Dartford manager Tony Burman felt his team deserved a point against Chelmsford on Saturday.

The visitors edged a tight contest of few games 1-0 in National League South as Burman’s men lost ground at the top of the table.

The Darts boss said: “I think a fair result was probably a draw. Whoever scored the first goal was going to be (crucial).

“From our point of view it was a sloppy goal. They had a 10-minute spell in the second half when they put pressure on us and we (got through) that but the goal was not good defensively.

“They are a big physical side and they came and did a job on us.

“They played very deep, which happens sometimes. There wasn’t loads of chances, there one took a deflection and went in.

“Just maybe the little bit of good fortune that we have been having didn’t happen for us.”

Lee Noble and Duane Ofori-Acheampong were missing through injury as Dartford’s squad was stretched to the full.

But Burman refused to blame a lack of numbers from the bench for the defeat.

“I don’t think that’s the reason we lost the game,” he added. “A bit of quality in the final third was missing in respect of not putting the ball in the back of the net.

“We didn’t have loads of chances but we had a crucial one in the first half when Luke Wanadio went through but put It straight at the keeper – we needed that first goal.

“I thought I would have people back for the game. We’ve got another week and hopefully we’ll have one, if not two, back.

“We’ve been short on numbers for the last month but we’ve won the games.”

As for where the result leaves the Darts in the title race, Burman knows there will be twists and turns ahead in the final two months of the season.

“We could have gone top if two other teams had lost – there’s going tbe lots of ifs and buts,” he said.

“Last weekend Maidenhead lost their game and top spot so it wasn’t a good weekend for them. This weekend we’ve lost so it’s not a good weekend for us.

“We deserve to be where we are and if people want to under-estimate us then that’s fine by us.”