Dover Athletic 0-0 Woking - It gets tougher and tougher each year, admits retiring Hessenthaler

Saturday 01st May 2010

DOVER ATHLETIC 0-0 WOKING
(Woking won 2-1 on aggregate)
Blue Square South Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg
Saturday 1st May 2010
Mike Green reports from Crabble

ON THE day that Andy Hessenthaler announced his retirement from competitive football, his Dover Athletic side came within a coat of paint of reaching the Blue Square South Play Off Final.

But in the end the White’s couldn’t overturn their first leg deficit and its Woking who on Thursday night will head down the M4 to face Bath City for a place in next season’s Blue Square Premier.

Dover’s failure to overturn their 1-2 first leg deficit means that for the first time since 1986, Kent is without a team in the top division of Non League football.

Not that Hessenthaler’s side didn’t create the chances indeed in one ten minute spell just before half time Matt Fish thumped a header against the bar, whilst both Nicky Southall and Shaun Welford had efforts cleared off the line, whilst in stoppage time with almost the last kick of the game, Welford thundered a magnificent 30 yard dipping volley onto the Woking bar, and there were even appeals for a goal as the ball bounced down, but referee Paul Forrester (admittedly without much help from his assistant) waved the appeals away and seconds later blew the final whistle on Dover’s season.

“We should have got something out of the game today,” admitted Hessenthaler to www.Kentishfootball.co.uk after the game.

“We had the opportunities, but lady luck wasn’t on our side today! We earned our luck first half and even though we came in 0-0 at half time, I wasn’t too worried about as we’d created chances.

“Didn’t create as many ad I’d have liked second half but you have to give them credit for defending properly, and then we get Shaun’s volley at the end and you start thinking that maybe we earned some luck in the first half to go in – but its hit the bar and come out; a couple of the boys questioned if it had of gone over the line, but I hope now that the video doesn’t show it going over the line as that would have been very cruel to me and the team and the club as at the end of the day if it has gone over the line, it could have cost us a place in Conference national.

“They’ve been our bogey side all season to be fair (one draw and three defeats from four meetings), and to be fair their bench were very complimentary at the end – that’s three games where we’ve battered them, but we lost 2-0 in the league and on Tuesday at their place I felt that a draw would have been a fair result, and today we’ve been the better side and created the better chances over the 90 minutes for us to take the game into extra time.

“Overall its been a heck of a season – I couldn’t have asked any more of the players – lets face it we’ve won two leagues and now we’ve got a second which is a tremendous achievement which we can take a lot of positives from, but we’ll bounce back and look to win it next year which wont be easy as there are some good clubs in this league next year, we’ll take a lot of positives from the season.

“We’re three years into a five year plan and I think we’re ahead of schedule – we’d be a long way ahead if we’d have got through today, but it is a five year plan – I’ve got another year on my contract – my job was to get the club back to the Conference Premier and I’m confident that I can do that.”

It really was an afternoon of what might have been for Dover, as for all the time they knocked on the Woking door, they just couldn’t find a way through a visitor’s defence in which Tony Sinclair and skipper Tom Hutchinson were simply outstanding.

It was 27 minutes before the Woking back line was tested, and that was only because keeper Ross Worner didn’t clear Joseph Tabiri’s long cross properly – the ball fell on the edge of the box to Southall who’s first time drive was brilliantly blocked on the line by Woking skipper Mark Ricketts – formerly of course of Ebbsfleet United.

Then on 39 minutes Dover went even closer – Tabiri’s driven cross from left to right was brilliantly met at the far post by Fish, but unfortunately for Fish and Dover he met the cross perhaps too well and it smacked off of the bar and rebounded to safety.

Then with three minutes left in the half, Worner again didn’t collect a cross properly, but this time it was Welford who was denied by Hutchinson’s block on the line.

Half time seemed to knock Dover out of their stride and it was only the introduction of Sammy Moore with 20 minutes left, that seemed to kick start the home sides momentum.

The ball just wouldn’t drop for Welford when Sinclair missed a cross and Moore sliced wide after good interchange between Welford and Southall.

At the other end Craig Falconbridge almost won the game for Woking but just couldn’t reach Matthew Wright’s driven centre, but that would have been cruel on the home side – perhaps even crueller than Welford’s brilliant injury time volley that thundered back off of the bar and away to safety, and as the ball bounced away, so do Dover’s promotion dream for another season.

Dover’s elimination couple with Ebbfleet’s relegation from the Blue Square Premier means that for the first time since 1986, Kent will have no representative in the division next season.

Hessenthaler was philosophical on the subject when we asked him about it. He said, “Whilst its disappointing that the county won’t have a side in the Conference next season, I’d like to think that the League will look at its structure as for me there’s too many feeder leagues and I think its needs restructuring.

“Only one going up automatically isn’t right, and that’s not me being sour because we finished second, but I do think that they’ve got to look at the structure of these leagues – they’ve just got to look at the gates; some of these clubs have real financial problems.

“The position of the game in the country at the moment all the way through all of the leagues is pretty poor and it gets tougher and tougher each year and so football is in danger because of finances and the way some clubs are set up, but it is going to be an interesting year for football I have to say!”

Saturday May 1st 2010 will also be remembered as the day that one of the greatest ambassadors of our game that Kent has ever produced finally hung up his competitive boots for the very last time.

“I’ve just confirmed that today is the end of the road for Andy Hessenthaler as a player competitively. I’m not going to put myself under any pressure to register myself competitively – I’ve had a great time as a player – I’ve had some fantastic times as a player.

“I’ve had some highs and I’ve had the lows and it’s sad to finish on a low like today being a player manager. But I’ve no regrets whatsoever, it’s a wonderful game and I’m very envious of players all the time but I’m too old now to keep on playing.

“I’ll still play the odd charity game here and there – I’m playing in the MARK GREEN THANK YOU GAME on Monday at Chatham and I’m looking forward to that. But I’ve had a great time, great memories but its time to concentrate on being a manager and get this club back to where it belongs.”

Dover Athletic: Ross Flitney, Danny Walder (Sammy Moore 69), Dean Hill, Craig Cloke (Jake Leberl 74), Olly Schulz, Joseph Tabiri, Nicky Southall, Matt Fish, Shaun Welford, James Rogers, Adam Burchall.

Subs: Dean Grant, Jake Marsh, John Whitehouse.

Booked: Joseph Tabiri 44, Dean Hill 54, Olly Schulz 82

Woking: Ross Worner, Rikki Anane, Aswad Thomas, Mark Ricketts, Tom Hutchinson, Tony Sinclair, Guiseppe Sole (Matthew Wright 67), Jerome Maledon, Craig Falconbridge (Joe McNerney 87), Moses Ademola (Charlie Moon 87), Nicky Nicolau.

Subs: Jon Boardman, Matt Pegler

Booked – Guiseppe Sole 50

Attendance: 2,970

Referee: Mr Paul Forrester (Luton, Bedfordshire)

Assistants: Mr Michael Taylor (Alton, Hampshire) & Mr Benjamin Furneaux (Ickenham, Middlesex)

Fourth Official: Mr Robert Hyde (Shoreditch, London E2)