More misery for Hastings

The result may have been harsh but there was no getting away from the fact that manager Steve Lovell has a lot of work ahead of him to make Hastings a creditable force in the Dr Martens Eastern Division.

Hastings shaded the opening half an hour with Chris Honey and Graham Webb both going close.

But it was Dartford who opened the scoring five minutes before half time when Tommy Martin scored with a 25-yard drive which flew in off the base of the post.

The visitors doubled their advantage just three minutes into the second half after poor defending allowed Dave Hassett to shot past the stranded keeper Matt Brown.

Hastings went close to halving the deficit during a goalmouth scramble before Hassett claimed his second goal of the afternoon on 63 minutes following more shoddy work along the home back-line.

Mark Lovell and Steve Hafner had chances to grab a consolation but by then Hastings were a well beaten side.