Dartford boss Steve King has signed exciting wideman Kalvin Kalala for the rest of the season.

The talented 23-year-old helped Torquay win promotion from National League South in 2018/19 before impressing at National League level.

He scored 13 goals in 68 games for Torquay but turned down a new deal to stay at the club.

Kalala made his Dartford debut in the 2-2 draw at Braintree on Tuesday and replaces Emmanuel Sonupe, who moves to the USA where he will join Texas-based El Paso Locomotive from January 1.

King said: “Kalvin played in one of the best teams in National South history with Torquay and he was a major player for them.

“In the first half at Braintree he did bits and pieces, the keeper pulled off a great save to deny him. For 20 minutes in the second half he terrorised their left-back and they had to double up on him.”

Dartford rescued a point at Braintree thanks to Jack Jebb’s wonderful free-kick eight minutes into stoppage time.

It was only a third goal of the season for Jebb, who is one of the most gifted players at this level.

“One piece of brilliance got us the point,” beamed King. “It’s a shame that we would have gone top had we won but there’s only a couple of points between the top four.

“Jack’s only been out of the team because he was injured and then other people have come in and done well.

“I’m pleased that he came on and scored - and what a free-kick it was! He can only put that ball in one place and he did it.”

Darts had gone 10 days without a game after the Boxing Day clash with Ebbsfleet was postponed.

But they showed character to come back from 2-0 down, Jake Robinson increasing his tally for the season to seven goals by pulling one back with eight minutes left.

“I’m disappointed that we dropped two points but you could say it was one gained when you score two late goals,” added King.

“We started okay and their keeper made two fantastic saves, they had two clear chances as well. Then they scored a volley in the second half which was a good technical goal, and got another on the break.

“We were 2-0 down and looked flat but once we got one goal back we were all over them and if it had gone on another five minutes then we would have scored again.”

Darts return to action on Sunday with the eagerly-anticipated derby at Stonebridge Road against Ebbsfleet.

“I’m looking forward to it, we’re both on the same number of points with only two goals between us,” said King.

“I’ve watched them loads of times, I can see how they win games but I can certainly see how they lose games and that’s down to me to give that information to the players to carry out.”