More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Dover 1 Gillingham 0
Frannie Collin struck the winning goal on Tuesday night to hand Dover victory over Gillingham at Crabble.
The former Gills striker headed home with just six minutes left, of what was a tough workout for the league side, against their Ryman League, Premier Division opponents.
A well fought first half saw Gillingham limited to just one clear cut chance. Dennis Oli put Simeon Jackson through on goal after 19 minutes but Dover keeper John Whitehouse saved well.
Dover impressed in front of their home crowd and with ex-Gillingham players Alan Pouton, Jon Wallis and Frannie Collin in their starting line-up they were in determined mood. Simon Royce, however, in the Gills goal had little to do.
Wallis and Collin both had shots early in the second half but neither troubled substitute goalkeeper Alan Julian.
Dover continued to cause problems and Julian was needed to save from Collin’s low and powerful shot on 57 minutes.
Julian was called on again after 72 minutes, to save from Shaun Welford, as Gillingham found it tough to get a stranglehold on the game.
Dover grabbed a deserved goal and it was Collin, who had been the chief threat all night, who scored the goal with a lobbed header over Julian.
Gillingham manager Mark Stimson said: "Performance-wise it wasn’t very good. To come to Dover and lose was not what we had planned to do.
"We looked bright in the afternoon when we trained. Unfortunately, we had two boys who got delayed and we had to make changes at quarter to seven and put young Tom Wynter in and Pugh.
"That wouldn’t have been the case if Adam Miller and Garry Richards had of got to Dover on time.
"That messed things up because we planned to do something in the afternoon to try and get a nice positive performance. It wasn’t to be and the best thing about it was that there were no injuries."
Gills: Royce (Julian 46mins), Fuller, Nutter, King, Wynter, Crofts (Thurgood 46mins), Bentley (Burns 46mins), John (Howard 46mins), Oli, Pugh (Cumbers 69mins), Jackson. Subs not used: Clohessy, Miller, Richards, Julian.
Dover: Whitehouse, Fish, Rogers (Gore 46mins), Ball, Schulz, Pouton (Moore 62mins), Wallis (O’Brien 72mins), Hughes (Keister 46mins), Bailey (Welford 46mins), Collin (Maasback 85mins), Browning (Jones 61mins). Sub not used: Lindley.
* Facey gets chance to stake his claim *
* Gills boss to release trialist *
* Stimson ready to give John time to impress *
