We seem to perform better away from home, admits Dover Athletic boss Nicky Forster

DOVER ATHLETIC boss Nicky Forster says his side must carry on the momentum carried over from their last-gasp winner at the weekend, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Whites bounced back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat to Bath City in the final qualifying round of The FA Cup, by claiming three-points against negative Weston-Super-Mare, but the Kent side had to wait until the 93^rd minute for Barry Cogan’s decisive goal.

Dover Athletic are in seventh place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table with six wins and seven draws from fifteen  outings and former Brentford ace Forster is a pleased man.

He said: “We left it late.  We know we can improve on the performance as a team but it’s another win.  It consolidates our position in the league and gives us a good springboard to keep moving on again and build up a bit of momentum.”

Cogan’s first goal of the season lifted the gloom following their early FA Cup exit, especially after the club reached the Third Round under former boss Martin Hayes last season, with memorable victories over League Two sides Gillingham and Aldershot Town before going out to League One outfit Huddersfield Town.

Forster said: “That’s a week ago now, we’ve played a game since.  We will lose games at times but it’s how you respond to that.  Yes, it was disappointing to go out but sometimes that’s the way that happens but I was delighted we actually got back to winning ways on Saturday but we know we can play better but a good sign of a good team is to win games and not playing their best.”

Dover Athletic travel to struggling Berkshire outfit Maidenhead United on Tuesday night.

The Magpies are in eighteenth place in the league table with five wins and three draws from sixteen league games and if they claim at least a point against Dover Athletic then they will leapfrog over Mark Goldberg’s Bromley.

Both Maidenhead (at home to Aldershot Town) and Bromley (away to Leyton Orient) are looking forward to FA Cup First Round ties at the weekend.

Forster said: “I’ve learnt that there’s no easy games in the division, they’re all fairly tough so I certainly don’t think it will be a walkover, but it’s a game where we can go out and express ourselves.

“We’re away from home, we seem to perform better away from home.  I don’t know why that is, but it’s a game that we’re looking forward to.”

Dover Athletic travel to in-form Boreham Wood on Saturday and return to Meadow Park for a FA Carlsberg Trophy Third (and final) Qualifying Round tie on 26 November.

“We’ve got them two games (in two weeks) now because we’ve got them in the league coming up and we’ve got them in the FA Trophy, which is never great,” added Forster.

“We’re in good form at the moment.  We’ve done very, very well, the players’ have done very, very well since we’ve come in and done what we’ve asked off them and we’re looking forward to playing anyone.”

Forster added: “It’s quite an unique situation, especially (playing both games) at the same venue.  But this one it’s a carbon copy but we’ll try to prepare ourselves right and try to get maximum points in the league game and get through the cup game.”

The two Boreham Wood tussles are sandwiched in by a tasty home clash against league leaders Woking on 19 November.

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

Maidenhead United  v  Dover Athletic
Blue Square Bet South
Tuesday 8^th November 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1SF