HESS SHOWS LOYALTY AS DOVER ARE RELEGATED

ANDY Hessenthaler is looking forward to getting back to enjoying football again after agreeing to stay at Dover Athletic and lead their challenge in National League South next season.

Athletic’s eight-year stay in the National League was ended with 11 games to spare by yesterday’s 2-0 home defeat to Yeovil.

As they have so often, Whites battled throughout but were ultimately lacking the quality the Glovers showed in their goals either side of the break from Ben Barclay and Dale Gorman.

Whites boss Hessenthaler revealed after the match he would stay at Crabble after a turbulent season which has seen them win just once and currently sat on minus four points following their 12-point deduction for failing to see out the Covid-hit campaign of last year.

Hessenthaler claimed: “It’s a sad day, as it always is when a side goes out of a division, but it would be a lot sadder if there wasn’t going to be a football club here to start next season.

“There will be a club here next season which will be able to compete in National League South. It’s a league we’ll be able to compete in.

“We might be able to start enjoying football again. We’ll have a chance, which we haven’t had from day one in this league.

“It’s sad but it would be even sadder if we’d gone out of business. Think about Bury fans. They have got no club. The reality is that could have been us, but we go down with no debt and a challenge for next season.”

In a game high on endeavour but low on quality the deadlock was broken on 18 minutes when Jordan Barnett’s free-kick was flicked on by Adi Yussuf to Ben Barclay who guided an expert half-volley into the top corner giving Adam Parkes no chance.

The clincher arrived ten minutes after the break when Tom Knowles broke from midfield and was adjudged to have been fouled by Jake Goodman on the edge of the box.

Gorman stepped-up to fire a curling right-footed free-kick around the wall from a full 25 yards which beat Parkes into the top-corner. It was the first time the Glovers had scored more than once in a game since November.

The lively Michael Gyasi swung a free-kick past the post at the other end on-loan West Brom keeper Ted Cann had his blushes spared after missing the ball allowing Gyasi to roll the ball into the empty net, only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside.

A block from Arjanit Krasniqi thwarted Knowles from close range and Parkes dived to his left to deny Barnett before sub Olofela Olomola dragged a shot past the upright in stoppage time as Darren Sarll’s Yeovil ended a run of one win in 16 in all competitions to go 13th in the table.