CLIVE WALKER apologised to Dover fans after his team froze against our fiercest rivals Folkestone.

Local lad James Dryden headed a heart-breaking late winner for Invicta in front of a bumper 2390 crowd.

Dover only managed one shot on target in the entire match – a 25-yard pile-driver from Daniel Braithwaite – which was superbly pushed over the bar by keeper Tony Kessels.

The Dover boss said: “I can only say sorry for the way we played. We didn’t turn up and didn’t put up much of a fight as I would have expected.

“It was always a concern of mine that the youngsters in the side may struggle to meet the challenge of a must-win game against our biggest rivals and in front of a huge crowd.

“However, Cheshunt lost again which means we are still very much in with a shout of staying up. We are running out of games but the margin is still six points and if we can scrap something up at Braintree on Saturday, suddenly we’re back in that mixer again.

“The fans, as always, were brilliant. Sadly we didn’t give them a performance to cheer. But days like today demonstrate what a big club Dover Athletic are and outlines our potential.

“For Folkestone, you have to give them credit but it’s probably not going to get any better than this for them. Whereas we are playing a few levels down from our proper potential.”