FA CUP SPECIAL: Wallis sits out winnable Cup replay

ANDY HESSENTHALER may draft himself back into the centre of Dover Athletic’s midfield for tomorrow night’s FA Cup Third Qualifying Round replay at AFC Wimbledon, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Whites player-boss, now 43, hasn’t started in the table topping Ryman Premier League side’s last eight games but may decide to give Alan Pouton or John Keister a rest at Kingsmeadow as the Kent giants bid to reach the final qualifying round.

A trip to Bourne Park, to play Kent rivals, Maidstone United on Saturday, 25^th October, awaits the Whites if they do knock AFC Wimbledon out.

Dover Athletic more than matched their highflying Blue Square South opponents on Saturday when a crowd of 2,710 - the highest to watch a Kent side play this season - packed into Perrys Crabble.

And they were more than impressed by Dover Athletic’s performance during the entertaining goal-less draw, although striker Shaun Welford squandered a hat-trick of good chances to win it.

But Hessenthaler, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk following the game, is confident that his side can go to south-west London tomorrow night and knock out AFC Wimbledon to seal a crunch game against the Stones.

“I’m sure they won’t be looking to playing us on their own patch,” he said. “There’s a little bit more pressure on them.

When asked his side have nothing to fear tomorrow night, Hessenthaler replied: “Not on today’s performance!” He added: “We said before the game we’ll see how far we’ve come and it just shows you we’ve come a long way.

“We want to get into that league, it’s not going to be easy, but if we keep performing like that, we’ll do very well.”

Hessenthaler played down any hopes of star-midfielder Jon Wallis taking part tomorrow night, despite the player taking part of the warm-up before Saturday’s game.

“Jon’s not ready,“ he insisted. “We felt we could have been closer but he’s just not ready. He’s probably another two weeks away, which is a shame as it’s just niggling at him.

“The problem we’ve got is if you risk him back and we lose him for another six weeks then all off a sudden you’re losing a player for even longer.

“You’ve got to be careful with those (hamstring) injuries, so at the moment he’s still a few weeks away.”

Hessenthaler is also without the likes of defenders Ollie Schulz, Craig Cloke, striker Giuliano Grazioli - and goalkeeper John Whitehouse was added to that list after injuring his thumb during the warm-up on Saturday.

“John Whitehouse had stitches in his thump so he won’t be available,” said Hessenthaler. “It’ll be pretty much the same squad.

“Two games in a few days for people like Alan Pouton and John Keister is not easy nowadays but maybe it’s (time) to bring another old man back in and one that’s been rested.

“Alan and John are getting on a bit, not as old as me, but there getting on a little bit. Two games in a few days, it’s not easy for them, but I’m fresh and maybe there could be a change.”

Hessenthaler, meanwhile, praised both sets of supporters for their passionate support at Perrys Crabble - and wants more of the same on Tuesday night.

He added: “A fantastic atmosphere, great fans, both sets of fans were fantastic and it should be an interesting game on Tuesday night and one we’re looking forward to.”

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

FA CUP FOURTH QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW:

To view the draw in full, visit: www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFACup/Fixtures/

In summary, the draw for our last remaining three Kent sides is:
Woking v EBBSFLEET UNITED
MAIDSTONE UNITED v DOVER ATHLETIC or AFC Wimbledon

Ties to be played on Saturday, 25^th October 2008

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

AFC Wimbledon v Dover Athletic
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Third Qualifying Round Replay
Tuesday 14^th October 2008
Kick Off 7:45pm
At The Cherry Red Records Fans’ Stadium, Kingsmeadow, Jack Goodchild Way, 422a Kingston Road, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey KT1 3PB