Bashley 0 Dover Athletic 1
FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Saturday 10th September 2005

Bashley: David Elm, Neil Morant, Josh Thomas, Matt Parnell (Zeke Rink, 89mins), Andy Darnton, Steve Riley, Jimmy Anderson, Paul Gazzard, Dave Wakefield (Steele Saunders, 74mins), Richard Gillespie, Andy Culliford.

Subs (Not Used): Sayem Kabir, Stacey Harper.

Bookings: Andy Darnton (29mins), Josh Thomas (76mins)

Dover Athletic: Paul Hyde 7, Tony Browne 7, Danny Braithwaite 7, Dean Readings 7, Craig Cloke 7, Danny Chapman 9, Anthony Hogg 7 (Shane Hamshare, 81mins), Lee Spiller 8 (Kevin Lott, 89mins), Craig Wilkins 8, Tommy Tyne 7 (Dale Skelton 7, 74mins), Walid Matata 7.

Subs (Not Used): James Rogers, Darren Smith.

Bookings: Tony Browne (72mins), Paul Hyde (90mins)

Referee: W Atkins (Crawley)
Assistants: F Davis (Burgess Hill) and C Bridges (Horsham)

Attendance: 141

Following the same pattern that has characterised the season thus far, Whites battled hard for a single goal victory to ensure progression to the next round of the FA Cup. It was a much better game than the previous week's league encounter, with more excitement in the first fifteen minutes than the whole of the last meeting. But thanks to a second half Craig Wilkins goal, Whites got the victory that their performance deserved.

With Nick Humphrey suspended due to his sending off at Lymington in the previous round, it was left for Dean Readings to replace him in centre defence, alongside Cloke and Chapman. This meant that Spiller, Tyne and Hogg were in midfield, Browne and Braithwaite wing-backs and Wilkins and Matata up front.

It may have been a large part down to the weather, which was overcast rather than the blinding sunshine of last week, but both sides started brightly. The Bash were immediately on the attack, with Chapman forced to block Richard Gillespie's shot, and then Andy Culliford headed a corner wide.

But minutes after it was the Whites who had two great chances to take the lead. Firstly Matata blocked the keepers kick, with the ball running to the by-line, and he cut it back to Tyne to slot into the empty net, but the keeper got back to tackle him. And soon after, Matata crossed to the unmarked Wilkins in the centre, who header was superbly saved by the feet of keeper David Elm.

It was the Whites who were controlling the game, but they were unable to force the vital first goal. Craig Cloke was the next to try his luck, getting the ball cleared from off of his head as he was about to nod home, and then his shot was deflected wide from the resulting corner. Whites were not getting the luck in-front of goal.

This continued when Spiller fed Matata to run through on goal, but the ball bounced out of his reach at the vital point, and the chance had gone. Bashley almost took advantage of Whites' missed chances when Matt Parnell shot inches wide just before half-time, but it remained goalless at the interval.

Thankfully for the many massed Whites fans, it wasn't long into the second period before the vital first goal came. Braithwaite played the ball back to Hogg, whose deep cross cut out the keeper, leaving Wilkins to rise above his marker and head into an empty net.

As last week, Whites settled down once they had got the goal, and their passing game began to flourish. And the lead could easily have been doubled when Tony Browne made a superb turn in his own half, and he then ran the length of the field to cross for Wilkins, but he headed this chance over.

As the game came to a close however, Bashley threw everything they could have at us, and they did go close with Parnell header, but as they failed to muster a notable shot on target over two matches, Whites didn't need to worry unduly.

All that was left was for a series of substitutions for both sides, and a final minute booking for Hyde for time-wasting, before the celebrations could begin. Whites dominated this match and were worthy winners, and hopefully we can continue this cup run for a while yet.