SDFL premier division

Waldon Athletic 4,

Dartmouth AFC 0

Dartmouth suffered their first league defeat on Saturday as they were comfortably beaten 4-0 by mid-table Waldon Athletic

The away side never got to grips with the powerful Waldon midfielders as they dictated throughout, and if it wasn't for some excellent defending by Dan­ny Asinas Mena they could have been a goal down within five minutes.

That said, the first meaningful Dartmouth attack nearly resulted in the first goal of the afternoon.

Josh Webber's floated through ball found Dan Broadway bearing down on goal, but he dragged his volley wide of the mark.

Five minutes later the away side were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead when Karl Baker drew a foul in the penalty box.

Mark Forrester stepped up, but his penalty was well saved to the goalkeeper's left.

After this let-off the home side began to carve open the Dart­mouth midfield with some clever one-touch football.

As the ball was worked into the Waldon striker, Dart­mouth defender Jordan Frost reacted well to deny his opponent a shot at goal.

However, the resulting corner saw the home captain head in unmarked at the back post to leave Dart­mouth trailing at the break.

Manager Gary Lobb reacted by replacing Kurtley Hassall with the returning Liam McAuley at half time, and this change seemed to fire up the visitors as within 15 seconds of the second half restarting Broadway came agonisingly close to leveling the game with a well-placed effort.

The away side were punished for this missed opportunity when the Waldon striker cleverly placed his volley over Ryan Wal­ton and the despairing leap of Asinas Mena on the line to double his side's lead.

Lee Haywood was introduced in place of Freddie Smith shortly after, but a scrappy goalmouth scramble saw Waldon further extend their lead to seal the points.

Despite the away side's best efforts, they struggled to create any further goal scoring opportunities, and right at the end of the game Dartmouth's misery was compounded when the Waldon striker clinched his hat-trick with an excellent volley past Ryan Walton.

Dartmouth will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways this weekend when they entertain Upton Athletic at Longcross, kick-off 2.30pm.

Dartmouth reserves returned to league action on Saturday and grabbed the club bragging rights after defeating Upton Athletic reserves 4-2.

Ed Armitage, Rhys Mor­rallee, Carl Wood­gate and Ben Greeno got their names on the scoresheet, and they will be looking to build on this victory when they travel to Ipplepen Athletic reserves tomorrow.

Kick-off is also at 2.30pm.