Dover Athletic 5 Wembley 0
Ryman
League Cup Second Round
Tuesday 11th October
2005
By Kevin
Harris
Whites comfortably eased into the next
round of the League Cup with a thrashing of Wembley. Our Ryman
League Two visitors did arrive at the ground late, which may have
slightly resulted in their poor start, but a Whites side containing
fringe and reserve players comprehensively disposed of
them.
With Hyde injured, Walker chose
to play Smith in goal, with a back four of Hamshare, Browne,
Readings and Clifford. This meant
that Skelton, Lott, Hogg and Rogers lined-up in midfield, with
Matata and Smissen up-front.
It was a bright opening for the Whites,
who immediately attacked their visitors knowing they were unlikely
to be sharp after their late arrival. Rogers and Lott both tried
their luck from 20-yards, before three goals came before 17 minutes
had gone.
Firstly, Skelton's cross was dropped by
the hapless keeper at the feet of Smissen for him to shoot home, and
then Skelton cut-back from the by-line for Smissen to curl a shot
round the keeper for the second. And the third goal came from a
through ball by Clifford, which Matata ran onto and fired past
keeper Ade Solarin.
Although Damani Campbell headed an Ian
Bates free kick wide, it was the home side who were dominating
proceedings. It should have been four when Rogers played
the ball over the top, and with the defence standing appealing for
offside, Matata was free in the box, but he blazed his volley
over.
But with 28 minutes gone, the fourth did
arrive. Hogg played the ball to Matata, who fed Smissen to slide the
ball past the keeper again. Wembley immediately brought on another
defender, seemingly trying to shore up a desperately leaky
defence.
Paul Shelton should have capitalised on a
defensive mistake and reduced the arrears, but he volleyed over for
Wembley, and Whites could have gone further in front before the
interval when Rogers and Skelton both went
close.
There was talk at half-time about record
scores, but for all the chances Whites created, they were just not
going in after the break. Matata saw a curling shot saved, Rogers' shot
was stopped by the keeper, and Readings headed a Browne free kick
just wide.
The pressure continued, with Hogg heading
a good chance over, and Rogers found Smissen with a
knock-down, but he couldn't add to his hat-trick and shot just
wide.
Wembley could have got a consolation when
Readings was forced to clear a
header off the line at a corner, but Dean then went up the other end
and would have increased the lead but for a superb save by keeper
Solarin.
Chris Wright replaced Matata just after
the hour, and immediately could have got on the scoresheet when he
collected a long goal kick from Darren Smith, but the striker's shot
was again saved.
The keeper was having a better second
half, and made a superb save to deny Tony Browne with a header from
a corner. Changes continued to be made, with Rob Smidmore and Nick
Bagley replacing Skelton and Rogers, and Whites could have increased
the lead through Chris Wright but he fired over from only three
yards out.
Again Wembley could have scored with a
goalmouth melee in the Whites area, but down the other end Readings
headed against a post before the fifth did come, in injury time.
Hogg collected the ball just inside the Wembley half and with the
keeper off his line, fired a superb shot over his head and into the
net.
So Whites eased into the next round of
the League Cup with a comprehensive victory. Although Wembley looked
poor on this showing, Whites played really well and could easily
have scored double what they did. Now let's hope we can get another
victory in the FA Trophy against Dartford on Saturday.
Dover
Athletic: Darren Smith 8, Shane Hamshare 7, Dave Clifford
7, Dean Readings 7, Tony Browne (C) 7, Kevin Lott 7, Dale Skelton 9
(Rob Smidmore 7, 75mins),
Anthony Hogg 8, Michael Smissen 9, Walid Matata 8 (Chris Wright 7, 64mins),
James Rogers 7 (Nick Bagley,
78mins).
Subs (Not Used): Jack Tanner, Tim
Austen.
Wembley:
Ade Solarin, Darren O'Connor, Myles Hook, Darren Butler, Bradley
Scott, Jeffery Dalton-Brown (Michel Angelo Pongan,
68mins), Ian Bates (C), Simon Huggett (Robert Green, 68mins), Jumo
Mitchell, Paul Shelton, Damani Campbell (Wayne McCormack,
30mins).
Subs (Not Used): Shigutu Matsuko, Joel
Petrie.
Referee:
Stephen Child
Assistants:
Trevor Cogley and Ian Fissenden.
Attendance:
314
