Hessenthaler reflects on Fleetwood win: It was a really good performance and a great result

Wednesday 13th January 2010

DOVER ATHLETIC boss Andy Hessenthaler was tired but extremely proud of his players as they booked their place in the last sixteen of the FA Carlsberg Trophy last night, writes Stephen McCartney.

Around 22 supporters made the epic 660-mile round trip to Lancashire and celebrated an excellent resilient display as Adam Birchall’s deflected strike in the 43rd minute sealed a 1-0 win to book their trip to Blue Square Premier leaders and holders Stevenage Borough in the next round (if Graham Westley’s side get through Cheshire based Vauxhall Motors next Tuesday night).

“Things were against us a little bit I suppose in a way, but our preparation for the game was difficult with the snow and we haven’t been able to train,” Hessenthaler told www.kentishfootball.co.uk this evening.

“The game being called off Saturday made it difficult as well and we had injuries and suspensions going into the game.

“I’m not sure if anyone gave us a chance up there, especially with their home record, they haven’t been beaten since March 2009.

“It’s their first game that they’ve lost at home so fantastic achievement by everybody, even the fans, 22 of them made it up there and it was a phenomenal effort by them as well.”

Hessenthaler knew the game would have been tough, against a Fleetwood Town side that were in second place in the Blue Square North table, and went into the game with talk off turning full-time next season.

“We set our stall out to be tight early on,” explained 44-year-old Hessenthaler, who was forced off at half-time through tiredness.

“That’s the reason why I started, we didn’t have too many options on the bench. Craig Cloke (who replaced me at the break) was not match fit and it was a risk to start him.

“The plan was for me to play an hour and bring Clokey on. We had the young boy making his debut as well, Hakeen Adelakun, who is on loan from Crystal Palace. I think it helped me being out there with Nicky Southall as well talking to him.

“The plan was to keep it tight early on because we knew they would come at us quite quickly. We kept it tight and to be fair we created the better chances.

“Finally the goal came so we went in at half-time winning 1-0 and then we made a change at half-time. I couldn’t last an hour unfortunately, I seized up a little bit at half-time so we brought Cloky on to sit in there with Nicky (Southall) and Jon Wallis and they done great for 45 minutes and it’s great to have him back.”

Hessenthaler added: “It was a really good professional performance and a great result.

“The boys will be tired tonight. We’ll take it easy on them (in training) on Thursday. It’s a long old journey, you don’t mind coming back on those journey’s with a result like that.

“We were all tired (last night) but we were buzzing as well. We’re in the last sixteen, we’ve got a tough one whoever we play, whether it’ll be Stevenage or Vauxhall.

“I’m not being disrespectful to Vauxhall, but I’ll be expecting it’ll be Stevenage, on their form, where they are in the league, top of the Conference Premier.

“I think their game is next Tuesday, so it gives me an opportunity to go and watch the game next Tuesday, so we’ll analyse them.

The Whites play two games in Blue Square South before they play in the FA Carlsberg Trophy again and Hessenthaler urges his side to remain focused on the job in hand.

They are presently behind Newport County and Woking in the Blue Square South table with 41 points from 25 games and clinching a play-off place is well within their sights.

And Hessenthaler said: “We’ve got a couple of tough games coming up, Havant on Saturday at home and Woking away the following Saturday.

“We’ve got to get four points as far as I’m concerned out of these next two games. We’ve got to win Saturday and go and get something at Woking and keep going in the league (as) we want to stay in the play-off’s this season.”

Hessenthaler is confident that Saturday’s game will beat the Big Freeze.

“The temperatures are going up,” he predicted. “It’s a matter of clearing the snow off the pitch, which I think will be happening on Friday morning. A group of people are coming to clear the pitch so I don’t envisage any problems unless the ground freezes but looking at temperatures on Friday and Saturday they’re going up, so I don’t envisage the game being called off.”

The Dover boss, meanwhile, will have some key players coming back from suspension and hinted that he will unveil a new central defender in time for the game.

With Jake Leberl (hamstring), Sam Gore (groin) and Dean Hill (suspended), Hessenthaler added, “We’ll bring back Sammy Moore from suspension and will also bring back James Rogers from suspension so they’ll come back into the squad.

“I’m working on bringing a centre half in because of Dean Hill missing.”

But he kept tight-lipped about his target, adding, “I won’t give too much away on that one. I haven’t confirmed it with anybody yet so it will come out either tomorrow or Friday morning.”

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

Dover Athletic v Havant & Waterlooville

Blue Square South

Saturday 16th January 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Crabble Athletic Ground, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB