Southall set to sign one-year deal for Dover tonight

Thursday 23rd July 2009

DOVER ATHLETIC boss Andy Hessenthaler has threatened to wield the axe if he feels that players are not good enough for Blue Square South this season, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Whites, who have secured back-to-back titles under the Gillingham legend’s leadership, have suffered four defeats from their five pre-season friiendlies and the boss demands that things pick up.

Dover Athletic’s only pre-season win was against Maidstone United (3-1) in their second game and the Kent giants have suffered defeats to Barnet (1-2), Croydon Athletic (1-2), Sittingbourne (0-1) and Hayes & Yeading came away from Crabble with a 2-0 win on Tuesday night.

Herne Bay did beat the Whites 1-0 last night, but Hessenthaler took an academy side to Winch’s Field.

When asked about his side’s pre-season preparations, Hessenthaler told www.kentishfootball.co.uk : “As for results, not particularly great, but performances have been ok, so in general (it’s going) ok.

“I think we’ve got a bit of work to do, but we’ve still got two weeks come this Saturday until the start of the season.”

Reflecting on his side’s games, Hessenthaler added: “A little bit disjoined at times and the frustrating thing for me is unfortunately at non-league level players have to go away on holiday. We’ve had a couple away, Shaun Welford and Dean Hill missed Tuesday night’s game and I think in general we missed those two players because of their physical presence.

“Unfortunately Matt Fish needs to have an operation on his shoulder, so we’ll be missing him at the start of the season, so he hasn’t done any games pre-season.

“Generally, I’m a bit happy with the new players that have come in.

“Don’t read too much into pre-season because it can be quite false. Overall, it’s about getting your fitness levels up. We’ve been pleased enough with things.”

Business partner and former Gillingham team-mate, Nicky Southall is expected to sign a one-year contract at tonight’s training session.

“He hasn’t signed for the club yet,” said Hessenthaler. “He had a conversation with the chairman on Tuesday night but I’m hoping that he becomes a Dover player by the time we kick-off on Saturday.

“I believe that will happen but no pen to paper yet. We’ve got training Thursday and hopefully it will be tied up and he’ll be our player for next year come Saturday.”

The Kent giants continue their pre-season campaign with a visit from Peter Taylor’s Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, which should draw a big crowd.

Former Dover Athletic boss Taylor will be welcomed back to Crabble with open arms, and Hessenthaler is looking forward to seeing one of his mates again.

“It’s nice to see a good friend of mine,” he said. “They’re a team that’s progressive, they’ve just got promoted last year so it should be a good spectacle on Saturday.”

He added: “We have lost four games now in pre-season. I think you learn a lot more from losing games as well than winning games to be fair.

“Playing the likes of Wycombe will be a real good test for the players so a good game for the players.

“The players that they’re playing against on Saturday are training every day so their fitness levels will be better than ours but it will be somewhere where we can test our fitness against full time professionals.”

The Whites kick-off their inaugural Blue Square South campaign at Maidenhead United (8th August) before welcoming Bishop’s Stortford to Crabble three days later.

“It’s going to be a bit new to us because certain players haven’t played at this level,” said Hessenthaler.

“Me, as a manager, has not managed at this level.

“We’ve got people watching over the next couple of weeks and we’ll be assessing some of Maidenhead’s friendlies and Bishop’s Stortford’s friendlies, so we will prepare and be ready. We’ll know what they’re all about.

“It’s going to be interesting. We will know where we are after ten games into the season if we’re going to be strong enough.

“If we’re not, after ten games, we will address that as a team and as a manager. We might have to move players on to bring players in to make sure we will be competing.

“We’ll be ready. It’s going to be a tough start as it’s a new level to our players.”

One thing about the Blue Square South that Hessenthaler has noticed is that some teams play more direct football - and he says his Whites’ team are capable of adapting.

“We had a little bit of a taster last year in the FA Cup against AFC (Wimbledon) last year and we ran them very close,” said Hessenthaler.

“We had a taste of it on Tuesday night against Hayes & Yeading, who are now promoted to the Conference Premier. They were a very organised side, quite a physical side, so I think we do know what to expect.

“But we’ve won two promotions through playing football and we won’t get away from that. We will certainly try to play the right way but we also know we have to be a bit more direct in play, especially away from home.

“But we’ll be prepared, we’ve got a good set of players at the club now. We’ve now retained players, the majority of the players from last season, because we feel they can step up to the plate.

“If that’s not the case, in the first couple of months, we’ll be honest with players if it’s a bit too much for them and we’ll bring in players who are good enough for that division.”

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

Dover Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers

Pre-Season Friendly

Saturday 25th July 2009

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Perrys Crabble, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB