Jake Leberl challenges for the ball in the Welling area.

1,658 people were at Crabble this afternoon to see Dover Athletic record their ninth Conference victory of the season against struggling Welling United. The attendance for this final game of the Millennium was easily the highest of the season, surpassing the previous best by nearly 600.

At this time of giving, Welling were perhaps the most appropriate of opponents, their defence being the most generous in the Conference this season. In fact Colchester United, the side Joe Dunne recently abandoned Athletic in favour of, are the only side in the top five English divisions to have conceded more goals than the Park View Road outfit.

On the subject of ex-Dover players, today saw the return to Crabble of former favourite John Budden, for the first time since leaving the club in the close season. Predicatably, he was given the sort of affectionately hostile reception reserved for "Dover rejects".

Welling may get the impression that Dover manager Bill Williams doesn't like them. For the second time this season he was absent for a meeting between Kent's two leading non-league sides. Unfortunately Bill was in bed with a particularly nasty bout of flu so the Dover side was left in the capable hands of assistant Clive Walker.

The Dover injury crisis is slowly easing, Steve Brown recovered from the knock he sustained at Kettering and was able to start whilst James Virgo was fit enough for a place on the bench. The only bad news was that Joff Vansittart had to join the still-recovering Stuart Munday and Neil Le Bihan in the stand, suffering from the troublesome hamstring that forced him out of last weekend's game after just five minutes. Last week's hero, Mark Hynes, took Vansittart's place in an otherwise unchanged side.

The game got off to an uneventful start with no real chances early on. On 21 minutes Welling were reduced to 10 men when Zeke Rowe was cautioned for a very late challenge on keeper Paul Hyde. Rowe had already been booked four minutes previously, leaving the referee no option other than to dismiss the Wings' forward. The dismissal took the edge off Welling's play, although they still continued to match Dover in the middle of the park.

Towards the end of the half, Dover began to produce some much better football, playing the ball around crisply in the final third of the pitch.

On 38 minutes Dover took the lead. A cross from the right caused havoc in the Welling six yard area, with the keeper and his defence trying desperately to clear under pressure from the Whites' forwards. The ball deflected into the path of ex-Welling man Mark Hynes who slid in at the back post to score. The scrappy nature of the goal obviously didn't please the gods as the heavens opened before the ball had settled in the back of the net and a deluge of rain, hail and sleet poured down on Crabble.

The first may have been scrappy but the second, three minutes later, was a classic strike. A fluid Dover move just outside the visitors' area found left-back Steve Norman 25 yards from goal on the Dover left. Norman struck a powerful, dipping shot that was well tipped over by Paul Wilkerson. The resulting corner was taken short to Simon Wormull who laid the ball into the path of Norman, again 25 yards out, this time on the Dover right. Norman had another crack at goal, this time placing the ball effortlessly into the bottom corner with a sweetly-hit effort that Wilkerson couldn't even get close to.

With the precipitation unrelenting, the pitch was becoming increasingly soggy. Some Welling fans in the Dover End Terrace could be seen attempting a desperate impromptu rain dance, an abandonment apparently the only way for them to temporarily halt their rapid slide towards Ryman League obscurity.

The rain did cease during the half-time interval but the sheer volume of water that had fallen on the pitch made the second period difficult for both sides.

Welling continued to apply themselves after the break, but with a numerical disadvantage they found it difficult to create clear-cut chances. They were handed a lifeline on 62 minutes when Dover captain Paul Hyde brought down Welling skipper Mike Rutherford in the area. The Dover keeper was booked for the offence and the Wings were awarded a penalty which was converted by Budden.

Welling's 10 men stuck to their task and caused a few scares for Athletic, whilst at the other end, a couple of fumbles and some poor kicking by Wilkerson kept the Dover faithful entertained.

Substitute Matt Carruthers should have wrapped-up the points towards the end. The ball was played through to him and he did well to hold-off his marker and advanced one-on-one with the keeper. His shot was well-struck and on-target but a fantastic save by Wilkerson denied him.

Welling caused another couple of nervous moments for Dover in the final minutes but the Whites held-out to secure the points that moved them up into fifth place in the Conference, their highest league position since the opening weekend of the season. Athletic's position being strengthened by six of the other seven top eight teams failing to win.

Dover's best player by far was Dave Clarke who produced another committed display, winning unwinnable challenges and being involved in most of the team's best moves.

Today's Conference fixtures are reversed next Monday, with Dover travelling to Welling hoping to gain another three points. They don't need any extra motivation for this clash because if the matches involving the top five sides go the same way as they did today then Dover will find themselves in second position when Yeovil visit for a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday 8^th January. That should make Bill Williams feel a bit better.

Danny Bolt in action against Welling

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