Northwood 1 Dover Athletic 0

THEY may be separated by 18 points in the Ryman League Premier Division, but there was not much between Dover and Northwood over the course of 90 minutes on Saturday.

This was a grim contest as the sides succeeded only in cancelling one another out in a game in which both 'keepers hardly got their knees dirty.

The decisive moment of the match came in controversial circumstances after 23 minutes.

In a central position around 25 yards from goal, Whites' skipper Daniel Braithwaite was pulled up by referee Mr Bushell for a foul when it looked as though he and midfielder Gavin Hart had merely collided.

However, Steve Hale took full advantage of the decision. When he stood over the ball and looked at his options, it looked as if keeper Paul Hyde and the wall he had lined up were offering something to aim at.

All credit to Hale, though, as he whipped the ball into the top left hand corner past the motionless and apparently unsighted Hyde.

A sparse crowd at Chestnut Avenue could have left at this point and missed little. A well-organised Northwood side had nine men behind the ball when they lost possession, and Whites never looked like they had the ideas to restore parity.

In the second half, there were signs Dover might not return empty handed, most notably when Victor Renner got on the end of Dean Readings' great ball into the box and turned to fire barely a foot wide of a post.

And the introduction of Paul Armstrong, who came on for James Rogers, sparked a bit of extra life into Whites.

As Armstrong flicked on Shane Hamshare's good ball from the flank, Dean Palmer, now playing further forward, had a shot charged down.

And when the recalled Tom Hickman knocked the ball in from central midfield, Palmer nodded a good ball across the face of the six yard box but it was just too long for Armstrong to convert.

Dover: Hyde, Readings, Vallance, Palmer, Stirling, Braithwaite, Hamshare (Maynard 82), Rose, Hickman, Renner, Rogers (Armstrong 65). Subs Not Used: Gregory, Spiller, P. Rogers.