MAY DAY TO REMEMBER FOR SHOTS’ DEBUT BOY
AUTUMN arrived with a vengeance in rain-swept Hampshire, but the Shots were left toasting the darling buds of May after a comprehensive victory.
Two goals from 19-yearold debutant Adam May, signed on loan from Gary Waddock’s former club Portsmouth earlier in the week, left struggling Dover rooted to the foot of the table and facing their own winter of discontent.
A dynamic presence in midfield, May typified the Shots’ hunger by twice being in the right place at exactly the right time to lift his new side up to a rather more comfortable 17th place.
“He’s a good player, he’s played in League One for a massive club. I’ve worked with him on the training ground (at Portsmouth) and we’re delighted to have him,” enthused Waddock, who made seven changes to his team following last week’s anaemic defeat at AFC Fylde. “We started on the front foot and controlled the game really well. Everybody, to a man, should be pleased with what they’ve done today.”
May hit the crossbar in the second minute but it was Dover who held sway in the opening stages, with a succession of corners and throw-ins, only to fall behind on 18 minutes. The Whites’ defence could only half-clear Dominic Bernard’s low pull-back, straight into the path of the onrushing May, who lashed the ball in from eight yards.
Jake Cole blocked Jamie Allen’s acutely-angled shot, and then claimed Tobi Sho-Silva’s drive at his left post, but Athletic’s sporadic attacks were too often lacking in cohesion and guile. Either side of the break, Allen and George Smith sliced shots wildly off target, and Chris Kinnear’s substitutes early in the second-half only seemed to weaken his side further. The impressive Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong used his pace to take the long way round Josh Passley to reach the byline, and when his driven cross was deflected towards the penalty spot, May’s run was perfectly timed to sidefoot the ball into the net. “Both goals came from the same position, and that’s not right,” observed Kinnear. “But we can’t just drop our heads, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and just get on with it. We’ve been struggling (up front) most of the season and when you’re not winning games of course you’ll struggle with confidence.” Weak finishes from Nortei Nortey and ShoSilva were archetypal cases in point and, even though Dan Holman should have been awarded a late penalty after being tripped by Mitch Walker at the end of a flowing counter-attack, the Shots won at a canter.