Duane Ofori-Acheampong is “very close” to returning for Dartford as the season approaches its busiest period.

The striker has only made two substitute appearances this season after having knee surgery in the summer.

But Ofori-Acheampong is now back in full training and there’s a chance he could be involved against Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy on Saturday.

Dartford boss Tony Burman said: “Duane is working hard and he’s very close to getting a little chance.

“He’s trained hard and he’s working as hard as he can. We’ve had a couple of in-house games which he’s been involved in and he’s done OK. It’s just whether he’s ready for it and we’re ready to give him that opportunity.

“We tried to have a friendly this week but the weather has put a knock on that.

“He’s not too far away and hopefully we can get him back because he’ll be a major asset to us.”

Boreham Wood arrive for the first-round tie seventh in the National League and having knocked Blackpool out of the FA Cup earlier this season.

Burman said: “It’s a difficult one. Boreham Wood are doing ever so well in their league and they’ve got a good structure which lots of people want to copy.

“It’s going to be a tough game for us but we’ve got to enjoy ourselves. It’s the FA Trophy, not the league, we’re playing to get into the next round and I’ll get them fired up to try to do that.”

New signing Nathan Collier is cup-tied, having missed Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Hungerford because his wife had gone into labour.

Tom Bonner returns to the squad after being given time to spend with his baby son and he could replace Richard Sho-Silva, who has an ankle knock.

After losing at Hungerford, only goal difference is keeping Darts top ahead of Braintree and Hampton & Richmond while the top seven clubs are covered by just three points with half the season gone.

Burman said: “It seems to be strange at the moment. You’ve got Hampton, who have won nine games on the trot, which is an amazing run but we are still before Christmas. The next two or three months are so important with the weather.

“If someone said to me that after 21 games we’d be top with the amount of points we’ve got (38), I’d have taken it. But we’re all a bit frustrated that we haven’t managed to kick on.”