Dover Athletic 0 Braintree Town 0
By Tom Howard
Andy Hessenthaler remains confident Dover Athletic will make the play-offs despite being held to a goalless draw by rivals Braintree Town at the weekend.
The Whites struggled in the final third against a strong Braintree defence and missed the chance to move back into the top-five in Blue Square South. The second half saw both sides go close to snatching the win, but neither could find a way through two well organised defences.
Despite the goalless draw the Dover boss firmly believes his side will finish in the play-offs, but felt his side didn’t deserve to win the game on Saturday.
He said: “I’m not a worried man, we’re still in with a good chance of getting into the play-offs. We took the game to them and tried to do something slightly different, but we just didn’t have the spark we needed up front. We didn’t create enough chances, but that was down to the quality of the ball in the final third.
“It was a nervous game for both teams, but the draw is probably a better result for them than it was for us. We’ve only lost one in the last seven, but we have had too many draws.”
In a game of few chances, Dover started brightly and could have taken the lead inside the opening 10 minutes. Shaun Welford played in Adam Birchall, but the former Arsenal forward chipped over from a tight angle.
Nicky Southall was on the end of the only other chance of the half, which saw the midfielder blaze over from 20-yards.
The second half saw much more urgency to attack from both sides, but it was the visitors who threatened first. Substitute Robbie Martin’s cross was met by former Ebbsfleet United striker George Purcell and his volley brought a stunning one-handed save from goalkeeper Ross Flitney.
Dover responded shortly after with their best chance of the game. On-loan Gillingham striker Luis Cumbers headed a Matt Fish cross goalwards, bringing a good save from goalkeeper Craig Holloway.
Braintree finished the game the stronger of the two sides with Dover left hanging on to a draw.
Elsewhere at the club, central defender Daniel Leach, on-loan from Barnet, has agreed to extend his stay at Crabble by another month.
The Whites are back in action against Worcester City at Crabble tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
POSTED: 08/03/2010 16:13:48
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