Despite going in front twice, Dover suffered a third successive National League defeat this season in an entertaining contest at Altrincham.

Koby Arthur opened the scoring with his first goal for the club, but Whites were pegged back just after 20 minutes through Dan Mooney.

Aaron Cosgrave put Dover back in front midway through the second half, but the home side equalised once again shortly after through A-Jay Leitch-Smith and with a few minutes to go Ryan Colclough won it for Alty.

Dover started bright and was almost ahead within five minutes when Ricky Miller collected the ball from a long kick from Josh Bexon, however his shot went just wide.

However, moments later Whites were ahead though Arthur who was in the right place at the right time to knock the ball home after Cosgrave did very well to get behind the home defence.

Cosgrave almost doubled Dover’s lead shortly after as he picked the ball up in the box, but his shot was blocked well by Brad Jackson.

This came back to haunt the away side as Altrincham levelled through Mooney when the midfielder was able to take Joel Senior’s ball under control before striking past the arm of Bexon.

Connor Kirby then went close to turning the game around, however, after getting the ball from Mooney, he couldn’t keep his shot down.

Alty continued to put pressure on the Dover defence and they would have been ahead if it wasn’t for Bexon who denied Marcus Dinanga with a great save after the striker did well to find a shot after a great cross.

Alty’s goalkeeper Tony Thompson – who was unbeatable when these two sides played at Crabble last season – then made a great save to keep the scores level as he made himself big to deny Ben Williamson’s header from five yards out.

Altrincham started to control the game during the second half, with chances coming from both Mooney and Matty Kosylo.

However, these missed chances looked to have proved costly when Cosgrave gave Whites the lead just before the hour mark with a brilliant strike from the edge of the area, turning the defender and striking into the top corner, giving Thompson no chance.

Despite going behind, Alty continued to control the game and got their just rewards through second-half substitute Leitch-Smith as he connected to a cross into the box to convert past Bexon.

With minutes left, the home side went ahead for the first time in the afternoon through Colclough who scored a penalty after the winger was fouled in the box by Danny Collinge.