Several changes to the side that finished the game against Forest Green on New Year's Bank Holiday but no real surprises. Warren Patmore got his No. 9 shirt back as he displaced Jason Eaton, whilst Terry Skiverton forced Dean Chandler onto the bench. This allowed Chris Sparks to resume his left-of-centre role. Ben Smith returned, but on the benches, whilst Anthony Tonkin and James Bent drifted out of the main sixteen.

A very quiet start to the game as both sides fought it out in midfield, with Yeovil's Adrian Foster and Dover's Simon Wormull being the only two real cutting edges in the game. Terry Skiverton was booked when he bundled over Lee Shearer after just five minutes but otherwise neither keeper saw much of the ball, despite one corner to Dover and three for Yeovil.

Hence when the goal arrived, it had an element of surprise to it. A right wing cross was swung in a hopeful fashion, and an even more hopeful left boot of Jake LEBERL connected with the ball. His shot spun off a Yeovil defender, thus confusing Tony Pennock as it span past his right hand side for a 22nd minute lead.

The goal served to inspire Dover and they went on to have their best spell of the match. Simon Wormull put in a sharp right wing cross which surely would have landed in the back of the net had Chris Sparks not removed the ball from Steve Brown's boot. Yeovil were being caught defending far too deep and were allowing Dover to heavily pressurise them into conceding a possible second.

What stopped that happening, for the moment at least, was an unfortunate incident that broke up Dover's lengthy possession. Murray Fishlock sprinted down the wing at top speed, then pulled up sharply and landed with a thud on the deck lying still flat on his back. A stretcher and a doctor were summoned, and eventually Fishlock left the field on a stretcher, although later we were to see him hobbling about after the game.

Murray's injury put Glen Poole into action and he got off to a useful start as he pumped in a good cross from the wings that saw Paul Hyde tip Warren Patmore's header over the bar. Yeovil had got themselves back into the match and finished the half well on top. Poole landed Yeovil another excellent chance right on half time when his cross was nodded down by Warren Patmore, Adrian Foster skewed the ball across, and Paul Tisdale's shot went narrowly wide. It was to turn out to be a vital miss.

The second half started badly for Yeovil with another right wing cross from the excellent Wormull being met by a free header. Fortunately, Kevan Brown was well placed to clear off the line. Yeovil were having difficulty in bringing the ball forward with balls from Pitman and Piper being played too far forward for the Yeovil front line to make any impression. Even when they did, Warren Patmore was being dragged wide to stand a chance of collecting the ball.

But Yeovil were still very much in the game. A Poole free kick produced a typical Patmore nod down, but Paul Tisdale's shot was blocked by Steve Norman. A minute later Dover reminded everyone of their attacking presence when Neil Le Bihan's diving header went wide of Pennocks left hand post.

Jamie Pitman produced a dangerous cross from a free kick that everyone missed but the succession of accidental dummies did not fool keeper Paul Hyde. But on 71 minutes Dover were two goals up. A looping shot hit the crossbar, was semi-punched out by Pennock and Simon WORMULL got the reward for his superb game by scoring from the rebound.

Ben Smith replaced Chris Sparks but the heart had gone out of Yeovil's side and Dover were rampant. Dave Clarke was booked for a foul on Glen Poole, but this was a minor set back for the Kent side. Tony Pounder came on as Yeovil attempted to get back into the game, but he had barely enough time to work out what side of the park he was playing when Simon BROWN produced a shot from a narrow angle. Once again the shot was deflected, but with nine minutes left the game was over.

Once again, I've got to say that I'm more than disappointed. We were defeated too easily. That isn't good enough is it ? If you lose too many games you are not going to win the league.

The first half was fairly good. We might have gone in ahead, but they went in ahead, but in the second half after about 10 minutes we just caved in. Dover had higher energies; they out-lasted us both in terms of energy and in terms of endeavour. They are all important games, and we've caved in on other games. We are prone to caving in, and teams that win leagues don't cave in. To win the league you need heart and commitment, and you need to be a winner. You've got to have that mental toughness.

A lot of that doesn't come from the training field. A lot of that comes from within us, and the experiences we've had and how we approach things. But I'm not putting all the blame on the players. I have to take my fair share of the responsibilities because I'm in charge and I pick the team.

I didn't think that we would lose 3-0. After 20 minutes, I was sitting there thinking that we had started there well, but we ended up losing 3-0. The first goal was a deflection, and the second one you could maybe say was a weakish punch; you can analyse all the goals, but at the end of the day we've been beaten 3-0. We could have stuck some in, but we didn't, and sometimes you think you've done enough, but in football sometimes it kicks you in the teeth.

We've got to look at our nine defeats. It's no good singling out a game, you've got to look at our nine defeats in one season. That doesn't just happen. One defeat might just happen, two defeats might just happen ... but nine doesn't just happen. It's too coincidental.

Murray has hurt his back again, but it is too early to say. You can't judge a back injury just like that. It was very disappointing, because we had only just got him back, and I felt that in his last game against Forest Green, he played quite well, and I was disappointed to lose him after just 30 minutes. Matt Hayfield should be another two or three weeks. It's unlikely that he will play on Saturday.

Tony Pennock 40%
Adrian Foster 27%
Jamie Pitman 14%
Kevan Brown 6%

C0MMENTS

MATCH RATING - 5
Performance 4.3
Entertainment 5.7