Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler felt two key decisions went against his side in their defeat to Bromley on Saturday.

Hessenthaler thought Whites should have had a penalty just after the hour mark when a shot from captain Sam Wood was deflected for a corner, with the home contingent feeling the ball had been handled behind by a Bromley man, while the 56-year-old also thought Joe Partington should have been sent off.

The away defender had already been booked when he fouled Dover’s Gillingham loan man Henry Woods on the edge of the penalty box later in the second period but referee Sunny Gill opted to give Partington a final warning, rather than his marching orders.

Hessenthaler was due to discuss the incidents with Mr Gill after the National League match and also said he plans to contact Steve Dunn, of the Referee Advisory Panel.

He said: “I’m talking about major decisions. That’s what we are talking about.

“For me, the biggest one is the sending off. With the penalty one, it has come at him quickly and there are bodies in there but, with him (ref Mr Gill) giving a similar handball against us earlier in the game, you are almost thinking ‘Well, come on’.

“But why is that not a sending off? I don’t like to see players sent off but when you are on a yellow and Henry is just about to get a shot away at goal, why is that not a yellow card?

“I just want to know that, really. It will be interesting to see what they say.”

Hessenthaler also explained why he was cautioned in second-half stoppage-time after 20-year-old Bromley frontman George Alexander - son of ex-Millwall player and former Ashford boss Gary - had hit the post in the dying seconds.

He said: “I actually stood over the white line on to the grass when they went through and nearly scored on the counter-attack.

“I was shouting at Parkesy (goalkeeper Adam Parkes) and I actually stepped over the white line and on to the pitch, unfortunately.”

Whites started slowly and ex-Ebbsfleet forward Corey Whitely struck early on for the visitors who also won a first-half penalty which was not converted by the usually-prolific Michael Cheek.

But Hessenthaler’s side were much better after the restart, having made a tactical first-half substitution which saw Matt Bentley come on to replace centre-back Jake Goodman as they reverted to a back four.

They almost got their reward, too, but ex-Bromley and Gillingham forward Ben Williamson's effort hit the post late on as Dover’s winless start to the season continues.

Explaining why he made the switch in the 28th minute, Hessenthaler conceded: “It looked like they could score at will and that was worrying. So we had to make the change.

“That’s disappointing for us because we played against a team that plays three centre-halves and wing-backs the other day in Solihull Moors, and we coped with that. But we didn’t cope with it here.

“Maybe we didn’t have the right wing-backs at the start of the game. That’s no disrespect to Woody and Seth Twumasi but we had to make the change and do something different.

“I thought, for the last half-an-hour of the game, we were good.

“Unfortunately we just don’t seem to get the rub of the green at the moment with certain things, referee’s performances and our final ball."

The bottom side remain 14 points from safety and are still yet to score at Crabble this season.

Report: Dover 0 Bromley 1

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