Dover Athletic 2-3 Cambridge City - Hessenthaler vows to bounce back from Trophy exit

With the score locked at 2-2, Cambridge substitute Ramon Calliste broke free of the Dover defence and as goalkeeper John Whitehouse hesitated in coming to meet the striker, Calliste coolly lobbed the ball goal wards and as Whitehouse lost his footing as he tried to recover, the ball almost apologetically bounced into the unguarded net.

It was tough on Hessenthaler’s side, who showed tremendous resolve to recover from the body blow of conceding twice in the opening five minutes, to be level at half-time.

But as the manager himself ruefully admitted afterwards “We simply weren’t with it at the start. You cannot give away silly goals like we did and hope to win.”

To be fair to Hessenthaler, his charges recovered magnificently in the first half but the manager will be well aware that despite dominating possession in the second 45 minutes, Cambridge goalkeeper Zac Barrett had precious little to do directly.

City roared out of the blocks at the start and were ahead within 130 seconds. The Dover defence failed to deal with Danny Spendlove’s cross-shot and Ashley Fuller was on hand to make them pay - beating Whitehouse comfortably from six-yards.

Unbelievably it got worse for Dover just three minutes later when Neil Midgley profited after the ball had run loose following a clash between the City striker and Whitehouse on the very edge of the Dover area.

Midgley showed all his experience by looping the ball back over the stranded keeper and despite the desperate efforts of Lawrence Ball, assistant referee Mr Graeme Ions deemed the ball had crossed the line, much to the disgust of the Crabble crowd.

Dover were back in the game after fifteen minutes when Shaun Welford turned home Sammy Moore’s mis-hit shot after Jerahl Hughes had done brilliantly down the right.

As the half wore on Dover gained the upper hand as the game began strung out and was end-to-end.

Frannie Collin could have equalised with a spectacular scissor kick which flew just wide, whilst at the other end, Whitehouse saved well from Fuller and Lee Roach.

The deserved equaliser came on the stroke of half-time. Again, Welford was on target, scoring his seventh goal of the season.

Moore and John Keister combined well in midfield and Dover skipper Keister was able to feed the ball wide to overlapping full-back Matt Fish, whose deep cross wasn’t dealt with by the Cambridge defence and Welford made no mistake from ten-yards.

Level at the break you hoped that the momentum was with Dover but substitute Calliste had other ideas, taking advantage of Whitehouse’s slip to give the visitors the lead on 50 minutes.

Try as they might Dover couldn’t find a way through the City defence, which defended deeper and deeper as the minutes ticked by.

Not even the introduction of all three Dover substitutes could unlock the defence, although Sam Jones did test keeper Zac Barrett with a fierce drive.

As time was running out Alan Pouton’s brilliant clipped ball into the box caused chaos as Barrett completely miss read the flight of the ball. Fortunately for the Cambridge stopper, Welford’s knock back didn’t find a White shirt and a desperate clearance saw the danger averted.

In stoppage time Barrett directly denied Pouton after the former Gillingham midfielder let fly from 30-yards - the keeper at full stretch managed to tip the ball over the bar.

And as the ball disappeared into the crowd, Dover’s hopes of a run in the FA Trophy went with it.

A disappointed Hessenthaler after the game, speaking to BBC Radio Kent, conceded that his side would have to get used to defensive tactics being used against them.

He said: “To be fair it happened quite a lot last season when teams came here and put men behind the ball. But we went on to win the league and that was after early exits in the Cup and the Trophy, so who knows.”

With one eye on Saturday’s table-topping Ryman Premier League clash at Staines Town, the Dover boss warned, “We’ve some wounded players in that changing room and in the past when we’ve had a set-back we’ve roared back!

“We’ve already won there in the Trophy and are six points clear in the league. It will be a different game but we could finish up nine clear.”

So Dover’s road to Wembley is over for another season - the road to the promised land and promotion to the Blue Square South, however, could come that step closer with victory at the weekend.

As Hessenthaler himself added: “Beware the wounded animal.”

Dover Athletic: John Whitehouse, Matt Fish (Giuliano Grazioli 67), Sam Gore (Sam Jones 67), Dean Hill, Lawrence Ball, John Keister, Sammy Moore, Alan Pouton, Shaun Wellford (Nathan Bailey 81), Frannie Collin, Jerahl Hughes.
Subs: James Rogers, Rob Lindley.

Booked: Alan Pouton 86

Goals: Shaun Welford 15, 44

Cambridge City: Zac Barrett, Ben Nunn, Lee Chaffey, Dave Theobald, Mark Smith, Stephen Smith, Danny Spend love (Matt Haniver 67), Neil Sharp, Lee Roach (Ramon Calliste 45), Neil Midgley, Ashley Fuller (Craig Ratcliffe 62).

Goals: Ashley Fuller 3, Neil Midgley 5, Ramon Calliste 50

Booked: Dave Theobald 69

Attendance: 509
Referee: Mr Nigel Lugg (Chipstead, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Luis Pinto Nunes (Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey) & Mr Graeme Ions (Maidstone, Kent)