 Dartford put a stop to his Sunday League exploits and in his short 4-month stay at Princes Park he made 17+3 appearances scoring 19 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Canvey Island on 30 December 2008.It was form such as this which attracted interest from higher league clubs such as Norwich and reportedly Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic and Reading.On 26 January 2009, McDonald was accompanied by Dartford manager Tony Burman to Norwich City's training ground at Colney for a two-day trial at the club and "the Darts"' boss later commented that "he (McDonald) enjoyed the experience and in my opinion did not look out of place over the two days".