Cracking game of football on a lovely late Summer's day. A lively pre match discussion in the pub revolving around the possible membership of working parties, the future of Fans Forums, and whether TUST really were now at the gates, was, I thought, going to be difficult to top for excitement, but the match gave us excitement from first minute to last. If the TUST really are 'at the gates' maybe there was extra symbolism in the reports claiming that Jon and Barton Downs had selected the Players & Officials entrance as their venue for a pre match tete-a-tate.
Great entertainment, and all provided at a most reasonable price due to the generosity of the Season Ticket offer. If Kev had been hoping that Season Ticket holders would throw a further £25 into the kitty this season, he could have asked for the extra based just on this one match alone.
What a contrast pre match, with 'youngster' King Kev in his training kit out on the pitch putting his defenders through their drills and chatting to all of his players.
While at the same time Chris Kinnear sat alone in the Away dugout, blazer, collar and tie, and accountants steel rimmed glasses.
The revelation of the afternoon was young Jamie Reid, who looked as if he had suddenly recalled one of Hector's motivational pre match talks to his school team. Reid not only ran himself into the ground (will he be able to raise a gallop on Monday ?) but also showed plenty of ability to trouble a good Dover defence.
Someone who seems incapable of running as freely and as quickly as previously is Brett Williams. While some players are starting to look fitter and stronger e.g Sparkes, Reid, LRT, there seems to be some physical problem with Williams, who looked at best three quarter paced from the moment he came on mid way through the second half to replace Reid. There's no one more exciting on the ball in our team than Williams, but he's being held back by some kind of problem, and you couldn't begin to think about playing him for 90 minutes.
With Sam Chaney injured (giving him more time to eat custard cream biscuits, according to the programme) what more effective replacement to have on loan than Joe Ward ! Solidly built, enabling him to put in a solid tackle. Unfortunately solid tackling is frowned upon these days, and Ward was reminded of that by being shown a very early yellow card. But the lad has plenty else in his locker besides a strong tackle, and he looked the part in possession, weighing in with some classy distribution.
Brendan Moore still looking a little less assured than last season, but perhaps expecting him to keep up those standards was a bit much. LRT had his best game since coming back to Plainmoor and worked extremely hard. The fear is that the whole team had to work extremely hard to beat a very good Dover team....and there will be some vey very tired legs travelling to Monday's away game.
Ticket 04607 scooped the 50/50, while No.04146 only offered £25 if you could successfully hit the crossbar. Dave from Newton Abbot left the pitch none the richer after three forgettable attempts.
The P.A announced the half time scores, including, much to my surprise, a Championship game standing at 0-0 between Brentford and Sheffield UNITED !!
The second half was every bit as good, in fact even better I suppose as we had all three goals. Hector's lad put us one up, but there was still a big chunk of second half to go. Time was still ticking by slowly when the ball shot at considerable speed into the central section of Bristow's Bench. Thanfully Dave Thomas's glasses didn't get embedded in the bridge of his nose, as a spectator stood up, meeting the projectile fully on the forehead, and heading it back with the power that only Mark Ellis used to be able to generate with his neck muscles.
Not that Dover hadn't done enough in the game to deserve a goal, but the one the did get was completely unjust because it blatantly wasn't a foul that lead to the freekick that they scored from. Luke Young, by no stretch of the imagination, committed a foul, but the decision was consistent with some of Mr.Quelch's odd interpretations.
But were we downhearted ? Of course we were!.... but that was only in the stands, as down on the pitch Kev's troops summoned up their resources of fitness and character to launch a lightning attack, ending with Dan Sparkes slotting home left footed past the Dover keeper, and so restoring our lead.
The end to end stuff continued, as both sides found plenty of space to continue their respective attacks, but The Gulls held out for a fully deserved win. I'd guess that even leading lights from TUST would have used a post match chat to reflect on the brilliant entertainment, rather than pondering the wisdom of storming the boardroom
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