Moor Green 1 Dover Athletic 0

DOVER travelled to suburban Birmingham on Saturday looking to extend their recent good run and for a quarter of an hour things looked promising.

Whites dominated the opening stages and Darren Davies, recalled to the team in place of James Rogers, fired just over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

But Moor Green’s big defenders stood firm and the home side then came more into the match thanks to their neat passing game.

However, although Moor Green enjoyed plenty of possession, Paul Hyde in the Dover goal was rarely troubled and half-time arrived with the scoreline still goalless.

Five minutes after the restart Dover suffered a double piece of bad luck as they searched for a breakthrough. Tommy Tyne latched on to a Jamie Day chip forward and lobbed the ball over the home goalkeeper Matt Harris. Unfortunately, the ball hit the underside of the crossbar and Matt Carruthers, following up, headed against the bar and the ball was scrambled away.

Three minutes later at the other end, Dennis Bailey blazed over an open goal with Hyde stranded out wide.

With both sides having missed glorious opportunities to score, the match settled back into its’ previous rhythm. Moor Green’s more fluent approach always threatened a goal, but Dover looked dangerous on the break, only for the final ball to let them down.

The Moors brought on substitute Rob Elmes, who had proved a thorn in Dover's side when he was with Hereford, and once again he proved to be Whites’ nemesis, flicking home the only goal eight minutes from time following a Jai Stanley corner.

Dover tried to hit back but an Andy Arnott far-post header was well saved by Harris, and Carruthers drove into the side netting from an acute angle.

Dover are still in twelfth place in the Premier Division table after this defeat, but they will need to produce much better performances if they are to secure a place in the new Conference South next season.

Dover Athletic: Hyde, Browne (Amadi 86), Dyer, Readings, Arnott, Cloke, Day, Davies (Glover 82), Wilkins, Tyne, Carruthers.