Dover Athletic 2 Leyton 2

DEAN PALMER'S last-gasp equaliser at the Hoverspeed stadium on Tuesday night earned Dover a valuable point.

But Whites manager Steve Browne will surely look back with disappointment on a below par performance in which his side had held a narrow lead with as little as seven minutes of the game left.

In the first half, the vistors were slightly on top and it came as something of a surprise when Athletic took the lead a minute from the break.

Debutant Marcus Sawyerr found a little space out wide in the inside left channel. Spotting keeper James Hasell only marginally off his line, Sawyerr scored with a perfectly judged chip shot from the tightest of angles that dropped just underneath the crossbar.

In the second half, Whites' overall performance was disappointing as they gave the ball away too often.

On 83 minutes Bajada sent Zepharin the wrong way to equalise from the penalty spot after James Hawes had been brought down in the box.

If Leyton were worthy of parity by virtue of the superiority of their passing, they'd hardly done enough to warrant a victory. They looked like earning one, however, as, with just three minutes remaining, Gregoriou waltzed into a large amount of space to beat Zepharin with a clinicial finish.

But as some Whites' fans trooped towards the exits, their side salvaged a point in the final minute of normal time.

It came as Daniel Braithwaite's corner from the right wasn't effectively defended at the near post. As Athletic finally got a decent break of the ball, Palmer's overhead kick looped over Hasell and into the net.

The night's most remarkable incident was still to come, however. Leyton full back Vas Soteriou appeared to thump Armstrong in the face in an off the ball incident spotted by the ref's assistant. After being shown a yellow card, Soteriou appeared to repeat the offence and earned a stiff talking to.

Dover: Zepharin, Vallance, Cloke, Palmer, Readings (Welford-73), Braithwaite, Carruthers, Maynard, Sawyerr, Renner, Armstrong. Subs Not Used: Wright, Skelton, Gregory, P. Rogers.

* An online payment facility has been set up on Dover's website using PayPal to make donations to the club's fighting fund. The link is included below.