Match Preview by Fred Deveson
This Saturday Dover Athletic host FA Cup story of the season Maidstone United, as they look to put all their efforts into promotion after their loss on Monday night to Coventry City.
Maidstone have had a fantastic season under George Elokobiand his story, as well as the club’s, has inspired millions across the country so far.
Elokobi and his assistant Craig Fagan both have Premier League experience and they now both have experience managing against Championship teams, but this weekend is a very different test against Dover Athletic.
Interestingly, Maidstone have failed to win their last two games in the league despite their FA Cup run. They lost to Aveley last time out in the league and previously only managed a draw against Hemel Hempstead.
Dover’s Kent rivals currently sit in 9th but they do have games in hand, and should they win those, they will be right amongst the top three. It’s up to Dover to stop their progression into the playoffs.
The Stones’ morale may be quite low, having had their FA Cup dream abruptly ended by Coventry, where they lost 5-0. Dover may look to capitalise on this and get a result against their rivals.
As for Dover Athletic, they have lost each of their last five games, however if the performance against Chippenham is anything to go by, then The Whites have a real chance on Saturday.
Dover were playing some excellent football last time out and deserved to get the win, but just ran out of steam right at the end.
George Wilkinson has had an excellent month of performances,and the Dover fans will be hoping for another excellent one from the number 14 against fierce rivals Maidstone United.
Since 2008, the two sides have faced off 12 times, with Dover winning half of those games and Maidstone winning three, which is a good sign for the hosts this weekend. Dover have also scored 23 goals in those twelve games, showing goals has not been an issue in this fixture in
This is an important game for both sides fighting at the top and bottom of the league and both will be desperate to get a win to help their causes.
Before the game Manager Jake Leberl has said:
For us it’s been such a disappointing run of results of late especially the Dartford & Chippenham games where we felt performances wise we deserved something out of both games.
Moving forward as a management team we have to keep going, educating & encouraging the players to learn from previous match day experiences to pick up results at this level where on occasions our general performance, effort, enthusiasm & spirt has been there to see, on the whole the boys have given that and need to continue to fight for themselves the team & the supporters to the very end
Jake Leberl
Dover Athletic vs Maidstone United – Saturday 2 March 2024, 3pm
Ticket Information:
This match is segregated. Admission for this match is by turnstile only. We accept both card and cash on the gate.
Adults – £17
Over 60 – £15
Under 18 – £9
Under 11s continue to be free with paying adult
We are also offering a five game ticket. These can only be used by one individual per match and not in groups.
Adult – £75 (£10 saving)
Concession – £65 (£10 saving)