Boreham Wood versus Dover Athletic – Match Preview

by John Mead

Revitalised under former Manager Chris Kinnear, third placed Dover Athletic arrive at Meadow Park tomorrow (Saturday) hoping to extend Kinnear’s dream start to his second spell in charge at Crabble.

A recent run of five defeats prompted the appointment of Kinnear who was lured from his successful tenure at Margate F.C., a Club,  like Dover Athletic that he steered into the Conference Premier during his Career there.

He has steered The Whites to victory in his first three games in charge including an impressive 3 – 2 victory over Welling United just days after we were humbled 4 – 0 by the new League leaders.    That win ended The Wings twelve match winning run, combined with victories either side against Truro City and Weston-super-Mare has lifted The Whites up to third in the table.    They are three points ahead of us but we have a game in hand, so not much to play for then!

Our recent record against Dover Athletic has been very impressive indeed, having won out last four games against them.    Earlier this Season we recorded a narrow 0 – 1 win at Crabble.    Last Season’s record included two League wins, 4 – 2 at home and 0 – 2 away, plus a 1 – 0 victory at Meadow Park in the F.A. CarlsbergTrophy.    One player who will be keen to relive some old memories (not Daryl McMahon!) is Michael Thalassitis.    During his last Loan spell with us he hit a hat trick in that 4 – 2 win, form that catapulted him in the starting line-up at Stevenage at the start of this Season.

With this game coming just three days after his team’s herculean effort against Salisbury City, the important thing for Wood Boss Ian Allinson is, “Keep on believing in what we do.    We need to go into Saturday’s game with a positive mentality.    We were forced to dig deep for the result against Salisbury City.    They are a much improved side to the one we drew with back in October.    James Russell made some very important saves that allowed us to go on and win on the night.    We were far from our best, I have seen us play better than that and lose on more than one occasion this Season.”

Boreham Wood versus Dover Athletic.    Saturday 23 February 2013, Kick Off:    3.00pm.