Eastbourne Borough 3 Dover Athletic 1

DOVER’S poor start to the season continued with this defeat at early league leaders Eastbourne Borough on Monday.

It was rather a scrappy first half, with a strong crosswind making good football difficult but Dover's defence dealt capably with the home attack and Paul Hyde was a virtual spectator in the Dover goal.

Whites forced a number of corners, and from one of these Andy Arnott powered in a superb header, but the “goal” was disallowed as Simon Glover was adjudged to have impeded home 'keeper Lee Hook.

Dover looked the better side for most of the second half, and took the lead on 68 minutes when Lee Spiller scored with a near-post glancing header from Jamie Day's corner.

Whites were comfortably in control until the 81st minute, when Tommy Tyne had to go off with hamstring trouble. Nicky Dent's introduction was delayed as he had to remove some jewellery, and while Dover were down to ten men, Daren Pearce touched in the equaliser, though the ball seemed to deflect off his arm.

Four minutes later, ex-Dover forward Scott Ramsay netted following a lucky rebound, and three minutes later substitute Steve Yates made it 3-1 with a shot off the underside of the crossbar, after a Mark Goodwin drive had deflected off Dean Readings.

Glover then volleyed against the inside of a post but the ball came out and was cleared, underlining how all the luck in the last ten minutes went the way of the home side.

Dover can take heart from the fact that they looked the better side for 80 minutes of the game, and that their overall performance was considerably better than that against Weston-super-Mare 48 hours earlier.

Dover Ath: Hyde, Browne, Dyer, Readings, Arnott, Wilkins, Day, Spiller, Glover, Tyne (Dent 81), Carruthers.

Attendance: 780.