The Gaffer has his say on the weekends victory. 

It was a result that was greeted by both relief and joy as the Whites headed to Braintree and hopped back on the bus with three points in tow. The Iron had only lost once previously on home soil and with Dover out of sorts, bringing home the bacon was a tough ask but the lads stepped up to the challenge and delivered when it was necessary.

Despite a shaky opening fifteen minutes, the Whites rallied to put on a defensive masterclass with a ‘never say die’ attitude. The backline of Boateng, Moses, Janjeva, Paxman, Nelson and even midfielder Jordan Higgs, were absolute warriors in the last half hour of the match. Wave after wave of Braintree attack rained down on the Dover goal but the guys held firm and eventually got their rewards.

‘It wasn’t our best performance,’ said the Gaffer post match. ‘Attacking wise it was the most dangerous we have looked over the last few games and the lads have worked their absolute socks off. We rode our luck at time but that comes from hard work. We were lucky with the offside goal at the death but we got into some really good areas which is what we haven’t done of late. Look, off the ball I couldn’t fault the effort and willingness to shut people down. They are a good team. They are where they are in the table because Angelo Harrop has them playing a certain way.

Football’s up and down. We went from six unbeaten to not being able to buy a win and all of a sudden we are turning over a play off chasing team away. It just shows you that you cannot get too high or too low. The lads enjoyed today, they expressed themselves which is how we want to play football. I want the lads to attack and excite me.’

Two goals from Luke Wanadio and a maiden goal for Brandon Pierrick sealed an impressive 3-1 victory over Braintree but it was the defensive performance that raised a smile from the boss. ‘There was a five minute spell where Higgsy, everywhere the ball was he was there, like a magnet. But the defence started from the front, I thought Marts run himself into the ground playing a slightly higher position than normal. When you are watching its these little things that you might not notice and think that he’s not actually doing anything but what it does do is relieve pressure from our back four.

Brandon was excellent today as well as Wads. This is the highs and lows of football. With Wads he scores a fantastic goal, a great finish and then he doesn’t clear his lines which leads to their equaliser. He said at half-time “Boys I let you down on that one but I am going to get us back into this game” which he did. He was fantastic. I cant fault any of them. Andi and Moses were superb as was Freddie. I could go through the whole team, Boateng, Pax, Nels in terms of the saves he made.

We rode our luck but it was due to hard work and I’m glad thats the way its worked out. Lets enjoy this one.’

Whites win after heroic performance.

It was a first half of missed chances for the hosts, with Dover taking theirs as the sides played out an entertaining opening 45 minutes.

A terrible mistake from Will Mosses let in the Iron’s forward who rounded Nelson, only to strike it against the foot of the post.

Moments later and Braintree were in again with the Dover defence unable to clear and with Nelson being closed down and dispossessed on the edge of his penalty area, the hosts could only fire agonisingly wide.

The onslaught continued with Braintree again coming close in the 8th minute with Aaron Blair firing agonisingly over.

After the initial blitz, Dover started to grow into the game and in the 25th minute took the lead through some neat build up play resulting in Luke Wanadio gliding towards the edge of the box and firing into the far bottom corner. It was an absolute stunner.

Lee Martin could have doubled the Whites lead but a fine save from Jack Sims kept the hosts down to a 0-1 score line which proved pivotal moments later as the goal scorer for the Whites was caught on his heels trying to clear his lines in the right back position only for the ball to fall to Alfie Matthews who fired the hosts level. It was a fantastic equaliser just before the break.

While it was all square at half-time, Braintree had enough chances to be in front.

Both sides enjoyed neat spells of possession In the early periods of the second half with first Wanadio firing across the hosts goal, but there was no one to capitalise for the visitors.

Baris Altintop should have put the Iron in front in the 63rd minute when a free-kick in the penalty area dropped to the skipper, who fired over the crossbar from six yards out.

Moments later and the impressive Blair, weaved his way into the Dover box, but his curling shot was inches wide.

In the 73rd minute, Dover took the lead. A neat build up between Wanadio and Boateng resulted in the former lashing a shot at Sims who parried out for Brandon Pierrick to lash into the net. The travelling Whites were sent wild.

With ten minutes remaining, it was penalty box fury as Dover battled to clear their lines with first Boateng throwing his body to save a goal and then hooking off the line. From the resulting corner, Higgs headed away as a Braintree player looked to nod home.

Nelson then punched the next corner clear to ensure the barrage was seen off. It was real backs to the wall defending.

It was one fine block after another as with the referee signalling five minutes of added time, Jordan Higgs cleared the ball off the line in heroic fashion.

Braintree thought they had an equaliser but the linesman ruled out the equaliser in the 94th minute. Seconds later and Dover had a penalty. Pierrick was clumsily fouled in the box and Wanadio despatched at the second attempt. 3-1 and a job done.

It was a fantastic defensive display. Get in!

COYW.

Dover Athletic: Nelson, Paxman, Moses, Janjeva, Higgs, Wanadio, Oliver, Martin, Pierrick, Boateng, Nikaj

Subs: Baptiste, Brundle, Carney, Ajayi, Byford

Braintree Town: Simms, Davies, Farrell, Altintop, Bradshaw, Clements, Regis, Payne, Matthews, Reynolds, Blair

Subs: Janneh, Rush, Turner, Curtis, White

 

Attendance: 

The boss gives his honest assessment on Saturday’s defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough. 

The Whites looked out of sorts during their latest outing against Hampton & Richmond Borough with a 3-0 home defeat, their second in as many games. From keeping four consecutive clean sheets just a couple of weeks ago, Mitch Brundle’s side have now conceded nine goals in three matches.

Speaking to Kent Online Sport Brundle said ‘It was a gutless performance. It’s just not good enough and not accepted. We’ve gone from four successive clean sheets to conceding nine goals against three teams below us, fighting for their lives. We just didn’t have enough character. It was just a gutless performance. I’m upset for the fans, as well, because we were getting a little gathering back together with our consistency and working hard. But we didn’t work hard enough today – and I won’t accept that. Even when I first got the job, I said I’ll never have a team that doesn’t run around – and they didn’t today. They let themselves down. We were missing two key experienced players, which is not an excuse.

You’re just asking the other players to work hard, have that desire and commitment, track runners, and we started the second half a little bit better, changing shape. But we conceded sloppy goals. There was no desire and no pride in their own performance. They have to take that on themselves. Some players do take a little bit, the more consistent ones, but it’s not acceptable from everyone else. We’ll just go back to the drawing board and, hopefully, not have it again.’

Skipper Lee Martin and fellow midfielder Jordan Higgs were both missing from the game following an accumulation of cards that meant both players served a suspension which includes this weeks fixture against St Albans. Fans took to social media and many in the bar after the game we asking why the Gaffer had not included himself in the line-up with limited options in the heart of the midfield.

‘Yeah, maybe now, I maybe didn’t need to play myself at the start [of his time in charge]’, said the boss. ‘But it’s coming to the crunch time for that. Do I think I’m the answer? I don’t know. What I didn’t want to do – and what I think is right – is, if I play myself ahead of someone, basically, I’m telling them they can walk out the door. They’re not good enough. The six games unbeaten wasn’t down to any quality or the ball-side of the game. It was down to heart, desire and commitment. But we didn’t have that and we haven’t had that for the last three games. We can see that on the statistics and they can see it. This is just a tough game to take because it’s not really about quality.’

The Whites head to St Albans this weekend, looking to get back to winning ways.