Dartford 1 Noble Att: 1408
1. Louis Wells
2. Lee Burns
3. Adam Green
4. Tom Bonner
5. Luke Wilkinson
6. Tom Champion
7. Lee Noble YC 36
8. James Rogers
9. Jacob Erskine YC 90
10. Elliot Bradbrook
11. Danny Harris YC 62

12. Ryan Harris
14. Paul Goodache
15. Richard Graham
16. Tony Garrod (Erskine) 90
17. Andrew Young

Welling 0
1 Craig Holloway
2. Loui Fazakerley
3. Jack Obersteller
4. Jamie Day
5. Ben Martin
6. Jack Parkinson
7. Dean Cracknell
8. Lee Clarke
9. Luis Cumbers
10. Joe Healy
11. Loick Pires

12. Andy Sambrook
14. Anthony Acheampong (Parkinson)70
15. Harry Baker (Cracknell) 74
16. Scott Kinch
17. Jamie Turner

Referee: Mr. Paul Rees

Welling’s dream of playing in the Conference for the first time in 12 years was dashed by Dartford in the playoff final on Saturday.

An early Lee Noble strike from distance gave the Darts the lead after just four minutes and although cheered on by 1000 travelling fans, they couldn’t create a clear shot on target throughout the game and succumbed to defeat.

Both sides showed their nerves in the opening stages but Dartford looked the brighter of the two with Harris – unusually playing on the left - intercepting a misplaced pass from Day and getting a good cross in from the left which was cleared by Martin but two minutes later the home side struck.

After winning the ball again after good pressure on the left the ball found its way to Noble on the right hand side just outside the box and the winger unleashed a shot which Holloway could do nothing about to give the 3000 fans an early boost.

Despite going down, the travelling fans continued to sing almost non-stop but Dartford still looked the better side as Harris and Noble kept delivering good balls into the box which were well dealt with by the centre backs.

On the quarter hour mark Welling at last began to exert some pressure especially down the left wing with Obersteller and Pires desperately trying to get balls into the box. Martin had the first shot of the game for Welling which was blocked by the Dartford defence from a free kick.

Luis Cumbers showed his renowned tenacity chasing down two attempting clearances from the back line creating a goal scoring opportunity but handled the ball in the process of controlling it. Joe Healy then had a shot which went sailing wide as the fan’s started to believe an equaliser was on the way.

Welling continued to pressure the Dartford defence with Wilkinson and Bonner content to clear the ball with every chance they could get although they along with Wells in goal easily dealt with the majority of the Wings’ forays going forward.

At the start of the second half, the stadium expected the Wings to come out all guns blazing but the home side snuffed out their momentum once the whistle was blown.

Captain Bradbrook got a header towards goal which Holloway struggled to parry away for a corner and two minutes later Parkinson denied a certain goal clearing a headed ball across goal by Bradbrook to Harris.

The Welling skipper once again denied a Harris shot after a good chest down by Erskine from a long ball although he unfortunately sustained an injury in the process. The Darts fans found their voice at last and the home side responded began to show their resolve pushing Welling back towards their goal with Bradbrook and Harris having good shots. But they were helped by some wasteful passing from Fazakerley and Healy in particularly when the away side had some rare attacks.

Parkinson’s game was cut short as his injury caught up with him replaced by Acheampong on 70 minutes with Baker also coming on for Cracknell five minutes later as the Wings prepared for one final throw of the dice. But in truth they could only offer from long punts forward which Wells easily gathered.

Loick Pires went down in the box on 86 minutes but referee Paul Rees confirmed the striker went down too easily and waved away the protests of the desperate away fans. Erskine was booked for kicking the ball away but this proved to be the only blight on the home side’s day as they secured promotion to the Conference after only two years in this league.