Dover Athletic 1-2 Newport County - We haven't become a bad side overnight, says Hessenthaler

Saturday 07th November 2009

DOVER ATHLETIC 1-2 NEWPORT COUNTY
Blue Square South
Saturday 7th November 2009
Paul Parkinson reports from Crabble

This table-topping Blue Square South clash was settled in favour of the League leaders, Newport County, by two outstanding strikes from Craig Reid, Newport's only full-time player; a result that leaves the Welsh side five points clear with a game in hand over their hosts today.

But Andy Hessenthaler‘s Dover showed how far they have come, following two successive promotion seasons, by more than matching their Gwent visitors in a game that never really lived up to its potential.

Hessenthaler, talking to the press after the game, was remarkably upbeat as he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk, “I‘m not going to be too down about this today as I thought the performance was different class and I haven‘t a doubt who should have won the game. At the end of the day, we‘ve lost, but look at the performance, what the players have put in today.”

“You‘ve got to give them some credit; you can see they defend well and don‘t concede many goals and they‘ve got a boy up top (Reid) whose first goal was real quality, a great finish; the second has just dropped to him and he‘s smashed it in. That‘s the quality in this league.”

“But I thought we played well today; they‘ve scored 2 cracking goals. Shaun Welford has scored one in the first half, on which he was offside, then another in the second half; Adam Birchall‘s missed one in the second half, so we just need that little bit of quality in the final third.””

Dover started the game well, with Birchall latching onto a Welford flick from Tom Davis‘ clearance, but the forward dragged his shot across goal from the edge of the area, before shooting straight at Glyn Thompson a few minutes later.

Welford thought he‘d opened the scoring on 15 minutes, powering home a Nicky Southall cross at the back post, only for the cheers of the home crowd to be silenced by the offside flag.

Newport exposed some of the recent frailties in the Dover defence on 20 minutes, as former Spurs defender Alton Thelwell found space at the front post, but his header flew wide of the far post.

On the half hour, Welford powered another header just past Thompson‘s right post, this time from a Matt Fish cross, but the flag had been raised again.

But the breakthrough, two minutes later, was all down to the quality of Reid‘s finish. With Mr Crouch playing an advantage after a crude tackle on Scott Rogers that would earn Tom Davis a caution, Danny Rose released Reid on the edge of the box. Reid, after turning Jake Leberl inside-out, then flicked the ball over the advancing Wilkinson from the corner of the six-yard box.

Both Leberl and Davis had half-chances at the first half ended; Leberl firing a shot wide as he fell in the box, Davis driving over from 30 yards, but neither tested Thompson in the Newport goal.

As with the first half, Dover started the second on the front foot, with Birchall firing another shot at Thompson.

But the equaliser arrived on 58 minutes, with Welford sliding in to steer a Frannie Collin back across the keeper into the corner of the net.

Despite almost constant pressure, Dover were unable to find the killer ball into the box, and a defensive slip was to prove costly on 72 minutes.

Kerry Morgan, on-loan from neighbours Swansea City, cut inside Fish and crossed into the box. A poor defensive header dropped to Reid on the edge of the box, and the forward lashed home a left foot volley, leaving Wilkinson helpless.

Hessenthaler immediately threw Jerahl Hughes on as an extra attacking option, but his appearance was to be short-lived; being replaced after just seven minutes, having fallen awkwardly into Newport manager, Dean Holdsworth, and the visiting dug-out while trying to retrieve the ball.

Dover could have snatched a point at the death though, as Birchall and Southall both had shots blocked in a final flurry, before Davis headed a Southall corner high over the bar deep in stoppage time.

This was to prove the last action of the game, a game that saw Dover‘s fourth straight home defeat.

When told about this fact, Hessenthaler said, “Of course it‘s a worry, but I‘ve looked at the games and we‘ve been in them for the majority of the game. Even the Woking game we were in it for 60 minutes, but I think teams in this division do their homework better.

“We‘re still happy where we are and with what we‘re doing, but we‘ve just got to improve our home form and I‘m sure we will.

“We did look solid today, but we‘ve still conceded 2 goals. I know we‘ll get it right, you don‘t become a bad team overnight.”

Dover Athletic: Dave Wilkinson, Matt Fish, Tom Wynter, Dean Hill, Jake Leberl, Nicky Southall, James Rogers (Jerahl Hughes72 (Lee Browning 79)), Tom Davis, Shaun Welford, Frannie Collin, Adam Birchall.
Subs: Danny Walder, Sam Gore, Lee Hook.

Goal: Shaun Welford 58

Booked: Tom Davis 32

Newport County: Glyn Thompson, Paul Bignot, Jamie Collins, Wayne Turk, Gary Warren, Alton Thelwell, Danny Rose, Scott Rogers, Craig Reid, Kerry Morgan (Ashan Holgate 80 (Paul Cochlin 90)), Charlie Henry (Sam Foley 52).
Subs: Martyn Giles, Keiran Blackburn.

Goals: Craig Reid 32, 72

Booked: Charlie Henry 45+2

Attendance: 1,680
Referee: Mr Ian Crouch (New Eltham, London SE9)
Assistants: Mr Consantine Hatzidakis (Gravesend) & Mr Graeme Ions (Maidstone)