Dover Athletic forward Tommy Tyne has signed for the Whites’ DML Premier Division rivals Welling United on a free transfer.

The ex-Millwall player was told last week by manager Richard Langley that he was unlikely to be offered a contract for next season. The club agreed to allow him to join Welling, with whom he had a successful loan spell in the 2001/2002 season, when the Wings made an approach.

Tommy Tyne scored 22 goals in his time with Dover, the most memorable of which was the winner at Woking last season that put Athletic into the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s history. Tyne was the club’s joint leading scorer last season with 11 goals and, apart for the subsequently over-turned FA Trophy defeat at Barnet last month, the team never lost when he scored.

Tyne’s departure came just 24 hours after fellow Whites forward Michael Smissen signed for Sittingbourne until the end of the season. Teenager Smissen, nicknamed Buster, had previously been on loan at the Eastern Division club.