We don't fear anybody at the moment, says Dover Athletic boss Nicky Forster

DOVER ATHLETIC manager Nicky Forster says he doesn’t fear Bath City as he bids to guide the club into the FA Cup First Round for the second successive season, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Whites reached the Third Round under previous boss Martin Hayes last season and Forster, 38, wants to guide the club into the First Round with victory over Bath City at Crabble on Saturday.

Bath City arrive in Kent sitting at the foot of the Blue Square Bet Premier table with one win and four draws from their eighteen league outings and Dover Athletic have the quality to progress.

They climbed into seventh place in the Blue Square Bet South table with a battling 1-0 win at Bromley last night.  In-form striker Donovan Simmonds scored the only goal inside the opening four minutes and they were reduced to ten-men when skipper Shane Huke was red-carded.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice we’re going into it, for a change, we’re going to be the underdogs, if you like, but it will be a good game,” said Forster.

“We seem to be enjoy playing at home.  It’s The FA Cup, which always brings a lively atmosphere in the games. 

“We’re on a good run, we’ve got good momentum.  We don’t fear anyone just at the moment.

“We’ve got an attitude where we want to go out and win every game now.  We proved that when we played against Maidstone in the Kent Senior Cup the other week – we took that seriously, we fielded a strong side and we won that.

“I’m looking for my players to go out with a winning mentality.

Forster side got off to a flying start with a fourth minute winner at Bromley last night and the former Brentford boss doesn’t want to go a goal behind as they did to Ridgeons Eastern League minnows Wroxham in the last round.

“It’s something that again we’re looking to improve on,” said Forster.

“We’ve started slowly against Wroxham.  We went a goal down fairly early on and the manner which we let the goal in was very disappointing so I’ve asked for the players’ to have good tempo, good intensity at the start of the game, set the tone of the game, dictate the game to the opponents.”

Forster, who played for his home-town club Lingfield at the start of the season, knows the importance of being clued up on your opponents.

He said: “We know about them, we’ve done our homework on them.  One thing we are starting to do and improving on is really learning about the opposition.  If we can be prepared going into every game then it gives us a better chance.

“It might just be a slight advantage, we know about them.  We know they’re weaknesses and we’ll put a team out to try and exploit these and beat them.”

Dover took at least 150 fans’ to Hayes Lane last night and Forster wants Crabble filled to the rafters for the Fourth Qualifying Round showdown on Saturday.

Forster said: “I’ve got to be honest there was mixed reviews about the fans’ when I joined from different quarters and from my point of view they’ve been fantastic.

“They’re vital to the survival of the club.  They’ve been absolutely fantastic since I’ve been here.  We want them all to bring a friend with them and double the crowd because we need them. 

“They were fantastic and in full voice again at Bromley and they get behind the team, especially at home so it may be a rallying cry from me to come down and see us because we’re doing alright at the moment and they’re a key part.”
Visit Dover Athletic’s website: www.doverathletic.com  

Dover Athletic  v  Bath City
The FA Cup with Budweiser Fourth Qualifying Round
Saturday 29^th October 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Crabble Athletic Ground, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB