ROONEY HEAPS DOVER MISERY
IT was the end of an era at Crabble on Friday as Chris Kinnear was shown the door after 918 games over two separate spells in charge.
And according to Jim Parmenter, with his team cut adrift from the safety of 20th spot on the National League ladder, the decision to dismiss club legend Kinnear was not taken lightly.
“It was probably the hardest choice I have had to make since I’ve been involved in football as myself and Chris have had a lot of success together,” revealed the Dover chairman.
“Inevitably in our current position tough decisions needed to be made.
“There will be some major changes around the club’s operational structures and our training, but we will reveal more details when we have decided upon our new manager and we hope to announce who that will be shortly after the weekend.”
And whoever that new boss will be clearly has a big task on his hands after an Adam Rooney-inspired Salford condemned Athletic to a tenth loss in 15 games.
The striker bagged his first City treble to move clear at the top of the National League goalscoring charts as Salford made it seven consecutive league wins, much to the delight of September’s manager of the month Graham Alexander.
“The form of the team has been superb for two months now and we came down here and controlled the game from start to finish. We created numerous chances and apart from a short spell after half-time where there were things I felt we could have done better, I am pleased with the overall performance.”
The hosts had started brightly with both Mitch Brundle and George Smith going close early on, while at the other end Tom Walker crashed an effort narrowly wide.
But the Salford juggernaut was not to be stopped with Rooney grabbing a quickfire double. Firstly prodding home Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick’s pass and then heading in Danny Whitehead’s pinpoint cross.
Ejiro Okosieme nearly halved the arrears, heading Brundle’s corner into the side netting and Mitch Walker then denied Rory Gaffney with his chest after the striker cut inside and fired on target.
Bedsente Gomis pulled one back, sliding in to convert sub Loui Fazakerley’s cross, but normal service was resumed five minutes later thanks to Salford’s go-to man for goals.
Rooney showed his master poaching skills to deflect in Carl Piergianni’s strike, though the defender was not to be denied a goal, heading in LloydMcGoldrick’s corner to complete the scoring. STAR MAN: Adam Rooney (Salford) ATT: 1,127 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Christopher Pollard 8/10