THE rain may have soaked Crabble, but it did nothing to dampen the spirit of the players as they defeated Guiseley thanks to a quick-fire double from Moses Emmanuel.

Dover, who presented the newly redeveloped Family stand complete with brand new changing rooms, scored two goals after the break.

Having played Cambridge less than 48 hours earlier, manager Chris Kinnear opted to make five changes. Jack Parkinson, Sammy Moore, Moses Emmanuel, Mitchell Pinnock and Steve Arnold came in to replace Aswad Thomas, Ross Lafayette, Ricky Modeste, Chris Kinnear Jr and Mitch Walker.

Guiseley named the same side that beat Torquay a week earlier.

It was a dull first half if truth be told as neither team could get into any sort of rhythm in the wet conditions. Ricky Miller’s stabbed effort from close range and Alex Purver’s low driven attempt for Guiseley the only moments of note.

Miller was booked for a foul early on and will now miss Tuesday’s Crabble clash with Woking after picking up his fifth yellow of the season.

Athletic came out for the second half with added purpose, opening the scoring within a minute as Miller’s run and shot took the slightest deflection of Emmanuel to wrong-foot Johnny Maxted, though both strikers claimed the strike as their own.

There was no doubting the scorer of the second three minutes later as Emmanuel neatly slotted home after Jim Stevenson’s blocked strike fell kindly for him as the away defence could only look on.

Miller came desperately close to adding to his recent glut of goals, but Maxted saved his low shot and reacted quickly to parry Emmanuel’s follow up.

Dover looked to make the game safe and Moore came close with a long-range effort that flew just over the bar, whilst Emmanuel almost completed a hat trick at the death, chipping Miller’s cut back just over.

The result sees Whites stay in 6th, just one point behind 5th placed Barrow. Next up for Dover is a home tie with Woking on Tues 22nd November, ko 19:45.