Gillingham 0-2 Dover Athletic - Dover heroes in Hess Club Heaven

Saturday 06th November 2010

GILLINGHAM 0-2 DOVER ATHLETIC
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) First Round
Saturday 6th November 2010
Paul Parkinson reports from Priestfield Stadium

BLUE SQUARE Bet South Dover Athletic stunned their League Two neighbours with a commanding performance at Priestfield, and can now look forward to Sunday‘s Second round draw.

Jubilant manager, Martin Hayes, speaking afterwards to www.kentishfootball.co.uk praised his team, saying, “Before the game we just had to calm them down, they were like kids in a sweetshop. All I said was go and enjoy yourselves, have no regrets and go give them a game.

“The boys have all done that, from the back to the front, they‘ve all come off shattered and I‘m so proud of them.

“The fans have seen us give Gillingham a game and we‘ve got a fabulous result. All of them were immense today, we had 14 heroes out there.”

And heroes they were, as even Gillingham boss, Andy Hessenthaler, freely admitted to www.kentishfootball.co.uk: “All credit goes to Dover. They were the better side and I hope they go on now and get a decent draw. They thoroughly deserved to win the game. At the end it looked as though they were the pro team, we were the non-league side.””

Hessenthaler sprung a surprise in his team, bringing former Dover favourite Nicky Southall into midfield for his first appearance since rejoining Gillingham in the summer merry-go-round.

And Southall found himself in the middle of the action from the start, conceding a free kick from which Adam Birchall forced Alan Julian into an early save. From the corner, Olly Schulz found space in the home box, but couldn‘t direct his header on target.

Both sides created chances in the opening exchanges, with Danny Spiller, Chris Palmer and Dennis Oli all failing to really test Ross Flitney, and Elliott Charles seeing his glanced header creep past Julian’s right hand post.

But it was Dover who struck first, with a stunning Birchall effort on 18 minutes.

Birchall gathered the ball 35-yards out from goal and did well to hold off Jack Payne‘s challenge, before unleashing a thunderous strike beyond Julian‘s despairing dive into the top corner of the net.

Gillingham‘s nervy defence was breached again nine minutes later with Luke I‘Anson, included in the starting line-up at the expense of Jon Wallis, firing home.

Harry Baker caused problems for John Nutter with a strong run down the right wing, and his deflected cross found Charles, who laid the ball back to I‘Anson, who drilled the ball in from 12 yards.

Losing the second goal provoked an immediate response from Gillingham, and Schulz produced a great tackle to deny Spiller‘s burst into the box, before substitute Adebayo Akinfenwa‘s header looped onto the roof of the net.

Spiller was then denied twice; first Flitney parried his rasping drive, then after the ball had rebounded to Spiller, Tom Wynter somehow got a block on the follow-up shot.

The pace of the match was having an effect on both sides; both losing a forward and defender to injury, but from Dover‘s perspective, Schulz‘s blood injury was fortunate to be only temporary.

Although while Schulz was receiving treatment at the end of the half, another Gills replacement, Stefan Payne, saw a volley flash past Flitney‘s left post.

As expected, Gillingham flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half, but despite their best efforts, Flitney stood tall, producing four wonderful saves.

The first, from Jack Payne‘s volley produced a corner from which Tony Sinclair could only head over. Next, Stefan Payne was denied, having been set up by Akinfenwa, who could only head the resulting corner straight at the Dover keeper.

Then came the double save that virtually counted as the match winner. Jack Payne‘s 30 yard shot was well saved by Flitney away to his right hand side, but the keeper was up quickly to turn Stefan Payne‘s effort round the post at full stretch.

While their team mates formed a wall in front of Flitney, Birchall and Ben Hunt did everything in their power to keep the Gills defence occupied, with Barry Fuller having to slid full length to deny a Birchall effort.

But eventually Dover managed a quick break, with Birchall releasing Baker, before Nutter clipped the winger‘s ankles and saw red 20 minutes from time.

With time running out, Stefan Payne saw another shot gathered by Flitney, while Hunt hit a left foot shot just past the post of Julian‘s goal.

But Dover weren‘t going to be denied and the final whistle saw celebrations amongst the 2,300 visiting supporters, some of whom made it onto the pitch to dance with their heroes.

Talking after the game, Hessenthaler said: “There‘s a bit of soul-searching going on; there was no fire in our bellies, on FA Cup day of all times.

“Second half we had more of a go, but we didn‘t show enough passion. You can talk about quality in football, but you‘ve got to have drive and commitment and we didn‘t have any of that.

“I thought Nicky Southall, at 38, was absolutely outstanding; he‘s even ended up playing centre-half. I‘m not saying it because he‘s my coach, but some of his passing was tremendous and him and young Jack Payne were fantastic.”

Two of Dover‘s heroes, keeper Ross Flitney and goalscorer Adam Birchall spoke to the gathered press, first Flitney saying, “It‘s always nice to do well in a busy game, a number of the saves were simple enough. The balls used seem to move more, pick up speed faster, and maybe I might have tried to hold a few of the shots in a League game, but today was about safety first.”

Then Birchall, who has in the build-up extended his contact to another two years to keep him at the club until 2013, and scored his 20th goal of the season today, added: “The atmosphere was amazing today and it makes it so easy to get up for the game. As a striker, I want to score goals, but today was all about the team performance.

“I was delighted to get on the scoresheet today and I feel I‘ve got a hunger to go and get more, that‘s just the way I‘m feeling at the moment.

“I‘ve loved playing in the FA Cup; I can remember scoring on my 21st birthday for Mansfield on TV in the cup, and I just feel like it‘s a bit of pressure off from the League. It‘s an amazing competition to be involved in and long may it continue.”

Dover chairman, Jim Parmenter, who had seen Hessenthaler, Southall, Ian Hendon and Darren Hare move to Priestfield in the summer, was justifiably overjoyed by the result.

Mr Parmenter told www.kentishfootball.co.uk: “I‘ve been saying since August that we‘d get our compensation when we came to Gillingham in the FA Cup, although actually I said we‘d play them at home.

“But what a bunch of players; there was only one team out there looking like winning and that was Dover.

“I‘m delighted for Adam that he‘s scored such a fantastic goal, he‘s just signed a new contract with us, but the whole team was fantastic and deserve the accolades that they are getting now.

“We had 2,300 supporters because we couldn‘t get more tickets, but we‘ve filled the away end and they‘ve been fantastic. I‘m just delighted that we‘ve done it.”

Gillingham: Alan Julian, Barry Fuller, John Nutter, Cody McDonald, Chris Palmer (Bruce Inkango 75), Matt Lawrence (Stefan Payne 42), Danny Spiller, Nicky Southall, Dennis Oli (Adebayo Akinfenwa 20), Jack Payne, Tony Sinclair.

Subs: Kevin Maher, Lance Cronin, Ashley Miller.

Booked: Danny Spiller 33, Bruce Inkango 89.

Sent Off: John Nutter 70.

Dover Athletic: Ross Flitney, Matt Fish, Tom Wynter, Joseph Tabiri, Olly Schultz, Rob Gillman, Harry Baker, Luke I‘Anson, Elliott Charles, Adam Birchall, Sam Long.

Subs: Ben Hunt, Jason Norville, Joseph Aisien, Sam Cutler, Jon Wallis, Lee Hook, Sulyman Bah.

Goals: Adam Birchall 18, Luke I‘Anson 27.

Attendance: 7,475 (2,300 away supporters)

Referee: Mr Darren Deadman

Assistants: Mr Matt Stewart and Mr Adrian Sannerude

Fourth Official: Mr Barry Holderness