Steve Brown evades Corey Campbell's challenge to get a shot in.

Despite a poor playing surface and some disappointing officiating, Dover Athletic managed to survive this afternoon's test at Stonebridge Road to force a replay at Crabble. At least at home they will be assured of a better pitch, although unfortunately they will not be able to change the referee and his assistants.

Dover fielded the same side that demolished Yeovil last week. Leading scorer Joff Vansittart was fit again but Matt Carruthers, who impressed last weekend, kept his place in the side with Vansittart on the bench. Stuart Munday, out since October, returned to the first team squad as a substitute following a couple of successful outings with the reserve team. Gravesend lined-up with three former Whites in their starting eleven: Scott Lindsey, Steve Restarick and Corey Campbell.

Gravesend started better than the visitors and gave the Whites an early scare with a shot that flashed across Paul Hyde's goal and went narrowly wide.

On 10 minutes, the Ryman Premier side went close again, Paul Hyde making a fine two handed save from a close-range effort. The Dover keeper did well to hold on to the ball in a crowded penalty area.

After the early scares Athletic came into the game more although their passing play was hampered by a typical January non-league pitch. A spell of Dover pressure led to a shot from Neil Le Bihan that went through a crowd of players but was easily saved by Micky Desborough in the Gravesend goal.

Dave Clarke was booked for a tough challenge in the first 20 minutes and given Clarke's typical enthusiasm and the no-nonsense style of refereeing, it seemed unlikely that he would last the full 90 minutes.

Some of the offside decisions in this game were unforgivable, both linesmen making the mistake of flagging based on the player's position when he received the ball rather than when the ball is played. Steve Brown was unfairly adjudged offside but played on to beat Desborough with a deft chip only to have the goal ruled out.

Soon after his disallowed goal, Brown went very close to giving Athletic the lead. Good work from Matt Carruthers put Brown through one-on-one with Desborough. Brown shot across Desborough and beat the keeper's dive but the ball rolled just past the far post.

After 35 minutes the worst fears of the visiting fans were realised when Dave Clarke went in for another tough challenge and was promptly dismissed by Mr. Yerby. Incredibly, it was Clarke's fifth yellow card in three and a half matches.

The travelling Dover support was the best in recent memory and found their voices in the second half, drowning out the rather shy home fans. Despite the encouragement from the terraces, Dover went behind on 57 minutes when their defence was stretched by a move involving Jimmy Jackson and Lee Spiller which resulted in Restarick (who else?) blasting the ball past Hyde from six yards.

For much of the second period the away fans were chanting for Joff Vansittart (could these be the same fans that gave him so much undeserved abuse at the begining of the season?). After 70 minutes Bill Williams obliged sending on Vansittart in place of Neil Le Bihan, and Stuart Munday replaced Simon Beard, to make his first appearance since October.

As the clock ran down, the Whites' play became more urgent. Former Gravesend player Tony Browne delivered an excellent cross-field ball that picked out Simon Wormull, but the non-league international's poor first touch wasted what would have been a great opportunity with only the keeper to beat. Wormull recovered to create a shooting chance for himself but was well off target.

A few minutes later Wormull again found himself in a promising position. He brought the ball forward and could have had a shot himself but this time he remembered that goals from less than 25 yards were not his specialty and instead called on the expert, threading the ball through to Joff Vansittart. Vansittart beat the keeper with his shot but the ball came back to him off the post and he netted at the second attempt.

Lee Shearer's attempted Wormull-esque trickery in his own half almost let Gravesend in for a winner five minutes from time, but the former Orient man recovered to head clear.

Simon Wormull wasted a good shooting opportunity in the final minute but a draw was a fair result. The churned-up pitch and the stop-start nature of the officiating made it difficult to assess the relative merits of the two sides. Hopefully the replay at Crabble will produce a better spectacle. For the second round in succession, Dover can be pleased with a battling performance in unfavourable conditions to prevent what could have been an embarrassing upset.

Simon Wormull runs at the Gravesend defence.

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