Dover Athletic 2 Chelmsford City 2

DOVER'S inconsistent season continued as they once again failed to hold onto the lead against a poor Chelmsford side who seemed to be content to sit back for a draw.

The Whites were once again indebted to Craig Wilkins who took his tally for the season to 12 with headers in each half as he showed the qualities that Dover sorely missed last season.

The problem manager Clive Walker will now need to solve is the continued shipping of sloppy goals as once again they were let down by defensive mistakes. The first half began with both sides having good chances with Wilkins hitting the crossbar and Tyne forcing Chelmsford keeper Paul Nicholls into a fine save, while Paul Hyde had to be at his best to twice deny Gary McGhee.

The Whites' opening goal came on 42 minutes when Matt Carruthers easily beat former Dover defender Steve Norman and whipped in a great cross that Wilkins met to perfection to bullet the header home.

The second half began with Dover making a double substitution with Danny Chapman (hamstring) and Tony Browne (flu) being replaced by Nicky Dent and Jamie Day respectively.

Dent was forced into playing as an emergency centre half and it was his error that led to the equaliser when he dallied on the ball and from the resulting cross Lee Spiller could only divert the ball past Hyde for an own goal. The visitors were only level for 35 seconds as Wilkins reacted quickest to Day's free kick to flick the ball home.

This should have been the time for Whites to assert their pressure but they failed to kill off a plucky City side that grew more and more in confidence. Their equaliser came in the 72nd minute when Steve Butterworth broke through after the Dover defence backed off and though Paul Hyde saved his shot, Dale Watkins was the first to react to sweep home.

Dover continued to have the majority of the possession but failed to create any clear cut chances to leave them stuck in mid-table.