WHITES LEFT FRUSTRATED BY PLUCKY MOORS MEN

DOVER were unable to put daylight between themselves and sixthplaced Aldershot in the race for the play-offs after being denied a by a stubborn Solihull in a drab encounter at Crabble.

Moors were well worth a point and their backline, superbly marshalled by skipper Liam Daly, restricted the home side to few chances and left their manager Liam McDonald delighted with a point.

“By no means should we have won the game, but a draw is a fair result,” he said.

“When we set out at 8am, our aim for was to come back on the coach with something. Dover are a good team, so for us to come and keep a clean sheet is really pleasing.”

Omari Sterling-James speculative effort struck the corner flag in what was the only highlight of a dreadful first half hour.

Joel Kettle then nodded Sterling-James’ corner narrowly wide shortly after, but Dover grew into the game and created some chances as half-time loomed. Joe Healy fired over after his initial effort rebounded back to him off Shepherd Murombedzi and Ricky Miller’s long ranger was tipped over by Nathan Baxter.

Ricky Modeste then forced the onloan Chelsea stopper to scramble backwards to stop his cross dropping straight in. The keeper then blocked Aswad Thomas’ close range shot with his legs following Deverdics’ cross to the back post.

Jamie Grimes’ pass after the break set Miller free, but the National League’s top scorer was unable to take the ball in his stride, allowing Daly to win the ball back. The frustrated hot shot was also booked late on for dissent, resulting in a two-game ban. Both sides almost found a winner in injury time. Ross Lafayatte’s header was palmed over by Baxter and Steve Arnold tipped aside Nortei Nortey’s fierce angled drive. Dover boss Chris Kinnear was disappointed his team failed to score at Crabble for the first time this season. “We would like to have got a goal, but it was not meant to be today and Solihull made it tough for us,” he said. “They tried to hit us on the break and you can see why a lot of their results are 1-0 either way. “We might have nicked it in the end when we put them under pressure. The clean sheet was the only positive, but we are still in the top five and second highest scorers in the league. There is a long way to go yet.”