FA Cup Special: Dover boss Martin Hayes tell his side to give it a go and have no regrets

The Kent giants have sold all of their ticket allocation for this mouth-watering clash against an Aldershot Town side that are sitting in 12^th place in Npower League Two – 41 places higher than Blue Square Bet South heroes Dover Athletic.

Hayes, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk on the eve of the clash, has lifted his troops during two training sessions following their disappointing FA Carlsberg Trophy exit at the hands of rivals Woking last weekend.

“It’s sort of been slow in coming when you have a free week, but it’s that time of he year again,” said the 44-year-old former Arsenal ace.

“You want the game to come, you would like the atmosphere and see all the people in there.  It’s going to be one hell off a day for everybody to take in.”

Dover Athletic fans are one of  the best around the Kent footballing circuit – and Hayes knows the Jolly Boys and Girls won’t let down his side.

“To be fair, we have to give them something to cheer about as well,” added Hayes.

“I want them to make the noise but I want us to have shots and corners and give them something – something like we did against Gillingham - when we gave it a go.”

When asked how the game will be won – or lost – Hayes replied, “Hopefully won!  From our point of view it’s really two fold.  We’ve got to have confidence when we’ve got the ball - that will make us do things, which will make us pass it and play – and making decisions when we haven’t got the ball.

“It could be a case whoever makes the less mistakes will lose.  That falls on us being the underdogs and the part-timers when generally the professionals make less mistakes than the amateurs.

“We’ve really got to limit our mistakes in terms of marking and positional sense and when we clear the ball – and have a bit of confidence and belief when we’re going forward.”

Hayes watched the Shots scrape past Brentford in a First Round Replay, so he is all clued up when it comes to the Hampshire club’s dangermen.

He warned: “To be fair all their strikers are a threat, they’ve got pace going forward and that can hurt any side.  We’ve been punished in the last two games by pace and when a full-time side have got it you’ve got to be careful.”

Crabble was a saddened place after Woking came away with a 2-1 win over the Whites to end the club’s FA Carlsberg Trophy run last weekend – maybe everyone was looking forward to tomorrow’s FA Cup tie perhaps?

Hayes spoke about the mood in the camp for their two training sessions this week.

“We’ve kept the tempo high and we’ve tried to keep the atmosphere good,” he said.

“We’ve spoken a little bit about Aldershot but not too much, just trying to keep people on their toes thinking about the game, again in areas without the ball and with the ball and keep people’s heads focused on being cool and doing their jobs.”

Hayes will deliver the same pre-match team-talk that sent his troops inspired to stun the Gillingham public – and delight the Dover faithful – with a famous 2-0 away success.

“It’s going to be on par with what we did against Gillingham,” said Hayes.

“I want us to enjoy the occasion, the noise and the atmosphere, but let’s give it a go.  Let’s give it our best and give the people who have come and watch us play something to cheer about and if we give it our best we can’t come off with any regrets.”

Aldershot are expected to bring around 1,000 fans with them to east Kent – leaving gaps in the terracing (at the Dover End) allocated for away fans. The capacity of that terrace can hold over 2,000 fans.

Hayes said:  “Unfortunately the segregation, health and safety, you’re restricted, you can’t cordon it off temporarily, you can’t put little blocks across it.  It’s a shame you have to give them that end.  It would have been nice to sell another 500-600 tickets to Dover fans, but I’m sure we’re still going to have 4500-5000 people in there making a lot of noise.”

Speculation has been rife over the future of Nicky Nicolau – but Hayes insisted the former Woking winger remains at Crabble.

“No, no, no, there’s no rumours that he’s left the club,” said Hayes.  “Obviously players, when they’re not playing, they get restless, they want to play.  There’s always talk of that.

“Certainly when the Cup run’s going on, everybody’s there.  We may have to look at the squad for the push for the league afterwards, but we’ll address that when this game is over.”

Hayes expects left-back Tom Wynter and midfielder Luke I’Anson to return, but strikers Jason Norville and Elliot Charles will not start as they are presently nursing hamstring injuries.

Hayes said: “Their hamstring injuries are taking loner to heal and they’re struggling.  They’ve got more of a chance the week after and if they end up on the bench tomorrow it’s a gamble, especially Elliott, he’s probably a little bit head of Jason but unless he reports tomorrow and he feels 100% fine and he’s running ok, we may consider him for the bench.”

The draw for the Third Round of the FA Cup will be screened LIVE on ITV1 at 6pm on Sunday and wouldn’t it be great to have Dover Athletic lining up against the Premier League’s elite!

“If you were to be in that draw I think any of the Premiership sides, It would be good to play any of the top five or six.  If you got to take Dover to a Premier League stadium and have a game with them in the FA Cup I don’t think we can get any better than that!

“We’re doing ok.  I mean the FA Cup is going to come to an end soon, not being funny. We’re not going to win this cup or get through to the quarters or the semi-finals.  We’re going to come unstuck against a full-time side anytime soon, whether it’s this round or the round after.

“We’re going to enjoy all of it but then it goes back to concentrate on the league again.  I don’t want to be finishing half-way and we talk about the FA Cup we’ve had. 

“I want players to perform over 42 games.  You can’t go and do that against Gillingham and not get out of Blue Square (Bet) South.

“We’ll have to get back on track.  At the end of the season I’m going to be judged on a league position as well as the Cup runs.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game

Visit Dover Athletic’s website: www.doverathletic.com

ALL DOVER TICKETS HAVE BEEN SOLD.

COME ON YOU WHITES!

Dover Athletic  v  Aldershot Town
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Second Round
Saturday 27th November 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Crabble, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB