Shearer heads the ball into the danger area as Vansittart and Hockton are ready pounce.
| Nationwide Conference Monday 1 January 2001 Crabble Athletic Ground | ||
| Dover Athletic | 3 - 1 | Dagenham & Redbridge |
|---|---|---|
| Strouts (43), Shearer (Pen 67), Hockton (78) | Att: 1461 | Haworth (53) |
| Dover Team: Hyde, Munday, Norman, Pluck (McRobert 58), Shearer, Beard, White (Brown 87), Strouts, Vansittart, Hockton, Le Bihan |
| Substitutes Not Used: Hogg, Hudson |
| DAFC Website Man-Of-The-Match: Stuart Munday |
| Dover Players Booked: Strouts, Shearer |
| Dover Players Sent Off: None |
Dover could afford the luxury of missing a penalty and a hatfull of chances as they comfortably demolished Dagenham at Crabble in the first game of the new year.
Despite the misleading team news on this website this morning, Dover had far from a full squad to choose from with Jake Leberl, James Virgo, Tony Browne, Matt Carruthers, Jason Moore and the suspended Danny Chapman all absent. Chapman and Carruthers were replaced in the starting line-up by Colin Pluck and Ben White. The changes in personnel prompted a reshuffle with Stuart Munday moving from central defence to right wing-back, Colin Pluck taking Munday's place in the back three and on-loan defender Ben White playing in central midfield. Dagenham had one eye on next week's lucrative FA Cup Third Round game against Charlton and started with Junior McDougald and Danny Shipp on the bench.
Dover started very well and dominated the opening 25 minutes as Munday and Norman caused numerous problems for Dagenham in wide positions. Munday and Ben White both had shots from decent positions that missed the target and Dover also had a number of corners that were dealt with unconvincingly.
However, after weathering the early storm, Dagenham came into the match towards the end of the half and had a 10 minute spell of pressure that caused a few nervous moments for Paul Hyde.
For the third home game in a row Dover scored just before half time when they took a deserved lead in the 43rd minute. Dagenham failed to clear Norman's corner and ball fell to Neil Le Bihan. Le Bihan's shot appeared to be going wide until Jimmy Strouts provided a big deflection to turn it into the net for the 32nd goal of his Dover career.
Dover were good value for their lead but allowed Dagenham to equalise early in the second half. Munday conceded a free-kick which was fired into the Dover area and into the net via the head of Rob Haworth.
Dover looked shaken by the goal but Bill Williams brought on substitute Lee McRobert and, just as he did at Dagenham on Boxing Day, he had an immediate effect and posed new problems for the Dagenham back line as the Whites switched to a more threatening 4-4-2 formation.
It was McRobert, playing wide on the right and cutting in dangerously, who created Dover's second. He ran at the Daggers' defence and exchanged a clever one-two with Ben White before being brought down just inside the box by Steve Forbes. The referee pointed to the spot and Forbes was booked. McRobert, owner of spot-kick record to rival even the likes of Matt Le Tissier, seemed keen to take the penalty himself but regular penalty-taker Lee Shearer claimed seniority and stepped up to produce his trademark penalty, low to the keeper's right to make it 2-1 to the Whites with his sixth goal of the season.
The game was over for Dagenham eight minutes later when Forbes was sent-off for a second bookable offence after a foul on Ben White. Daggers boss Garry Hill was unhappy and he too was dismissed, ordered from the dug-out for comments made to the officials.
From that point on Dover were rampant and on another day could have scored another four or five. Le Bihan, Strouts and McRobert conspired to create six excellent scoring opportunities for Hockton and Vansittart, only one of which was converted. Hockton produced an excellent finish in the 78th minute to extend his scoring run to six goals in his first five games for Dover. Hockton is the first Dover to player to score in four consecutive Conference fixtures since David Leworthy in August 1994.
In between the missed chances from open play, Dover were awarded another penalty after Le Bihan was brought down in the area by Heffer on 81 minutes. Shearer stepped up once again but this time put his kick the wrong side of Tony Roberts' righthand post, denying Dover a third consecutive 4-1 home victory.
Dover have collected ten points from the last twelve, their best form of the season. However because they did not play on Saturday they remain in 12th position although there are now only four points separating the teams from Stevenage in fifth down to the Whites in twelth.
