Dover 2 Eastleigh 1
Published: 17:30, 03 April 2010
Dover climbed to second with a 2-1 win over Eastleigh in the Blue Square South on Easter Saturday. Goals from Adam Birchall (pictured) and Barnet loanee Joe Tabiri gave the Crabble crowd of more the 1,100 plenty to cheer about.
Andy Hessenthaler's men were forced to battle it out for their three points as the visitors managed to claw themselves level midway through the second half.
Sammy Moore was forced to miss out for Whites through injury, but Dover started brightly with Shaun Welford having the ball in the back of the net after 15 minutes. But, his effort was ruled out for offside on an afternoon when the officials threatened to interrupt the flow of play.
Birchall did put Dover ahead though on 25 minutes, latching onto a ball over the top from Jon Wallis to round the Eastleigh keeper and cooly finish.
Dover keeper Ross Flitney was called into action twice before the break to deny Eastleigh, who threatened in patches. But, Flitney was caught out on 67 minutes as he failed to grab hold of a lofted ball into the area. Despite Olly Schultz's effort to clear, the ball ended up in the back of the Dover net.
With five minutes to go, Tabiri's shot took a deflection, but found itself on target for the winning goal. Adam Birchall could have added to his first half strike in injury time, but his tame penalty was saved.
Dover move above Chelmsford City into second on goal difference after the Clarets were held to a 3-3 draw at Bromley.
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