*BS*Whites’ central defender Steve Watt has made it clear that he’s more than ready for the tough fight back to full fitness.*BF*

Watt suffered a rare cruciate ligament injury against Havant and Waterlooville, just seven league games into his Dover career, and will now miss the rest of the season.

Despite this blow the former Chelsea man still seems philosophical about the whole affair: “I can’t describe how frustrating but it’s just part and parcel of football and it’s something I’ll have to deal with.”

In order to correct the damage Steve had to undergo surgery which has left him unable to walk without the use of crutches for a number of weeks. This, of course, makes everyday life very difficult but he is still just as determined to come back better than ever.

“I’m dying to get back really; I want to give something back to the club as they’ve been so good to me.”

There’s certainly no questioning his spirit and drive as he brushed off a serious shoulder injury right at the start of the season choosing to bandage himself up before every game rather than opting for surgery. Now that he’s finally been forced to stop for a while the
frustration is starting to build.

*Ppic1*”I mean just watching training, let alone match days, kills me!”

A career that features the highs of Premier League and FA Cup appearances for Chelsea, selection in Champions League squads and representing your country at a number of levels also, unfortunately, comes with its lower moments.

Steve has suffered a number of knocks in his footballing career but believes he is now a stronger player for it.

“I dislocated my shoulder after two games for Swansea and missed the whole season and then did exactly the same in the following year, something which of course I took very badly. Now I’m in a much better position to just get on, thanks to that previous experience.”

Steve’s injury came just before Whites’ previous manager Martin Hayes left the club and so he is yet to play for Nicky Forster. Although this does pose some problems, he maintains that his primary concern is to get back to his best for the start of next season.

He commented: “I hope I’ve showed the fans and the club what I have to offer in the games I’ve played. I was attracted to this club because of the real ambition here and I’ve got no plans of going anywhere else.”

*IS*We are pleased to welcome new writer Steve Ward to doverathletic.com.*IF*

*BS*Terry Dixon has signed a new contract with Dover Athletic until May 2013.*BF*

The talented striker joined from Bradford City last month and has made an instant impact, scoring on his full debut at Eastbourne.

The former Spurs and West Ham prodigy suffered with injuries to curtail a promising Premier League potential, which saw him represent the Republic of Ireland U21s.

Terry joined Bradford City last summer but found opportunities limited at a club with another seven strikers on the books.

In December he opted to leave Bradford and move back down south, joining Nicky Forster’s squad initially for a two-month period.

Dixon’s arrival coincided with a good run of form and results, and his contribution has given the side an extra level of quality and confidence to dominate recent matches.

Chairman Jim Parmenter said: “We are looking to invest in the right players to help achieve the club’s aims for this season and beyond.

“We are delighted that Terry Dixon and Tom Wynter have placed their future with the club this week.

“I’m sure this news will excite the fans. We hope that more supporters will back the board’s investment and get through the gates in numbers.”

Further reaction to follow.

*BS*Terry Dixon has signed a new contract with Dover Athletic until May 2013.*BF*

The talented striker joined from Bradford City last month and has made an instant impact, scoring on his full debut at Eastbourne.

The former Spurs and West Ham prodigy suffered with injuries to curtail a promising Premier League potential, which saw him represent the Republic of Ireland U21s.

Terry joined Bradford City last summer but found opportunities limited at a club with another seven strikers on the books.

In December he opted to leave Bradford and move back down south, joining Nicky Forster’s squad initially for a two-month period.

Dixon’s arrival coincided with a good run of form and results, and his contribution has given the side an extra level of quality and confidence to dominate recent matches.

Chairman Jim Parmenter said: “We are looking to invest in the right players to help achieve the club’s aims for this season and beyond.

“We are delighted that Terry Dixon and Tom Wynter have placed their future with the club this week.

“I’m sure this news will excite the fans. We hope that more supporters will back the board’s investment and get through the gates in numbers.”

Further reaction to follow.

*BS*Manager Nicky Forster’s first blog for doverathletic.com focuses on Saturday’s performance against Eastleigh, plus news of another Forster starting to make his name in the game:*BF*

I was delighted with the boys performance on Saturday against Eastleigh, a team in good form at present.

Even without the early goal I thought we dominated the initial exchanges and set the tempo for the remainder of the game.

Obviously the game was marred by a serious injury sustained to their forward, Jamie Slabber. Although there is no doubt that Corcs caught him I also feel that both players went into the tackle with whole-hearted commitment to win the ball and without intention to harm.

The tackle itself was one of maybe five or six heavy challenges in the first half which made for a really feisty yet fair encounter. I must add that I was impressed with the way my boys responded to the game after that point. There is often a tendency for the game to go flat after such an incident and yet we still had the focus and desire to go on and win the game comfortably.

I’m sure that the shape of the table will continue to change as teams jostle for positions but I feel we are now a team with the belief that a play-off finish is a realistic target and one we as a group are focussing on.
*Lpic1*
Away from Dover, last week my stepson Jake made his full debut for Brighton & Hove Albion in their home game against Southampton. It wasn’t until after our game against Eastbourne Borough that I looked at my phone to see numerous messages saying that not only had Jake scored but he had also won the Man of the Match award too.

And before you ask he’s not interested at this stage in a loan move to Crabble, as this was the first thing I asked when returning home. (I’m not convinced he would get in our team at present anyway!!!)

FOZ

*BS*Manager Nicky Forster’s first blog for doverathletic.com focuses on Saturday’s performance against Eastleigh, plus news of another Forster starting to make his name in the game:*BF*

I was delighted with the boys performance on Saturday against Eastleigh, a team in good form at present.

Even without the early goal I thought we dominated the initial exchanges and set the tempo for the remainder of the game.

Obviously the game was marred by a serious injury sustained to their forward, Jamie Slabber. Although there is no doubt that Corcs caught him I also feel that both players went into the tackle with whole-hearted commitment to win the ball and without intention to harm.

The tackle itself was one of maybe five or six heavy challenges in the first half which made for a really feisty yet fair encounter. I must add that I was impressed with the way my boys responded to the game after that point. There is often a tendency for the game to go flat after such an incident and yet we still had the focus and desire to go on and win the game comfortably.

I’m sure that the shape of the table will continue to change as teams jostle for positions but I feel we are now a team with the belief that a play-off finish is a realistic target and one we as a group are focussing on.
*Lpic1*
Away from Dover, last week my stepson Jake made his full debut for Brighton & Hove Albion in their home game against Southampton. It wasn’t until after our game against Eastbourne Borough that I looked at my phone to see numerous messages saying that not only had Jake scored but he had also won the Man of the Match award too.

And before you ask he’s not interested at this stage in a loan move to Crabble, as this was the first thing I asked when returning home. (I’m not convinced he would get in our team at present anyway!!!)

FOZ

*BS*Mark Winter has joined doverathletic.com as a regular columnist to share his views and stories.

Mark has followed Dover Athletic up and down the country, as a supporter and reporter. He has also published his own book, “Missed Penalties and Peroxide”, focusing on our traumatic 2004/05 season.

This week he recalls a 15 minute football masterclass by a Dover supporter:*BF*

In my experience, only a handful of truly gifted football writers ever have anything original to say about the game. The rest spend most of their time rehashing old stories and changing the names around, with the more pompous of us referring to them as ‘exclusives.’ For my part, I’ve always taken the view that a good yarn is there to be retold. There’s always a new generation that hasn’t heard it and an older one happy to reminisce for an hour or two; as a visit to any local boozer will verify.

I was thinking alone these lines this week, as a couple of things jogged the darker recesses of my memory. The first occurred in a game at Eastbourne, when the home side’s first equaliser in a 2-2 draw against the Mighty Whites came as a result of the most remarkable refereeing decision I’ve seen in many a long year. On the bus home I read a redtop to pass the time and noted that, beneath a headline and photo that were as predictable as we might expect, Porto’s much-fancied Brazilian striker Hulk was being linked with a January move to one or two Premiership clubs.

Immediately, I was reminded of the first time I ever used the ‘Incredible Hulks’ headline; long before I ever started scribbling a few notes to earn a little beer money. I was so blown away by what I’d seen, I felt duty bound to go home and record the event on my pre-war sit-up-and-beg Remington typewriter. In essence, I’d just seen a 10-year-old boy turn into Marco Van Basten for 15 minutes and was convinced I’d witnessed football’s equivalent of the second coming.

Many of you will know the hero of our story, an affable cove of some 29 summers and regular attendee at our theatre of dreams. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Ritchie Hulks, a stout yeoman I’ve known since my return to Dover in 1982 coincided with his birth, allow me to fill in a few gaps.

Notwithstanding his unerring ability to get me lost in just about every non-league town in the Midlands (had he been given the role of Passepartout, Phileas Fogg would not have gone beyond Croydon) young Pike, as I call him, has always been a personable and gifted young man. Certain to enjoy a brilliant career in teaching, he also has an enviable reputation as a local sportsmen. Indeed, our local periodicals of record frequently dust down the ‘Incredible Hulks’ headline when he sends a few stumps cart-wheeling around the cricket grounds of our fair county every summer. Yet by his own admission, he has never been any great shakes as a footballer.

*Q1*Still, by dint of learning how to face the right way, the old lad made it into the Vale View primary school team and his dad George and I popped along to lend a little encouragement when his side played Melbourne. A very good game it was too and with around 20 minutes to play it was nicely poised at 2-2. It was at this point that our hero showed the technique he hadn’t previously indicated he possessed by smacking a half- volley of quite awesome velocity into the top right hand corner from the better part of 25 yards out.

What followed reminded me of an old story from my childhood called Sparky and his Magic Piano. In essence, Sparky was a ham-fisted duffer with zero talent who became a concert pianist, but was ultimately left looking a bit of a Charlie when a magic spell wore off. Pike’s Dad and I had barely trotted out enough superlatives to do his goal justice when he added another. On this occasion, following a run from the halfway lane that would have had Lionel Messi weeping at his own inadequacies, Pike left four defenders in his slipstream, rounded the Melbourne keeper as though he were a dustbin, and stroked in a finish that gave full illustration to the word nonchalant.

Speechless, other than to utter one or two Meldrewesque exclamations, I was simply in awe and lapped up what followed. A perfectly executed lob, a sizzling left footed volley on the run and a thumping far post header from a corner took Ritchie’s personal tally on to five goals in about 15 minutes. Vale View won 8-2, with the final goal coming from a talented kid who went on to play for Millwall and, during a charity game, sent me four feet up into the air with a brutal tackle. Her name was, Louise, I think.

Almost 20 years on, I remain convinced that had a scout been present at the game, Hulks Junior would have been whisked away to the big city under a blanket and his parents promised untold riches if a dotted line was signed. Sadly, the final whistle broke the spell or the big man upstairs found himself another plaything. In his next appearance, Ritchie gave a very passable impression of a camel chasing a coconut down a flight of stairs, yet still appeared to be having a lovely time, bless ‘im. Then he toddled off to Dover Grammar School, took up cricket and the rest, as they say, is history.

‘Twas the briefest of careers in the beautiful game, certainly, but nonetheless a 15 minutes of fame that to this day remains the most remarkable thing I’ve seen on a football field.

This, as I’m sure you will imagine, was up against some exceedingly stiff competition.

*BS*Mark Winter has joined doverathletic.com as a regular columnist to share his views and stories.

Mark has followed Dover Athletic up and down the country, as a supporter and reporter. He has also published his own book, “Missed Penalties and Peroxide”, focusing on our traumatic 2004/05 season.

This week he recalls a 15 minute football masterclass by a Dover supporter:*BF*

In my experience, only a handful of truly gifted football writers ever have anything original to say about the game. The rest spend most of their time rehashing old stories and changing the names around, with the more pompous of us referring to them as ‘exclusives.’ For my part, I’ve always taken the view that a good yarn is there to be retold. There’s always a new generation that hasn’t heard it and an older one happy to reminisce for an hour or two; as a visit to any local boozer will verify.

I was thinking alone these lines this week, as a couple of things jogged the darker recesses of my memory. The first occurred in a game at Eastbourne, when the home side’s first equaliser in a 2-2 draw against the Mighty Whites came as a result of the most remarkable refereeing decision I’ve seen in many a long year. On the bus home I read a redtop to pass the time and noted that, beneath a headline and photo that were as predictable as we might expect, Porto’s much-fancied Brazilian striker Hulk was being linked with a January move to one or two Premiership clubs.

Immediately, I was reminded of the first time I ever used the ‘Incredible Hulks’ headline; long before I ever started scribbling a few notes to earn a little beer money. I was so blown away by what I’d seen, I felt duty bound to go home and record the event on my pre-war sit-up-and-beg Remington typewriter. In essence, I’d just seen a 10-year-old boy turn into Marco Van Basten for 15 minutes and was convinced I’d witnessed football’s equivalent of the second coming.

Many of you will know the hero of our story, an affable cove of some 29 summers and regular attendee at our theatre of dreams. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Ritchie Hulks, a stout yeoman I’ve known since my return to Dover in 1982 coincided with his birth, allow me to fill in a few gaps.

Notwithstanding his unerring ability to get me lost in just about every non-league town in the Midlands (had he been given the role of Passepartout, Phileas Fogg would not have gone beyond Croydon) young Pike, as I call him, has always been a personable and gifted young man. Certain to enjoy a brilliant career in teaching, he also has an enviable reputation as a local sportsmen. Indeed, our local periodicals of record frequently dust down the ‘Incredible Hulks’ headline when he sends a few stumps cart-wheeling around the cricket grounds of our fair county every summer. Yet by his own admission, he has never been any great shakes as a footballer.

*Q1*Still, by dint of learning how to face the right way, the old lad made it into the Vale View primary school team and his dad George and I popped along to lend a little encouragement when his side played Melbourne. A very good game it was too and with around 20 minutes to play it was nicely poised at 2-2. It was at this point that our hero showed the technique he hadn’t previously indicated he possessed by smacking a half- volley of quite awesome velocity into the top right hand corner from the better part of 25 yards out.

What followed reminded me of an old story from my childhood called Sparky and his Magic Piano. In essence, Sparky was a ham-fisted duffer with zero talent who became a concert pianist, but was ultimately left looking a bit of a Charlie when a magic spell wore off. Pike’s Dad and I had barely trotted out enough superlatives to do his goal justice when he added another. On this occasion, following a run from the halfway lane that would have had Lionel Messi weeping at his own inadequacies, Pike left four defenders in his slipstream, rounded the Melbourne keeper as though he were a dustbin, and stroked in a finish that gave full illustration to the word nonchalant.

Speechless, other than to utter one or two Meldrewesque exclamations, I was simply in awe and lapped up what followed. A perfectly executed lob, a sizzling left footed volley on the run and a thumping far post header from a corner took Ritchie’s personal tally on to five goals in about 15 minutes. Vale View won 8-2, with the final goal coming from a talented kid who went on to play for Millwall and, during a charity game, sent me four feet up into the air with a brutal tackle. Her name was, Louise, I think.

Almost 20 years on, I remain convinced that had a scout been present at the game, Hulks Junior would have been whisked away to the big city under a blanket and his parents promised untold riches if a dotted line was signed. Sadly, the final whistle broke the spell or the big man upstairs found himself another plaything. In his next appearance, Ritchie gave a very passable impression of a camel chasing a coconut down a flight of stairs, yet still appeared to be having a lovely time, bless ‘im. Then he toddled off to Dover Grammar School, took up cricket and the rest, as they say, is history.

‘Twas the briefest of careers in the beautiful game, certainly, but nonetheless a 15 minutes of fame that to this day remains the most remarkable thing I’ve seen on a football field.

This, as I’m sure you will imagine, was up against some exceedingly stiff competition.

*BS*Shane Huke writes the first in a series of columns for doverathletic.com, giving a players perspective on all things DAFC.

This week he explains how watching a video at training inspired Saturday’s performance:*BF*

Firstly I’d like to say after Saturday’s performance, that is why we all love the game. I believe that was our greatest performance by far this year and the best game I’ve enjoyed being a part of for a long, long time.

This performance hasn’t come overnight, it has come from hard work by everyone involved within the club.

As you all know the chairman is a very passionate man with huge ambition. For a part-time club in the Blue Square Bet South, Dover is one of the most professional clubs I’ve been at in my career.

Thanks to him and others, we have good training facilities, a great stadium with a fantastic pitch, a manager and assistant manager with huge playing experience, a nutritionist from Manchester City (although he doesn’t like to mention that) and a really good physio. We also have a kit man who works his backside off to make sure we have clean kits every game, even if he has to come in on Sundays to wash them, plus a great bunch of boys who all want success.

Just a little bit about the game on Saturday. As I said previously, I reckon that was our best performance this season. On Thursday night at training, we watched the first 12 minutes of the Bromley game at Crabble on video (*Link1*).

Straight from the whistle we were like red arrows. The class of football we played was second to none and I think Bromley touched the ball only a handful of times whilst we outplayed them everywhere.

*Lpic1*Although I shouldn’t say this, as he keeps reminding us of it, George Purcell’s volley from 20 odd yards was out of this world. So I think that watching that clip gave us motivation to start like mad dogs again, and it showed when James Walker ran 30 yards to shut down the right back and made him boot it out of play. Something positive like that from a player can give a team a chain reaction and it did.

From start to finish we won everything, and again, congrats to Georgie for his two goals, but what a run from Bazza and what a ball from Gazza (I mean Terry) to set-up George’s 10th & 11th goals of the season.

It’s been great lately to repay the gaffer and Brownie with our results as they have worked hard with us to get a togetherness and a style of play. I believe we have that now and hopefully it continues to the end of the season and that we achieve what everyone at Crabble wants… promotion.

NULL

*BS*Shane Huke writes the first in a series of columns for doverathletic.com, giving a players perspective on all things DAFC.

This week he explains how watching a video at training inspired Saturday’s performance:*BF*

Firstly I’d like to say after Saturday’s performance, that is why we all love the game. I believe that was our greatest performance by far this year and the best game I’ve enjoyed being a part of for a long, long time.

This performance hasn’t come overnight, it has come from hard work by everyone involved within the club.

As you all know the chairman is a very passionate man with huge ambition. For a part-time club in the Blue Square Bet South, Dover is one of the most professional clubs I’ve been at in my career.

Thanks to him and others, we have good training facilities, a great stadium with a fantastic pitch, a manager and assistant manager with huge playing experience, a nutritionist from Manchester City (although he doesn’t like to mention that) and a really good physio. We also have a kit man who works his backside off to make sure we have clean kits every game, even if he has to come in on Sundays to wash them, plus a great bunch of boys who all want success.

Just a little bit about the game on Saturday. As I said previously, I reckon that was our best performance this season. On Thursday night at training, we watched the first 12 minutes of the Bromley game at Crabble on video (*Link1*).

Straight from the whistle we were like red arrows. The class of football we played was second to none and I think Bromley touched the ball only a handful of times whilst we outplayed them everywhere.

*Lpic1*Although I shouldn’t say this, as he keeps reminding us of it, George Purcell’s volley from 20 odd yards was out of this world. So I think that watching that clip gave us motivation to start like mad dogs again, and it showed when James Walker ran 30 yards to shut down the right back and made him boot it out of play. Something positive like that from a player can give a team a chain reaction and it did.

From start to finish we won everything, and again, congrats to Georgie for his two goals, but what a run from Bazza and what a ball from Gazza (I mean Terry) to set-up George’s 10th & 11th goals of the season.

It’s been great lately to repay the gaffer and Brownie with our results as they have worked hard with us to get a togetherness and a style of play. I believe we have that now and hopefully it continues to the end of the season and that we achieve what everyone at Crabble wants… promotion.