Whites head back to the future

Dover Athletic manager Jake Leberl compares the club’s current crop to the squad he originally observed at the club as a teenager when they visit Sittingbourne in the FA Trophy.

Manager Jake Leberl believes Dover’s current crop is comparable to the squad he initially saw at the club as a youth. Last Saturday, Whites climbed to the top of the Isthmian Premier League with a 4-2 home win over Hashtag United during a great community day.

That drew a crowd of 2,732, the most at Crabble since November 2017, and included some young supporters. During a memorable day, there was live music before the match, as well as face painting.

The Whites’ next home game is an FA Trophy matchup against Sittingbourne on Saturday. Dover advanced to the first round of the competition with a 3-0 win over Cheshunt this month in front of just 436 fans, since FA rules require even season-ticket holders to pay on the day to see cup matches, despite the Trophy generating less interest than it once did.

When asked if there was any concern that the encounter with the Brickies would draw a similar attendance, Leberl, whose team hosts Cray Valley PM in the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday, replied, “Possibly. Understandable as well.

Leberl on his table-top Whites “However, hopefully, word will spread. Everyone saw us on Saturday, and I hope they enjoyed their day. “It’s amazing for the young fans to be here. Obviously, I was one of them many years ago, along with my father. I was fortunate to witness a terrific side during that era. “I’d like to think our current team is on par with them. I truly believe that. There’s a lot of closeness.

“The boys are absolutely buzzing, they love playing here and they love playing for the club.

“Long may it continue.”

“Once you start a game and you’re not quite at it, you cannot get it back.” Leberl has used the same starting lineup for the past seven matches, although he was undecided whether he would rotate his pack against Sittingbourne. He replied: “We’ll see. “It’s not a tap so you can’t turn it on and off, and I don’t want to try and be too clever.”

Dover’s weekend attendance was more than 100 greater than they had for their 3-2 loss to Folkestone in August.

“We’re really pleased,” Leberl said, praising Vikki Pawley, the club’s community, engagement, and inclusion officer, for hosting the club’s first community day of the season.

“Obviously, Vikki has been doing so much for the community. We thank Megger, the club’s sponsors, for allowing this to happen. “If we want this club to go back on the up, crowds of 2,700 is probably a little bit unrealistic every week – but we’re going to have to get bigger crowds.”

Alfie Matthews opened the scoring against Hashtag, with Harrison Pont, Luke Baptiste, and George Nikaj also netting.

While the Whites have had to be patient with forward Matthews, they are finally beginning to realise what the three-goal forward can provide.

Leberl said, “He took some time to get up to speed. “I still believe there is more to come.

He certainly has incredible natural talent, and we intend to assist him advance in his career.

“Don’t get me wrong, he works hard away from here, but I believe we can improve his fitness.

“I think we can get him understanding what we want to do a little bit more.”

Archie Hatcher, a young attacker, has left Dover to pursue regular first-team football at Deal, while teenage defender Matty Holness has extended his loan with the Charles Sports Ground club by another month.

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