Today Dover travelled to Medway to take on Hollands and Blair in the second round of the Faversham Trophies Challenge Cup. After failing to score in their previous two games Dover were looking to regain some form against a competitive Hollands and Blair side. Dover started brightly but struggled to break down a packed Hollands defence and it was the home side who looked more likely to score. Sitting with numbers back it was clear they were going to play on the counter attack using their pacey target man. Knowing and stopping this route one approach were too different things as Hollands looked dangerous throughout the first half. It was no surprise when 15 minutes direct running from the Hollands CF resulted in Dover conceding a penalty. The penalty was smartly converted and Hollands were deserving of their first half lead. Dover had to be thankful again to GK Luke Lockhart who produced two great blocks in the first half to keep the score 1-0. Dover then punished the home side on the stroke of half time, after Kai Griffins corner found Liam McVie unmarked at the far post, his shot fell kindly to captain Owen Armstrong to level the scores. The second half Dover controlled and took the lead midway through the second half when George Nikaj picked the ball up midway inside the home sides half before lobbing the GK from distance. 2-1 should have been 3-1 in the last 10 mins as first Dover missed two one-on-one chances before George Nikaj missed a penalty. The missed chances left Dover hanging on in the end but good team work saw Dover through to the third round. A win that Dover had to ground out hopefully will now give a boost going into next week’s league match vs Faversham.