It's remarkable that we've been so tight at the back during injury crisis, says Hessenthaler

Friday 22nd January 2010

DOVER ATHLETIC boss Andy Hessenthaler says his side have pulled together during the current spate of injuries that have limited his choice at the back, writes Stephen McCartney.

A trio of defenders, Olly Schulz, Jake Leberl and Dean Hill, have all been ruled out of tomorrow’s mouth-watering trip to full-time side Woking.

The Kent giants go into the game at Kingfield Stadium sitting 12 points behind leaders Newport County, with 44 points from their 26 games, whilst the Surrey giants are in fifth place, just two points behind Hessenthaler’s men.

“We go into the game on the back of three wins, which is quite nice,” the 44-year-old told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“We had them watched against Oxford (a 1-0 away defeat in the FA Carlsberg Trophy) and they played well, so it’s going to be a tough game but again we’re going into the game limited on our defenders so we go a bit makeshift again, but I think it will be the same side as we had against Havant.

“We’re not as strong as we’d like to be, but we haven’t been as strong as we’ve liked to hav been all season, and we’ve still got some decent results.

“I think they’re the best side that’s come to Crabble without a doubt. We’ve got our hands full against these. It won’t be easy to get a result.”

Last Saturday’s convincing 4-0 win over Havant & Waterlooville at Crabble also happened to be the side’s third consecutive clean sheet, a statistic that has pleased the boss.

He said: “It’s remarkable really. We haven’t had our strongest back four in and we won’t have again tomorrow, but we’ve had three clean sheets so it shows that we’ve pulled together and that’s been the key.

“Now it’s the business end of the season, the second half of the season, and it’s all to play for.

“Whatever happens tomorrow it’s all to play for, whatever happens tomorrow, there’s still a long, long way to go.

“It will be nice to keep our momentum going and we can look forward to the Trophy game (at Stevenage Borough next weekend).

“Woking haven’t been as good at home perhaps, as they have been away from home, so hopefully we can exploit that.

“Graham Baker has done a good job there. They’ve come out of the Conference Premier so he’s had to rebuild again with a young side with a couple of experienced heads.

“It will be a tough game, not one we don’t fear, and look forward to.”

With the play-off places so tight, Hessenthaler admits that any side can go on a run to finish in the Blue Square South play-off zone.

“I’m sure that the other teams, Chelmsford, Thurrock, Braintree and you can go down quite a long way, can still get into the play-off’s and teams will hope it’s a draw tomorrow.

“There will be plenty of twists. We have to keep our momentum going. I think it’s important to keep an unbeaten run going and if we do that we can cement our place in the play-off’s.”

Hessenthaler admitted though that Welsh side Newport County are too far ahead to be caught.

“You have to be realistic and say Newport are there,” he said. “They’re strong and they deserve to be there because they’ve been the most consistent side. All the other teams have not been consistent and they deserve to be there. Full credit to the team, the manager and the staff there. They’ve done a fantastic job. Realistically it will be very difficult to catch them now.”

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

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

Woking v Dover Athletic

Blue Square South

Saturday 23rd January 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Kingfield Stadium, Kingfield, Woking, Surrey GU22 9AA