Dartford dangled the carrot on Saturday - and paid the price.

That was the phrase which kept cropping up in manager Tony Burman's post-match interview after the Darts lost 4-2 to Whitehawk at Princes Park.

Andy Pugh's double had them 2-0 in front after 50 minutes but the home side, depleted by illness and injuries, allowed struggling Hawks back into the game.

Danny Mills quickly pulled a goal back and he went on to score a hat-trick, including a stoppage-time winner as the visitors won for the first time in more than three months.

Burman said: "Whitehawk are a good passing side. They try to play into their strikers and if you give them room, they will do what they did to us. They showed what a good side they can be.

"We dangled the carrot as far as I’m concerned and we started to give them too much room. When we went 2-0 up, I think we thought the job was done.

"You need a leader out there, people who can organise players and when you’ve got a young side, which we have, that leadership disappears a little bit.

"It’s a learning curve for them and it’s frustrating for me and our supporters but hopefully we’ll produce leaders out of some of the guys who were out there."

George Sykes (ill) and Danny Harris (injured) had to come off before half-time, limiting Burman's tactical options in a second half dominated by Whitehawk.

He said: "We knew it was going to be difficult because we needed some legs in there, fresh legs, and because of the two substitutions we had to make early on, I couldn’t do that with the third one.

"We were walking wounded but we were 2-0 up and we should have shut up shop. We’ve given them a lifeline with the first goal.

"Certain things happened in the game and we were down to the bare bones.

"We had a 2-0 lead but we knew there were players out there who hadn’t played for a long time and later in the game, their legs were going to go. That’s what happened - and a lack of concentration.

"We dangled the carrot and let them dictate in the second half. A few of them were shattered.

"We got a penalty right on half-time, which has helped us out. Pughy’s finished a great move (for the second goal) and you think you’ve got a chance.

"But we dangled the carrot unfortunately. That’s where you have to manage the game and when you’ve got the young people, it sometimes doesn’t work for you."