Dover.v.Torquay Tue 2nd

[Dave]

Dover Athletic were formed in 1983 after the towns previous club had gone into liquidation, the club failed to gain promotion to the football conference in 1990 after winning the Southern Premier division, due to their ground not meeting the standards for the conference at that time. Dover would gain promotion to the newly formed conference South in 2010 after first winning the Isthmian div 1 South in 2008 and the Isthmian premier league the following season.

Dover twice beaten in the conference South play-offs, by Woking and Salisbury, finally gained promotion back to the conference premier division beating Ebbsfleet 1.0 in the 2013-14 conference South play-off final. After a very difficult early start this season 'The Whites' manager Chris Kinnear moved to strengthen his squad by making the triple signing of Andy Rafferty, Rob Gerrard and Matt Saunders, also has picked up the loan signings of Tom Bonner from Cambridge and James Poole from Bury, these signings have now given Dover new belief, they are currently the form horse in the entire league, sat top of the current form table with four wins and two draws from their last six games, and have a very good current home record, unbeaten at home in their last six games, five of those games won by the whites.

Last time out saw Dover pick up a very impressive 1.2 away win at Gateshead.

30 Rafferty
29 Essam
26 Bonner
06 Orlu Booked
15 Francis
16 Sterling
04 Kinnear
28 Taiwo Booked
17 Deverdics (Poole - 66' )
10 Murphy
14 Payne (Davies - 74' )

Info for those going to the game

From outside of Kent, find your way to the M25, then take the M2/A2 (following the signs to Canterbury, then from Canterbury follow signs to Dover) as far as the Whitfield roundabout (there is a McDonald's Drive-Thru on the left).

Take the fourth exit at this roundabout, down Whitfield Hill. At the bottom of the hill turn left at the roundabout and follow this road until the first set of traffic lights. At the lights turn right (180 degrees down the hill) and follow the road under the railway bridge, the ground is a little further up the road on the left.

There is no parking for supporters within the ground, although parking is available in the rugby ground, which is just inside the main entrance - stewards will direct you.

If you have to take the M20/A20 leave the A20 in Folkestone (the exit immediately after the tunnel through the hill) and travel through the Alkham Valley (turn left at the roundabout at the end of the slip-road and then left again, following the signs for Alkham) which will eventually take you near Kearsney train station (turn right into Lower Road just before the railway bridge, before you get to the station).

From a Torquay point of view, we are getting to the all important Christmas games and a return to form and consistency over this period is vital if we want to have a push at getting back into the League at the first attempt , didn't go to Saturdays game, but by all accounts it was a promising performance, and the biggest positive for me wasn't just a win against a very strong Eastleigh side but our first clean sheet since Septembers win against Dover, maybe a settled defence will help us gain more clean sheets going forward. Last time out we lined up like this, would you change it and why ?

Rice
Berry
Downes
Pearce
Ives
Chapell
Young
Richards
Ajala
Bowman
Briscoe

Make no mistake about it, with Dover's current form this game is going to be as tough as they come, also not sure on any commentary for this game as the signal for Torbay and South Devon appears to have been turned off for three weeks in a cost cutting exercise by Radio Devon, maybe Teeboo can help us on this one.

[Neal]

Hoping for a good turn out, and I think there will be

[A Realist]

I think the radio coverage will be on FM and possibly DAB as there are no other local games that night.

[WestKentGull]

There is no parking for supporters within the ground, although parking is available in the rugby ground, which is just inside the main entrance - stewards will direct you.

....and when you've parked be prepared for a long hike up the side hill towards the away end (far side of the ground). Last time I went there (with Tonbridge Angels) I thought I'd need a bloody oxygen tent laid on for me at the top (mind you, I am an old f**ker so not surprised really).

Looking forward to this one. Crabble (not 'The Crabble' as even the local radio station sometimes calls it) is one of the better grounds in the Conference in relation to atmosphere. The away terrace is all-covered. The pitch itself, however, slopes from side to side... must be good for drainage, but makes you feel as though you're falling over if you stand still.

Hopefully a good turn out from the Yellow Army for this one. Not the best night to be travelling across from Devon (the M2 can be a right sod at the best of times). For those of you travelling down across the Dartford Crossing... don't forget that the new Dart Charge thingy is in operation now (£2.50 each way which and you can no longer pay by cash at the Tolls) - it should help speed up the traffic over the crossing.

COYY!

[AlexGulls]

Making the trek up for this one. Apparently there could be no segregation tomorrow night so we can go where we like according to a Dover fan on Facebook. Looking forward to it.

[lucy6lucy]

Making the trek up for this one. Apparently there could be no segregation tomorrow night so we can go where we like according to a Dover fan on Facebook. Looking forward to it.

Last time I remember that in a Torquay match was barrow ,

[nickbrod]

This is the true spirit of non-league football. Happened at Dartford earlier in the season.

[AlexGulls]

Had a few occasions where it hasn't been segregated Lewes.Eastbourme and Dartford. Can be pretty enjoyable mixing it with opposition fans.

[WestKentGull]

Don't think they're expecting many of us to turn up tonight....

From the Dover forum: ....

''Re: Prediction League 2014/2015 v Torquay home
Postby borradollar77 » Sat Nov 29, 2014 8:58 pm

1-0 Dover but very very close 30 away fans amongst a crowd of 835.''

[kevgull]

Coach trip up and back in 1 day? Could have a heavy legged team tonight if that's the case.

2-1 Dover

[YellowMurphy]

Coach trip up and back in 1 day? Could have a heavy legged team tonight if that's the case.

2-1 Dover

Ditto

Would take a draw.

Will the radio commentary be available online?

[A Realist]

Ditto

Would take a draw.

Will the radio commentary be available online?

It should be. I reckon it will be on FM and possibly DAB as well.

[brucie]

Odds as follows for tonight:

19:45


Dover (13)
WWDWW

Torquay (7)
WLDDW

2.33
2.94
46% +

2.40
3.50
79% +

2.20
2.56
30% +

Coumns are Home/Draw/Away in that order - the first line is the fair odds - second column is betfair odds with a positive or negative percentage value of the odds.

Eg home win fair odds 2.33 bf odds 2.94 so a 46% positive value in the price. In fact there is value in each of the match odds prices.

The best value is in the draw with a price of 3.5 which could possibly be the best call.

[Jeff]

Just rocked up at the McDonald's near the ground - foul night for football. It's got "one of those nights" written all over it!

[Gullscorer]

Just rocked up at the McDonald's near the ground - foul night for football. It's got "one of those nights" written all over it!

It's not supposed to be raining in Dover until after 10pm, though the (BBC) forecast is for a windy chilly night throughout..