Dover battled their way into the quarter final of the Causeway Steel Challenge Cup with a performance of real resilience and determination.
Dover went into the match already missing a number of players through injury and illness, and despite shading the opening exchanges soon found themselves a goal behind. Things then went from bad to worse as they lost both Henry Mileham and Jack Hansen to ankle injuries within the first 20 mins. They managed to haul themselves back into the match when the lively Ryan Aldritt scored with a composed finish from the edge of the area, and were then unfortunate not to take the lead as they started to dominate the play, but they were then dealt another blow with Charlie Dale clearly struggling with a leg injury. He bravely battled on until the break, but was unable to appear for the second half.
Dover now knew they would have to play the entire second half with 10 players, including a reshuffle of formation, most significantly moving Finlay O’Shea from right wing back to left back in a new 4-4-1 formation. Ashford sensed their opportunity, but the back-4 marshalled by Dylan Hammond held firm. Midway through the half Ashford made the breakthrough to retake the lead, but rather than deter the Dover team it inspired them to even greater efforts. Taking the game to the opposition, O’Shea started to push forward with jinking runs, and was rewarded when Hector Dupree headed in his vicious in-swinging cross. This was followed by another run where he took a shot himself, which found the net via a wicked deflection, but was no more than his man of the match display deserved. The final 10 minutes saw the Dover team run themselves to a standstill, with Aldritt tireless up front on his own, to run out deserved winners.
