Dover Athletic 0 Yeading 3

DOVER Athletic could not handle league leaders Yeading on Saturday and were condemned to a 3-0 defeat.

Whites did not play particularly badly, but over the course of the 90 minutes Yeading had that extra quality and passed the ball around beautifully at times.

Dover, who brought in debutant Bradley Sandeman at left back in place of the departed Jude Stirling, had made a bright opening but were caught cold when The Ding took the lead after six minutes.

The goal came in fortuitious circumstances as skipper Darti Browne blocked a clearance into the path of top scorer Dudley Campbell who killed the ball with his first touch and coolly lobbed the ball over Paul Hyde with his second from 15 yards.

It might have got worse for Whites as Yeading, without ever getting out of third gear, dominated much of the opening session. And after Ed Protain had wastefully headed an Alex Stanley free kick over the bar, Hyde produced a first class save to keep out a long range drive from Steve Wales that look destined for the bottom right hand corner.

Clive Walker's side did have their moments and came close to restoring parity a couple of times just before the break.

First, Carruthers turned his marker on the corner of the six-yard box to get on the end of Cloke’s long throw but fired wide from a tight angle. And moments later, keeper Delroy Preddie showed great agility to tip over when Browne’s backheader came within an ace of counting as an own goal.

Chris Wright was thrown on as an extra forward in place of Sandeman, and Athletic upped the tempo considerably after the break.

While they could never match the champions elect in terms of finesse, a 15-minute spell of pressure ensured the River End soon found its collective voice. And although they created nothing in the way of clear cut chances, Whites should have been awarded a penalty when Stanley grabbed a handful of the marauding Shane Hamshare’s shirt.

Ironically, it was during Whites’ best period of the match that Yeading ended the contest with a second goal. Centre back Mark Leach was just looking to clear the ball when he hoofed away Daniel Braithwaite's corner, but it turned into a perfect 70-yard ball to Campbell, who did brilliantly to take the ball on and toe-end it past Hyde.

With the game won, Yeading boss Johnson Hippolyte made changes, and it was substitute Marvin Morgan who made a noteworthy contribution to the proceedings.

After striking a post with a full blooded drive with his first touch, he made doubly sure of the points with a third goal that arrived on 78 minutes.

On this occasion, Campbell turned provider with a delicious chip over Whites’ back line. The powerful Morgan made the most of the opportunity, taking the ball beyond Hyde before drilling it into an unguarded net.

With the game almost over, a rather bizarre sequence of events ended with Whites finishing the game with 10 men.

Initially, Dean Palmer took objection to a fairly innocuous challenge from Anthony Hogg and punched him square on the jaw. A straight red card one might reasonably have thought, but after a yellow had been brandished, Legg showed another to Carruthers, his second, presumably for an offence that occured during the melee that Palmer’s over-reaction had provoked.

The good news? That came via teletext and the news that all of Whites’ relegation rivals had also lost.

Dover: Hyde, Vallance, Sandeman (Wright 46), Readings, Cloke, Braithwaite, Hickman (Matata 79), Hamshare, Renner, Hogg, Carruthers. Subs Not Used: Maynard, Rogers, Readings.

Whites boss Clive Walker spoke to KM-fm sports editor Simon Watts after the game…