This long awaited clash of the titans was somewhat of an anti-climax eventually as neither side managed to break the deadlock in front of the season’s largest crowd of 1,238. The only real opportunity of the lacklustre encounter came just minutes from full-time as Leroy Huggins shot straight at Paul Hyde in a one-on-one position. ‘The Blues’ will undoubtedly be the happier of the two sides, gaining a valuable away point, and thus remaining top of the table. Once again, Tony Dolby stuck with the sixteen players that absolutely smashed Newport IOW on Saturday. This meant Jon Heath remained in the competitive left-back position and young prospect Adam O’Neill regained his place on the substitutes bench.

Dover began the first half the better of the two sides, with half chances falling to Dave Clifford and Craig Wilkins but most notably, Anthony Hogg. The former Angel drilled his low free-kick inches wide of Jerome John’s goal, via a deflection from Danny Lye. The hosts piled on the pressure on the half an hour mark with four corners and four set-pieces within the space of a matter of minutes. Tonbridge were yet to really find their feet but still managed to carve out a couple of efforts themselves through Jon Heath and Ray Powell. Neither tested veteran keeper Paul Hyde as the score remained at 0-0 at half-time.

The second period saw much of the same, a lot of enthralling end to end action but with no final ball. Player-manager Dolby hit his long-ranger wide whilst Huggins volleyed over from an acute angle. 82 minutes were up on the board before the only glorious opportunity of the match arisen. Again, Huggins was in the thick of the action, being put through by Nick Barnes, but the striker side-footed his effort straight at goalkeeper Hyde when he really perhaps should have given the Angels all three points. The rebound popped up but Huggins’ header was week and Tony Browne managed to scramble across to clear just a couple of yards from the line. Great interplay between John Beales and Ray Powell then set up Luke Piscina, who’s effort took a wild deflection before luckily ending up in Hyde’s grateful arms. This turned out to be the last chance of the game as the referee blew the final whistle to put an end to a rather dull affair. Neither set of supporters will remember this game as a classic, both defences coming out on top during every attacking manoeuvre. The visitors man of the match was awarded to Lew Watts who once again showed his experience and organisational skills in the heart of the brave Angels backline.

Next up for Tonbridge is a trip to Leatherhead this Saturday where they will no doubt be looking to get back to winning ways.

Report by: Gary Cornwell