CHELMSFORD City Manager Glenn Pennyfather paid tribute to his players’ “belief, desire and energy” after they came from behind to defeat strugglers Dartford on their own patch courtesy of substitutes Billy Bricknell and Rob Edmans.

The Clarets jumped up a place in the Blue Square Bet South table to sixth with games in hand as they registered a quick reply to Carl Rook’s 52nd-minute opener.

Glenn revealed: “That was only Dartford’s second home defeat of the season and it’s not an easy place to go but when we equalised I always felt we would go on and win it.”

“I’ve always said we just need to worry about ourselves then everything else will fall into place. Belief, desire and energy have won us a lot of our games.

"We’re always praising the players for their fitness and in the last 15 to 20 minutes against Thurrock and Dartford we’ve run them ragged, but you’ve got to have quality to go with that as well.”

Although he had key players returning from illness, Pennyfather kept faith in the 11 who performed well to thrash Thurrock at the weekend.

Following Tom Champion’s early far post header wide for the hosts Ben Nunn nearly ripped the goal frame out of the ground at the other end on seven minutes with a 35-yard thunderbolt off the crossbar.

Takumi Ake’s 16th-minute shot on target forced Darts goalkeeper Andrew Young to get down and turn the ball wide though both manager were forced to make first-half substitutions.

Firstly Champion had to leave the field for attention after an accidental clash of heads with Ake then Chelmsford’s Ricky Modeste was replaced by Bricknell up-front after a recurrence of the hamstring injury which irked him on Saturday.

City felt aggrieved to have had two penalty appeals waved away just before the interval and had further cause for upset seven minutes the other side of the break when Dartford took the lead.

Ryan Hayes’ in-swinging delivery was too much for the Clarets’ defence and predatory striker Rook was on-hand to nod home beyond ‘keeper James Pullen.

Yet Pennyfather had a strong substitutes bench at his disposal and, having already been able to introduce Bricknell earlier on, Edmans was brought on in a double swap which also saw Stephen Reed become involved.

By the 58th minute City were level when Nunn’s initial strike bounced back to Bricknell who swivelled and converted from 15 yards.

George Purcell’s off-balance turn and shot at Pullen could have put Dartford back in front though the impetus was fully with Chelmsford and it resulted in a Clarets second.

Edmans found himself in the ideal position and unmarked when a speculative header into the box landed at his feet and he tapped into the bottom corner on 63 minutes.

From the moment Pullen dived to his left to expertly deal with a Rook effort and stifle Dartford’s final effort with 20 minutes remaining there was only one side who was going to net again.

Edmans flicked over Young and just wide of the post while Rainford additionally watched his powerful strike from outside the box sail just over.

In the final minute of normal time Edmans’ next strike was saved by Young and he smashed his second attempt onto the post from close range but his work had already been done.

City’s win didn’t lift them much higher in the standings but, on a day when all but one of the sides above them also succeeded, it maintained pressure on the leaders.