Dover Athletic 0 Hastings United 2

DOVER were simply second best against a lively and physically imposing Hastings in Tuesday night’s Ryman League play-off semi-final.

The Sussex side were served by some big performances from their star names and made light of the fact that they played for the better part of hour with 10 men following wide man Sam Adams’ first half dismissal.

After a frenetic start to the game, Hastings opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a strike that, for most of the evening at least, looked enough to win the game.

It came in unlikely fashion as Adams robbed Whites’ skipper Lee Spiller of possession just inside the Hastings half. Adams provided a perfect ball along the floor to send No.9 Ade Olorunda clear through the middle. After an electric burst of pace left Whites’ back line chasing shadows, Olorunda effortlessly rounded Glen Knight and thumped the ball into an unguarded net.

Whites almost responded immediately when Byron Walker got on the end of Nick Humphrey’s long ball out of defence to fire a first time shot into the side netting. It was to prove their best opening of the night.

Although Whites saw plenty of the ball, they came up against a United side that defended from the front and seldom looked less than impressive.

Just once was keeper Lee Worgan called into serious action when, despite not seeing the ball until late, he kept out the Jimmy Dryden’s 35-yard free kick with his legs. But Whites were given what at the time appeared a timely boost when Adams, after picking up an earlier caution for dissent, earned a second yellow card for a foul on James Rogers.

In the event, the incident merely inspired Hastings to greater effort and admirable discipline, albeit littered with plenty of understandable time wasting.

In the second session, Whites won plenty of free kicks and corners but seldom looked likely to grab the goal that would bring them back into the game.

Indeed, it was United who looked more likely to score a second on the break than Whites did to equalise. And with 15 minutes remaining, Knight produced a save of the highest calibre to keep his side in the hunt, tipping over Ray’s point blank header from Lee Corey’s right wing corner.

Whites have missed out on promotion in the play-offs for the second successive season.

Dover: Knight, Browne (Spice-68), Rogers, Humphrey, Cloke, Wilkins, Wallis, Spiller, Dryden (Innocent-78), Tyne, Walker. Subs not used: Braithwaite, Lye, Smith.