KELVIN’S KO DENIES HESS
Dover boss Hessenthaler robbed of first win by Langmead’s injury-time equaliser
KELVIN Langmead’s stoppage time header denied Andy Hessenthaler a winning start to life as Dover manager as Harrogate kept pace with the leading pack with a hard-earned point at home.
Hessenthaler admitted he was “gutted” after seeing Inih Effiong’s second-half brace turn the tables on Aaron Williams’ opener, only for Langmead to head home in the fifth minute of time added on.
“I’m gutted for the lads at the end because they put so much hard work into the game, I couldn’t ask for anything more from them,” said Hessenthaler, who rejoined for a second stint in charge this week from Eastleigh.
“I thought we were outstanding today, I thought second half we were the better team and first half there wasn’t a lot in it.”
Harrogate had looked comfortable having gone ahead through Williams’ close range finish but manager Simon Weaver was disappointed by his side’s showing after the restart.
“We were below par in the second half, there were a few uncharacteristic mistakes and we went into our shells a little bit,” he added.
“We can’t get into the mindset of thinking that we can just keep churning out wins even when we put on average performances, which at times we did today.”
Dover didn’t start like a team with just one win all season, rather a team desperate to impress their new manager, as an early opportunity fell to Kevin Lokko, though the centre-back volleyed over the bar from a corner.
After taking a while to get into gear, Harrogate eventually began spraying the ball around and creating opportuDover
nities, the first coming when Liam Kitching headed Joe Leesley’s corner towards goal, but Mitch Walker did just enough to prevent the opening goal.
The home pressure eventually paid off on 26 minutes as Callum Howe’s trademark run to the back post was found by Leesley allowing the centre back to head across goal into the path of Williams for a back-post tap in.
Hessenthaler’s half-time team talk had an instant affect on his new side as, just 60 seconds in, Anthony Jeffrey attacked down the left and found Effiong who turned sharply before firing low into the net.
Unlike the first half, the second 45 was played at a frantic pace with the Whites close to crafting an opportunity on the counter attack just seconds after Langmead’s header had been cleared off the line.
The visitors rattled the woodwork too as Effiong’s dink to the back post was volleyed into the ground and up onto the crossbar by Jamie Allen.
Their frustratations would only last a minute, however – Effiong cutting inside from the left and finding the near post under close attention from Howe and Langmead.
Town immediately set about finding an equaliser, but were denied by Walker who first kept out Josh Falkingham’s low long range drive, then showed excellent reactions to tip Langmead’s header over the bar.
With the fourth official signalling six additional minutes, Langmead, who had been a threat in the air all afternoon, threw himself at Leesley’s delivery and guided his header past Walker.
A thoroughly entertaining second half was somewhat soured in the closing seconds when Dover’s Jeffrey was shown a red card by referee Andrew Miller for an altercation with Thomson prompting his own team-mates to struggle to hold him back.
STAR MAN: Inih Effiong (Dover) ATT: 1,865 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Andrew Miller 7/10