. Jordan Wynter started while Max Statham was on the bench after suspension.

There were five former Hawks in Alan Dowson’s team while Havant had four ex-Darts players in their side, including midfielders Jack Jebb and Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong.

Jebb had an early chance beaten away by keeper Beeney from the edge of the area before Dartford went ahead on seven minutes.

Keeper Reice Charles-Cook - another in action against his old side - failed to gather Baris Altintop’s free-kick into the area under pressure from Moussa Diarra and when Yoan Zouma missed his attempted clearance, Joash Nembhard had the relatively simple task of turning the ball into an empty net.

Mo Faal blasted wide midway through the first half from Havant’s best chance but it was a first 45 minutes that saw the home side in charge.

Dartford were denied a second after forcing two good saves in the space of a minute from Charles-Cook. Harvey Bradbury’s 20-yard free-kick was beaten away before the keeper did well to keep out the same player’s near-post effort from the resulting Luke Coulson corner.

Havant started the second half brightly, Beeney producing an excellent one-handed save to turn behind Faal’s fierce 20-yard drive.

Diarra was in the referee’s notepad after some lazy defending from the hosts, the centre-back taking out Devante Stanley near the touchline.

While Havant had their best spell at the start of the second half, Dartford slowly got back into the game with Rooney’s cross headed behind for a corner while the ball just didn’t fall for Bradbury to turn in a second at close range.

That second goal did arrive with 13 minutes left. A Coulson free-kick was never cleared and after two Dartford players saw their efforts blocked, the ball sat up perfectly for Neembhard to volley home from the edge of the area.

Rooney was excellent against his former club and deserved the ovation he received when replaced by Luke Allen with six minutes left.

Jebb should have pulled one back for bottom side Havant in the third minute of stoppage time when he went through but lobbed his effort over the bar.

Dartford: Beeney, Wynter, Oduadu, Miller-Rodney, Altintop, Coulson, Rooney (Allen 84mins), Barzey (Woods 72mins), Nembhard, Bradbury, Diarra. Subs not used: Manor, Statham, Lewington.

Havant: Charles-Cook, Stanley, McNerney (Stedman 60mins), McCarthy, Faal, Kedman (Willson 60mins), Berkeley-Agyepong, Jebb, Zouma, Roberts, Spence (Jewitt-White 88mins). Subs not used: Worner, Mehew, Jewitt-White.

Referee: George Warren.

Attendance: 1,003.