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MATCH PREVIEW: DOVER VS BARNET

Andy Hessenthaler’s injury-hit squad faces another stern test when Barnet visit Crabble on Saturday.

The Bees, the side above Whites on the National League table, are unbeaten in their previous three outings after draws against Kings Lynn Town and FC Halifax Town following a 3-1 win against Weymouth at The Hive.

Tuesday’s defeat against Aldershot at Crabble sees Barnet 16 points ahead of Whites.

Barnet drew 1-1 at Kings Lynn on Tuesday.

Joe Widdowson put Barnet ahead in the fourth minute, turning home Rob Hall’s corner.

But the hosts levelled midway through the first half as Michael Clunan fired home from the edge of the area.

King’s Lynn could have won it after the break but Sam Sargeant saved Gold Omotayo’s penalty, with Ross Barrows missing the rebound.

BARNET’S PLAYER TO WATCH

Midfielder Mitch Brundle needs no introduction to Dover fans. Our former captain got his first goal for Barnet in their 3-1 win against Weymouth two weeks ago..

LAST TIME WE MET

In our only fixture against the Bees last season, and our final home game before the club’s results were expunged, Whites won only their third game of the campaign.

Will De Havilland’s double inside the first 20 minutes put Hessenthaler’s men 2-0 up before Ahkeem Rose made it three midway through the first half.

Michael Petrasso pulled a goal back on the hour mark, but Whites held on for victory on a cold, wet night at Crabble.

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Tickets for this game must be bought at the turnstile only. Both cash and card are accepted.

Prices are as follows:

Adults – £18

Over 60 – £15

Under 18 – £9

COVERAGE

If you are unable to make the game, we will have live updates on Twitter – @DAFCLiveText – follow us and get all the news as it happens.

PROGRAMME

Grab your double edition match day programme for just £1 covering the games against Aldershot Town and Barnet HERE

SATURDAY’S NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

Altrincham vs Maidenhead United

Boreham Wood vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Bromley vs Torquay United

FC Halifax Town vs Weymouth

King’s Lynn Town vs Solihull Moors

Southend United vs Chesterfield

Stockport County vs Aldershot Town

Wealdstone vs Eastleigh

Woking vs Grimsby Town

Yeovil Town vs Notts County

VIDEO: MANAGER REACTION

Manager Andy Hessenthaler speaks to Ryan Clark after Tuesday’s home defeat against Aldershot Town.

MATCH REPORT: DOVER 1 – 2 ALDERSHOT TOWN

Despite scoring for the first time at Crabble this season, Whites continue to look for their first National League win after a home defeat against Aldershot Town.

Tommy Willard gave the away side the lead from a counter attack, before Aaron Cosgrave scored his and Whites’ first goal at Crabble this season to level.

Aldershot retook the lead through Toby Edser in the second half and despite efforts from Dover, they held on to take all three points.

Earlier in the day, Andy Hessenthaler made two changes from the defeat to Grimsby on Saturday, with Cosgrave and Ricky Miller coming in for Matt Bentley and Khale Da Costa.

Cosgrave almost gave Whites the perfect start within the first five minutes, however after getting past an onrushing Mitch Walker, the angle closed on him and the attacker was forced to look for options, which he almost found in Miller who was running into the box, but the pass just missed the foot of Whites’ number nine.

Moments later, Miller did get a sight at goal, but after receiving the ball outside the area, his shot was blocked by the defence.

Chances kept coming for Whites and it was Miller again who would’ve felt like he should’ve done better. Cosgrave did really well to collect a long ball before beating a defender, but after getting it into the box he squared it towards Miller who mistimed his shot with it being easily cleared.

Despite looking good coming forward, Whites needed loanee goalkeeper Adam Parkes to keep the score level when Korie Andrews ran down the right and after beating a couple of defenders fired his shot, but the goalkeeper did well to keep it out.

Cosgrave kept looking to come forward and almost gave Whites the lead, but after running into the box his shot was saved well at the near post by Walker.

These missed chances came back to haunt Dover as against the run of play, the away side went ahead through Willard. After breaking from a Whites corner, the Shots found themselves in a two on one situation with Andrews squaring it into the path of Willard to score into an open net.

First half chances were hard to come by after this, but Whites were almost level with a couple of minutes to go in the half after brilliant work by Koby Arthur who laid it off to Ben Williamson after running past three defenders, Williamson found space for a dangerous cross, however nobody could get onto the end of it as it was cleared.

Cosgrave looked dangerous throughout the whole game, and got his reward early in the second half with his first home league goal of the season. After collecting a long ball just inside the Aldershot half, the attacker found some space between him and the goal before running into it and opening his body up to shoot into the far corner from an acute angle.

Second half substitute Bentley almost completed the turn around with 20 minutes to go, but after picking up the ball and driving towards goal, he could only pull his shot wide of the target.

Edser reinstated the visitors lead with 15 minutes to go, smashing the ball past Parkes from inside the box after good link up play between Aldershot’s forwards.

Whites looked to come forward late on but Walker made easy saves from Cosgrave and TJ Bramble and Danny Collinge as the away side held on.

MATCH PREVIEW: DOVER VS ALDERSHOT TOWN

Andy Hessenthaler will be looking to see his team bounce back from defeat this evening as they welcome Aldershot Town to Crabble.

Whites conceded five in the first half on Saturday as they fell to a 6-0 defeat away to top of the league Grimsby.

This result means that Dover remain bottom of the table on -9, having just picked up three points this season.

Meanwhile, our opponents sit one place above us in 22nd. They have lost three from their last five games and sit 13 points above Whites on four points.

Last time out, heavy rainfall meant that their home game against Wrexham was abandoned in the second half with the Welsh side leading 2-0.

ALDERSHOT’S PLAYER TO WATCH

Despite only picking up one win so far this season, AFC Wimbledon loanee Corie Andrews has been in fine form for The Shots, scoring five goals in his first nine games this season.

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Tickets for this game must be bought at the turnstile only. Both cash and card are accepted.

Prices are as follows:

Adults – £18

Over 60 – £15

Under 18 – £9

COVERAGE

If you are unable to make the game, we will have live updates on Twitter – @DAFCLiveText – follow us and get all the news as it happens.

PROGRAMME

Grab your double edition match day programme for just £1 covering the games against Aldershot Town and Barnet HERE

TUESDAY’S NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

Altrincham vs Grimsby Town

Boreham Wood vs Torquay United

Bromley vs Weymouth

FC Halifax Town vs Notts County

King’s Lynn Town vs Barnet

Southend United vs Eastleigh

Wealdstone vs Solihull Moors

Woking vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Wrexham vs Chesterfield

Yeovil Town vs Maidenhead United

HOME DRAW IN FA CUP

Dover Athletic will host Yate Town in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round.

The tie will be played on Saturday 16th October at Crabble at 3pm.

The Southern League Premier Division South side, who are based in Gloucestershire, beat Combined Counties League side Redhill 3-0 last Saturday to advance to this stage

MANAGER REACTION

Grimsby Town ensured Dover’s long trip to Lincolnshire was as miserable as the weather at a rain-soaked Blundell Park.

Manager Andy Hessenthaler’s side was 5-0 down at half-time before the table-topping hosts added a sixth with 20 minutes to play.

Hessenthaler labelled the performance as “unacceptable”.

He said those 60 plus Dover fans who made the 475-mile round trip didn’t deserve to see that.

“Let me start by saying that I thought that it was an absolutely outstanding effort by our fans who made the long journey and who, in truly horrendous conditions, stayed to the bitter end and clapped the players at the final whistle.

“That’s true fans for you and believe me, we owe them and every other Dover fan for what we produced on the day.

“The way we lost the game was unacceptable and we should all be hurting after it.”

Although the final scoreline doesn’t suggest it, it was Dover who started the better of the two teams in front of the near 6,000 strong crowd.

Hessenthaler said: “I said before the game we needed to start well and silence the crowd and we did for the first 15 minutes or so.

“We played some positive football and created some decent chances and they (the crowd) were quiet.

“However, that changed when Harry (Ransom) was booked and they were calling for him to be sent off – that changed the tempo of the game.

“It was like waving a red flag at a bull – they came charging at us and we couldn’t handle it and once we conceded that second goal, our heads dropped and we cannot afford to do that.

“The gulf in the size of the clubs really showed and they looked fitter and sharper than us, but as a group, we made too many errors defensively through a lack of experience and naivety.

“We’ve got to keep fighting, but on Saturday we didn’t show anywhere near enough fight against a massive club in this division.”

The manager also named Yannis Drais on the bench for the first time.

The 27-year-old French midfielder, who will wear the number 31 shirt, made his debut as a second-half substitute, replacing Da Costa as Hess changed shape.

Drais arrived on non-contract late last week after training with the side for a couple of weeks.

Hess said: “We are lacking central midfielders with Ryan Hanson out injured and he’s looked OK in training, so we’ll see how it goes.”

MATCH PREVIEW – GRIMSBY VS DOVER

Dover travels to high-flying Grimsby Town on Saturday as they look to get their first three points on the board.

Andy Hessenthaler’s men will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Crabble against Kent rivals Bromley.

Grimsby currently sits third in the National League table and two points below league leaders Chesterfield with a record of five wins, two draws, and a single defeat in their opening eight games.

That defeat was 3-1 at Bromley n Tuesday.

This will be the first time since 2016 that these two sides will face each other.

That game finished 1-1 after Omar Bogle gave The Mariners the lead from the penalty spot before Jack Parkinson equalised for Whites just before the hour mark.

GRIMSBY’S PLAYER TO WATCH

Summer signing John McAtee has had a good start to his Grimsby career, having scored four goals in his first eight games this season.

TEAM COLOURS

For fans wanting to show the same colours as the players, we will be wearing our purple kit.

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Stadium – Blundell Park, Cleethorpes, DN35 7PY

The match kicks off at 3pm and ticket prices are as follows:

Adult – £20

65+ – £13

18-22 – £13

12-17(Unaccompanied) – £7

3-17(Accompanied) – £5

Student/unemployed – £13

Information on how to buy tickets can be found here – Please click on the away section on the ticket page to access away tickets.

COVERAGE

Unfortunately, due to a lack of staff, there will be no LiveText coverage on our Twitter account for this game.

Alternatively, there will be coverage from BBC Radio Kent, which can be found by going into the non-league section on the BBC Sport webpage – or by clicking this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/national-league

SATURDAY’S NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

Aldershot Town vs Wrexham

Barnet vs FC Halifax Town

Dagenham & Redbridge vs Altrincham

Eastleigh vs Boreham Wood (5.20pm)

Maidenhead United vs King’s Lynn Town

Notts County vs Woking

Solihull Moors vs Southend United

Torquay United vs Wealdstone

Weymouth vs Stockport County

HELP NEEDED!

Dover Athletic is looking for volunteers to join the media team and we currently have opportunities available in a number of key roles.

We are in need of people to provide help with our website and social media channels, including DAFC Live Text on Twitter on matchdays.

You would also be writing articles, updating statistics, conducting interviews with players and staff, and posting news on social media as and when required.

If you are keen to get involved and can commit to doing it on a regular basis, please drop us an email to: [email protected]

CURRY ON MENU AT CRABBLE

Bookings are now being taken for our curry night in the VIP Platinum Suite for next Tuesday’s (October 5th ) National League game against Aldershot Town at Crabble.

This package costs £15 (plus the price of a matchday ticket for any non-season ticket holders) and on the menu will be chicken curry with rice and naan bread.

A vegetarian curry will also be available.

The experience includes:

Butler hosted lounge with large TVs and projector showing the game
A one-course meal served at your table
Reserved undercover premium padded seating
Complimentary tea, coffee & mineral water, plus dedicated paid bar before and after the match
Complimentary matchday team sheet

Arrival at the ground should be at 6.15 pm and food will be served at 6.45pm.

There are only 64 spaces available, so all tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

The dress code is smart casual.

To book and watch the match from the best seats in the house, call the office on 01304 822373, email [email protected] or pop into our main reception during office hours.

Payment is required at the time of booking.

NELSON AT THE DOUBLE

Jack Nelson scored twice as the Dover Athletic Academy progressed to the next round of the FA Youth Cup with a 2-1 win at Dartford.

Nelson gave the young Whites a 2-0 lead at half-time at Princes Park before the hosts reduced the deficit with a second-half penalty.

Academy Manager Mike Sandmann (pictured) said it was pleasing to get through against a good Dartford team.

He said: “I was really pleased with how we started the game, creating some good chances and playing some good football.

“After the goal, we dropped off a little and allowed Dartford back in the game, but I felt that we looked comfortable and limited their chances.

“Dartford had some good spells of possession but I don’t remember our goalkeeper Sam making too many saves.

“The penalty decision, which looked soft, but I would need to see again, changed the end of the game as Dartford grew in confidence after it.

“I would like to see us keep the ball better especially when under a little bit of pressure. I can’t fault our work rate throughout the night the boys didn’t leave anything out there

“Overall I think we more than deserved to win and made things difficult for ourselves, but the most important thing is to be in the next round and couldn’t be more pleased for the boys.”