Dover Athletic v Macclesfield Town

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Date Time League Season Attendance Dover Star Player Home Scorers
17th March 2018 3:00 pm National League 2017-2018 837 Keanu Marsh-Brown Marsh-Brown (2, 36)

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A DEBUT brace from Keanu Marsh-Brown saw Whites beat leaders Macclesfield at a snow-swept Crabble on Saturday.

The winger, signed on loan from Forest Green, made the ideal start to his Dover career, placing the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards with the game barely a minute old.

And Marsh-Brown slotted in nine minutes before half-time as Chris Kinnear’s side register a third consecutive National League victory.

However Athletic are also indebted to one of their defenders preserving the home team’s lead just minutes after the opening goal.

Defender Manny Parry bravely blocked Mitch Hancox’s volley from point-blank range to deny the midfielder a what seemed a certain goal.

Home stopper Mitch Walker was then relieved to see Keith Lowe curl the ball some distance over the bar after the centre back received the ball in space.

Scott Wilson seemed certain to add to his 13 league goals for the visitors this season after sprinting clear, but Connor Essam superbly denied Town’s top scorer with a last-ditch tackle.

Elliott Durrell then tested Walker twice with efforts straight at the home keeper.

And Dover and Marsh-Brown duly punished their opponents on 36 minutes.

The Forest Green loanee sprinted onto Femi Ilesanmi’s lofted ball and left Shwan Jalal grasping at thin air after rounding the visiting stopper.

Left-back Ilesanmi almost added a third just before the break but smashed his effort just wide of the far post.

Walker was forced into more action soon after the break, diving down low to save Hancox’s low fizzing strike and clasping onto the ball at the second attempt.

Athletic’s goalie then breathed a huge sigh of relief after the away team missed a glorious opportunity to halve the deficit.

After evading Walker’s challenge, Wilson laid the ball for Danny Whitehead to fire home, but in trying to avoid the Dover defenders on the goal line, the midfielder blasted narrowly wide.

Marsh-Brown thought he had a debut hattrick after curling towards the top corner, but Jalal denied the attacker the match ball in stunning fashion, tipping the ball around the post.

The visiting keeper produced another impressive save from the resultant Mitch Pinnock corner, this time pushing away Parry’s bullet header.

Walker punched away Hancox’s long-range shot and Keith Lowe could only find the side-netting from an angle.

And Parry ensured Whites kept a third consecutive clean sheet, clearing sub Tyrone Marsh’s effort off the line.

The victory sees Dover remain seventh in the National League standings, four points ahead of AFC Fylde in eighth.

Earlier, Chris Kinnear made one change to the side that started at Chester in their last game. Marsh-Brown replaced Ryan Bird, who started on the bench.

DOVER ATHLETIC REACTION

MATCH GALLERY

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”250″ gal_title=”DAFC v Macclesfield Town 17/03/18″]

Dover Athletic

1Mitch Walker Goalkeeper
4Giancarlo Gallifuoco Defender
5Manny Parry Defender
6Connor Essam Defender
26Kevin Lokko Defender
3Femi Ilesanmi Defender 36'
8Private: Mitch Brundle Midfielder, (c) 2'
28Liam Bellamy Midfielder
11Mitchell Pinnock 23 Forward
29Keanu Marsh-Brown 25 Midfielder 2', 36'
30Ade Azeez 17 Forward 63'
2Josh Passley Defender
17Ryan Bird 30 Forward Azeez 89'
18Nortei Nortey Midfielder
23Kadell Daniel 11 Forward Pinnock 69'
25Anthony Jeffrey 29 Forward Marsh-Brown 65'
  3 2 2 1

First Team Manager: Chris Kinnear

Macclesfield Town

1Shwan Jalal Goalkeeper
2Jared Hodgkiss 17 Defender, (c) 83'
5George Pilkington Defender
4Keith Lowe Defender
3David Fitzpatrick Defender
18Danny Whitehead Midfielder
16Mitch Hancox 20 Midfielder
23Danny Whitaker Midfielder
7Elliott Durrell Midfielder
8Tyrone Marsh 9 Forward
13Nathan Blissett Forward
9Scott Wilson 8 Forward Marsh 60'
12Sam Ramsbottom Goalkeeper
15Kieran Kennedy Defender
17Callum Evans 2 Midfielder Hodgkiss 83'
20Scott Burgess 16 Midfielder Hancox 83'
  3 1

First Team Manager: John Askey

Substitutions
3
3
Goals
2
0
Assists
2
0
Yellow Cards
1
1
Red Cards
0
0

Officials

RefereeReferee's AssistantsFourth Official
Sam PurkissDele Sotimirin
James Vallance
Graeme Ions

Ground

Crabble Athletic Ground
40 Crabble Rd, Dover, Kent CT17 0QJ, UK