Heybridge Swifts 2 Dover Athletic 1

DOVER, battling to avoid relegation, lost to a better side but they were the victims of a farcical penalty award.

The controversial incident occurred as early as the fourth minute as Whites were looking to hold off an early spell of pressure from the Swifts.

As Dwayne Edwards drove over a low cross from the right, Daniel Brathwaite opted for safety first by attempting to clear the ball for a corner. The ball struck Dean Readings, still prostrate on the dead ball line after attempting to cut out Edwards’ cross.

Given the velocity of Braithwaite’s clearance Readings, who was facing away from the ball, could not have got out of the way. As the ball struck Readings in the small of the back, the referee waved play on but then his assistant alerted him to a handling offence he had spotted.

Once the protests had been waved away and Paul Hyde had picked up a yellow card, striker Carl Grifftiths tucked away a perfect penalty, firing into the bottom right hand corner.

As Clive Walker had suggested before the game, Heybridge were always likely to prove a tough nut to crack. And that certainly proved to be the case throughout the first half, as Swifts by-passed midfield for the most part and thumped the ball forward at the earliest opportunity.

While it was far from a scientific approach, it was certainly effective as pacy former Margate man Jean-Michel Sigere gave Whites back line, lacking the injured Craig Cloke, a torrid time.

By the same token, Edwards continually got behind Whites’ left flank and it would be hard to argue that Swifts’ were not worth a 2-0 lead at the interval. In the event, they achieved just that by fluking a second goal as Edwards floated over a cross to the far post that wrong-footed Hyde and sailed in unaided.

By contrast to the Essex side’s attacking endeavours, Whites barely showed as an offensive force.

In the second period, Dover certainly improved and the match became more even and entertaining. Whites pulled one back out of nothing midway through the half.

It came as Stirling launched a huge throw from the left hand touchline, Renner nodded the ball down and Chris Wright, an early substitute for the injured Matt Carruthers, fired home a sweetly-struck volley from 15 yards.

Although the game appeared set for a grandstand finish, one never really materialised. Whites had Braithwaite dismissed after he had picked up a second yellow card. And whilst his second offence, a trip on Edwards, was certainly worthy of a caution it could reasonably be argued that his first offence was barely a foul at all. In truth, it was just that sort of day.

And it could have been worse for Athletic as Edwards spoiled an otherwise outstanding display by missing an absolute sitter from the final kick of the game.

Dover Athletic: Hyde, Vallance, Braithwaite, Readings, Stirling, Palmer (Matata 82), Hamshare (Hickman 78), Maynard, Armstrong, Renner, Carruthers (Wright 14).