By Luke Cawdell

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally is hoping criticism aimed towards his club from non-league Dover Athletic will not harm their long-term relationship.

Dover chairman Jim Parmenter claimed Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler, who left Whites to take over as manager at Priestfield, had "crossed the line" after raiding the club for their manager Ian Hendon, who had arrived at Crabble as his replacement.

The Blue Square Bet South side also lost their academy manager Darren Hare to the Gills and last week Nicky Southall confirmed he was the latest to head to Priestfield.

It produced bad blood between the two sets of fans and led to the scrapping of this summer’s pre-season friendly.

Mr Scally, pictured, said: "I’m disappointed with some of the things I’m hearing coming out of Dover. The problem is that things were said that shouldn’t have been from Dover and if confidences had been kept, which is what should have happened, then none of this would have happened.

"I’m very comfortable from our side of things and that we did things the right way and the circumstances after that were all out of our control. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Dover and I do hope that relationships improve."

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