It’s the first Kent derby of the season against our closest rivals.
Dover Athletic
After a tight opening half-hour, Jake Leberl’s men took charge with an 8-0 foray against Potters Bar Town. It was the perfect way to start the season and will have given the boys confidence going into a huge home clash on Tuesday night against our local rivals Folkestone.
Henry Young (knee) and Kieron Agbebi remain unavailable with injury. We anticipate that Alfie Matthews international clearance will have come back ready for Tuesday night.
From the Manager
“We are going into the first home game of the season, a new era. Like I keep saying, I want the people that have stayed away to give these boys a chance. Come and have a look. The fans at Potters Bar were fantastic. But people have got to be patient, as we go there’s going to be bumps in the road. You know the famous old saying ‘never too high, never too low’. We’re enjoying Saturday’s win and really look forward to focusing on the big derby game on Tuesday night.”
Match Sponsor
Tuesday’s Match Sponsor is London-based private household recruitment company Exclusive Household Staff (EHS), founded by Dover-born John Pettman who has been a lifelong Dover Athletic fan spanning more than 30 years. John also owns the Exclusive Butler School (EBS) which provides Butler Training globally to the world’s elite. Over the past few seasons John has provided either a professional EHS Butler or an EBS Trainee Butler at each home game to host the VIP lounge and look after visiting owners and Directors. Having supported the club for three decades, his favourite players over the years have been (Sir) David Leworthy, Ricky Reina, and Ricky Miller for their attacking threat, as well as fond memories of Jason Bartlett, Lee Shearer, Brian Horne, and Olly Shultz for their defensive prowess!
Kit
Dover Athletic will line up in our white home shirt with black shorts, with Mitch Walker in the pink keepers strip. Folkestone will play in away kit of Red and White.
The Opposition
Folkestone’s opening game saw a 1-1 draw against Carshalton. Both goals came in the first 15 minutes as Dominic Vose’s opener for Carshalton was cancelled out by Evans Kouassi after Jamie Mascoll’s effort came back off the crossbar.
Manager, Andy Drury joined Folkestone Invicta for the first time as a player in January 2022 for a 2-month spell before taking up a managerial post at Whitstable Town. He returned to Invicta as a player-coach under joint managers Micheal Everitt and Roland Edge in the summer of 2023 before taking over as manager in December.
Former Dover players in the Folkestone squad include experienced fullback Chris Sessegnon (brother of Steven and Ryan Sessegnon) who joined the Whites in 2012 before moving to Ebsfleet the following season. Joel Odeniran, a Dover Academy graduate who featured once for the Whites in our Kent Senior Cup game against Beckenham Town last season. Defender Peter Ojemen who made 21 appearances in a white shirt last season. You may also recognise their left back Jamie Mascoll who trialed for us in preseason.
The Venue
We look forward to welcoming our friends over the hill to the Megger Community Stadium. More information on getting to the ground can be found here: https://doverathletic.com/visit-crabble/
Megger Community Stadium. Crabble Athletic Ground, Lewisham Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 0JB.
Admission
Adults: £15
Concessions: £14
U18: £9
U11: FREE with a paying adult
We now only accept card on the gate and operate a cashless ground.