JAKE LEBERL HONEST IN DEFEAT

JAKE LEBERL HONEST IN DEFEAT

ALL looked good for Dover after 35 minutes at the Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday.

Jack Parkinson’s first goal of the season had given Whites the lead after they had started the game with plenty of intent.

Those opening 35 minutes offered plenty of promise and the shock of the 5-0 drubbing at Chester the previous Saturday appeared set to be erased.

That was until the game dramatically turned on its head, when the hosts equalised less than 60 seconds after Parkinson’s fine strike.

Dover’s advantage was lost before half-time as the Heed went into the break with a 2-1 lead – it was something they never relinquished, eventually winning 4-2.

And assistant Dover manager Jake Leberl could not hide his disappointment after watching Whites slump to their second heavy away defeat of the week.

“I thought we started well and I couldn’t really see them scoring,” he said.

“We got ourselves ahead and then, well.

“Obviously you celebrate scoring a goal, but you have got to regain your focus straight away – we didn’t.

“The same happened at Torquay and then Chester and I had hoped that we would have learned that lesson but we got caught yet again.

“It was very disappointing to concede an equaliser so quickly and such a simple one at that.

“They got their tails up after that and we gave away another sloppy goal just before half-time – that killed us really.”

But despite Dover trailing, Leberl didn’t think it was game over.

He said: “I thought we had another goal in us as we had caused them a few problems in the first half.

“I was confident we’d get back in the game.

“Then we let in another soft goal straight after the break and that was a terrible time to do so.

“The lad just run through the middle of us before scoring and that was again another really disappointing goal to concede.

“The fourth goal was another simple one – ball played into feet before a turn and shot.

“No one is happy with the performance and we know we’ve got to work hard to remedy it.”