Crawley Town 2 Dover Athletic 0

DOVER were unable to stop Crawley’s charge towards the title despite putting up a spirited performance on Saturday.

The Sussex outfit went in front after just 42 seconds when former Whites striker Joff Vansittart headed on a long ball for Charlie MacDonald to cut in from the left and beat Dave Wietecha at his near post.

Dover were not demoralised by this early blow and they looked the better side for most of the first half.

After eight minutes Lee Spiller dribbled his way into the home penalty area but was sent crashing to the ground by Crawley’s Marc Pullan. It looked like a certain penalty but referee Mr Hayto angered the Dover contingent in the crowd of 2,290 by waving away Whites’ claims.

Dover had a lot of the ball but rarely created anything in front of goal, although Billy Bones tested home ‘keeper Andy Little with two powerful free kicks. At the other end Whites’ defence dealt fairly comfortably with the home side’s attacks.

Crawley came out for the second half in more determined mood and Dover struggled to mount any worthwhile attacks.

After 53 minutes Wietecha came out to save at the feet of MacDonald, but Vansittart was on hand to blast home the loose ball.

Crawley then went close to increasing their lead with a couple of shots going just wide. Whites manager Richard Langley used all his three subs in the second half, Craig Wilkins, James Rogers and Craig Cloke, but the changes proved in vain.

Crawley had done just enough to win, and though this wasn’t a bad performance against the best side in the league, Dover will have be sharper in the opposing penalty area in their remaining matches if they are to secure a top-13 place.