DOVER Athletic signed off the year with their seventh straight win in front of a Boxing Day crowd of 1,103, their best of the season, at the Hoverspeed Stadium.

A goal in each half from Craig Wilkins, lifting his tally for the season to 18, was more than enough to dispose of an Eastbourne Borough side whose performance on the day was definitely of the mediocre variety.

Nonetheless Whites manager Richard Langley was understandably keen afterwards to praise the work of his defence in helping keeper Paul Hyde to achieve his fourth successive clean sheet in the league.

With Jimmy Jackson recalled from his loan spell by Dagenham, Darren Davies slotted in at left wing-back for Whites in the only change from the side that had beaten Weston-super-Mare the week before.

After a scrappy opening 10 minutes Dover went in front through a channel which was to prove profitable all afternoon. The Eastbourne keeper Lee Hook, and his defence made a poor fist of dealing with Davies’ 11th-minute inswinging corner, allowing Wilkins to glance home from close range.

Soon after Wilkins was allowed another free header and although Hook was equal to the task this time, the Borough defence always looked vulnerable when Dover lifted the ball into the opposing penalty area.

Tommy Tyne, who worked hard throughout, tested Hook’s reflexes again after neatly creating a shooting opportunity for himself, and although Whites weren’t firing on all cylinders they held on to their single-goal until half-time with few moments of alarm.

Eastbourne’s decent away record had suggested they would offer more of a threat, but within two minutes of the restart it was virtually game over.

Again a high ball into the Borough box, this time delivered by Matt Carruthers, caused problems for the visitors, with centre back Stuart Tuck heading the ball straight up into the air instead of away, and Andy Crofts nodded it back for Wilkins to thump home another close-range header.

With most of the second half still to play, that could have provided the platform for Whites to go on and win by three or four goals, but to be fair they weren’t pushed into doing any more, although Hook denied Jamie Day a goal when he superbly tipped over a 20-yard piledriver from the Dover midfielder who, along with Carruthers, had signed a two-year contract extension before the game.

Borough manager Garry Wilson introduced all three of his subs in a bid to give his side some attacking zip, but to no avail, and the game ended with Whites happily playing “keep ball” in the knowledge that the opening weeks of the new year are likely to provide some significantly harder challenges.

Dover Athletic: Hyde; Browne, Arnott, Chapman; Carruthers, Spiller, Crofts, Day, Davies; Tyne, Wilkins.