Dover Athletic 2Grantham 1

WHITES made it eight points from four games and gave their goal-starved fans something to cheer at last--thanks to a double blast from Tommy Tyne.

The young striker answered his critics in the best possible way with a two-goal haul which saw Whites to a welcome win at Crabble on Saturday.

In truth the relegation-haunted Lincolnshire visitors deserved a draw after matching Dover for most of the game. But after some of recent performances where Dover have failed to turn domination into wins, no one at the club will complain about this result.

At Tamworth the week before, Tyne took just six minutes to open his account. This time the clock read seven minutes gone when he met Matt Carruthers' pull-back from the byline and beat Grantham 'keeper Mario Ziccardi with a low shot from six yards.

The normally watertight home defence was left thanking providence just a few minutes later, however, when visiting defender Joby Gowshall's header came back off Paul Hyde's near post from a Lee Marshall corner.

Dover created two more clear openings in the remainder of the first half and should really have netted from at least one of them to give themselves a breathing space.

Lee Spiller found Tyne with a through ball and he deftly beat the last defender, only to put his shot wide with only Zaccardi to beat. Then, with 20 minutes gone, Steve Hafner, who produced a sound performance in place of the suspended Tony Browne, ran onto Jamie Day's well-weighted through ball but his 16-yard lob drifted just over.

Grantham were just starting to threaten at this stage and Marshall saw a shot blocked, before Hyde was relieved to see Jon Hawley fire the rebound straight at him with the goal gaping.

With just over half an hour gone Grantham had the ball in the net when Stuart Wilson forced home from close range, but the whistle had already gone for a push by a fellow forward.

But on 38 minutes they equalised with a goal after a free kick some 30 yards out. Dominic Hallows' low shot rebounded off a Dover defender and the ball fell nicely for Danny George to lash home a shot from 15 yards.

The goal visibly boosted Grantham's confidence and for a lengthy spell either side of half-time they were the better side. Brendan McDaid, Hallows and Stuart Wilson all narrowly missed the target before Whites began to get back into the game.

Tyne's outstretched leg just failed to make contact with a lobbed forward pass by Hafner, and Carruthers' 22-yard free kick forced Zaccardi into a save at his near post.

Grantham had the ball in the net again on 65 minutes through a volley from their prolific and much travelled striker Gary Bull, but for the second time in the afternoon they saw a goal chalked off, this time for a very marginal offside decision.

Dover boss Clive Walker brought on Simon Glover with 20 minutes left, to give his side more attacking clout, and Whites claimed all three points with a goal 11 minutes from time from the in-form Tyne.

Day took a quick free-kick and Tyne lashed a stinging left-footed half volley from outside the penalty area which beat Zaccardi's full length dive.

Grantham made a number of substitutions as they battled to salvage a point. But other than a Rick Ranshaw header which flashed narrowly wide, Dover held out fairly comfortably for a win that kept them in the top six.

Another pleasing aspect of the afternoon was the gate of 803, reversing the downward trend which set in after Whites' FA Trophy exit in February.

Dover Athletic: >/b>Hyde, Hafner (Glover 69), Norman, Chapman, Readings, Arnott, Day, Spiller, Dyer, Tyne, Carruthers. Subs not used: Sykes, Patterson, James, Munday.