Eight-goal thriller ends in defeat at Dover

Slough Town’s long-awaited return to competitive action ended in a dramatic 5-3 defeat at Dover Athletic, despite the Rebels producing a remarkable second-half comeback which saw them recover from three goals down to level the contest.

Dover dominated much of the opening half and went into the interval 3-0 ahead, but Alan Julian’s side responded superbly after the break. Johnny Goddard’s penalty and two goals from Luke Holness brought Slough level inside 11 minutes, only for Jack Bates to restore Dover’s lead before substitute Rolando Onu struck in stoppage time.

The result leaves the Rebels empty-handed from their opening fixture, but there were plenty of positives in a second-half performance which demonstrated the character Julian wants from his newly assembled squad.

For Julian, the afternoon also marked his return to competitive management after a spell away from the dugout.

“I was four months out of the game and for that 90 minutes, the emotions that you feel, I was reminded of it very, very clearly and very sharply today,” Julian said afterwards. “I missed that, to be honest.”

The Rebels had been forced to wait an extra week for their campaign to begin following the postponement of the scheduled meeting with Ebbsfleet United, while Dover had already played – and lost 2-0 at Billericay Town – the previous weekend.

That extra competitive experience appeared to tell during the opening stages.

“I anticipated 15, 20 minutes maybe at the start of the game where they've obviously played a National League South game. We haven't,” Julian explained.

“We've got some players that have never played this level before and I think that caught us cold, if I'm being honest, the first 20 minutes of the game. It felt relentless.”

The match was delayed early on by an injury to Dover defender Trent Rendall, who was eventually stretchered from the field and replaced by George Wilkinson in the ninth minute. From the resulting Slough free-kick, Johnny Goddard delivered towards the near post and Joe Morrison attempted to flick the ball on, but the header went narrowly over.

Dover soon began to take control, particularly from set pieces.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Sonny Fish hooked a corner delivery over his head, sending a looping effort beyond Josh McNamara.

Four minutes later, another corner caused problems inside the Slough penalty area. The Rebels were unable to clear and, after the ball bounced around inside the area, Decarrey Sheriff headed the ball into the net to double Dover’s advantage.

Sheriff remained a constant threat and forced McNamara into a save with his feet in the 32nd minute.

Dover continued to find opportunities from set plays, while Keenan Quansah made an important defensive intervention to prevent Fish from adding a third.

Julian accepted afterwards that the Rebels had struggled to deal with Dover’s threat from dead-ball situations.

“You give away that many set plays, I think it's going to cause anybody problems,” he said. “To be honest, we gave away a lot. And did we deal with it? Obviously, no.”

Arthur Gregory was booked for bringing down Sheriff before Bates was also shown a yellow card.

Dover appeared to have scored a third from another corner shortly before half-time, only for the effort to be ruled out for a foul.

The reprieve was temporary.

In the second minute of stoppage time, Bates delivered a low ball into the area and Sheriff clipped his finish underneath McNamara to score his second of the afternoon and send Dover into the break 3-0 ahead.

Julian responded with a double change at the interval, introducing Shay Spencer and Chris Francis – a player signed as a defensive reinforcement for this game – for Chris Regis and Brian Nelson.

The manager revealed that the late withdrawal of Tarik Gidaree on the morning of the match had contributed to his selection difficulties, with Nelson having been asked to play at right-back despite not being a natural fit for the position.

“We needed to bolster the back line a little bit because we were really short there,” Julian explained. “Obviously young Brian's played at right back for us first half today. He's not a right back.

“We had a late drop out this morning from a player that was supposed to be starting, so that threw a spanner in the works a little bit.”

Francis moved into left-back, while Arthur Gregory switched to the right, and the changes helped transform Slough’s performance.

The Rebels began the second half with far greater intensity, moving the ball with purpose and taking control of the contest.

Five minutes after the restart, Slough were awarded a penalty after Kyle Brooks was brought down inside the Dover area. Goddard stepped up and confidently sent the spot-kick down the middle to make it 3-1.

The goal sparked a remarkable turnaround.

Slough began finding space and attacking with greater confidence, with Jared Myers producing good work down the right before Holness supplied the finish in the 56th minute to reduce the deficit to one.

Six minutes later, the comeback was complete.

Brooks’ pass took a deflection before falling for Holness, who struck underneath Mitch Walker to score his second of the afternoon and make it 3-3.

The Rebels had turned a three-goal deficit into parity inside 11 minutes.

“It’s not easy being 3-0 down at half-time away from home,” Julian said. “You can hide, you can shrink. We didn't. We puffed our chests out.

“We started getting on the ball. We started playing like, I say, how we want us to play and for half an hour I thought we were outstanding.”

The manager was particularly pleased with the character shown by his new-look squad.

“I’m going to hang on to that because that made me very, very, very proud,” he added. “That's what I asked for. That's what I got.”

Julian also praised Spencer, who was introduced at half-time and helped Slough gain greater control in midfield.

“Shay's obviously a player that I've liked for a little while, to be honest,” he said. “I think he can get on the ball and he can dictate play and he can make passes. And he wants the ball. He's brave.

“So we want our team to be like that. It will go wrong at times. We'll give the ball away. But we want us to play. We want us to pass and we want us to move and I want us to be brave in doing that.”

Slough continued to threaten after drawing level, with Myers eventually replaced by George Vorster in the 70th minute and Holness making way for Godlove Oppong five minutes later.

But Dover gradually regained their composure.

With 12 minutes remaining, the hosts regained the lead. Charles-Cook’s delivery drew the Slough defence across the penalty area and left Bates unmarked at the back post, allowing the midfielder to head Dover back in front.

Slough continued to push, with Louis Walsh replacing Goddard in the 83rd minute.

The Rebels remained committed to finding another equaliser and had a dangerous free kick blocked in the closing stages. Seven minutes of added time offered further hope, but Dover delivered the decisive blow in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

A long ball caught the Slough defence out, with Onu reacting quickest before rounding McNamara and finishing into an empty net to make it 5-3.

Dover saw out the remaining moments to secure their first three points of the season in front of an attendance of 711.

For Slough, the final 20 minutes proved particularly frustrating after such an impressive response.

“You get a kick in the gut, which football can do to you,” Julian said. “And they go and score and then obviously we're chasing at the end and that's a goal that can happen at the end there.

“So, disappointed that we've lost after really showing so many ingredients to come back, but I'm going to stay positive with the ingredients and hopefully that rolls into Tuesday and we can get a positive result.”

The manager also believes the experience will provide valuable lessons for a squad containing several players playing at National League South level for the first time.

“The power of it, the physicality of it is something that you just can't talk about. You have to go out there and feel it,” he said.

“You learn from every game you play, but in that 90 minutes, there was so much to learn. The way we played, the way we did things, the way obviously we suffered and struggled and made mistakes, there was huge opportunity to learn from that game of football.”

The Rebels were also without Ruben Shakpoke for the trip to Kent, with Julian confirming that the striker was not considered fit enough to risk.

“Ruben was 50/50 for today. He was close. But he just felt he was not quite there. So we didn't want to risk him,” he said.

Attention now turns quickly to Tuesday night’s first home fixture of the season at Arbour Park.

“We'll turn our attentions to Tuesday now. We'll see the best way we can come up with to win that game.”

The Rebels left Dover empty-handed, but the character shown after the interval provides a platform for Julian to build on as his new-look squad continues to develop.

“I am ever so proud of that second-half performance. I really, really am,” he said.

“I really hope [the supporters] can be proud and come back Tuesday to support us because we're going to need it.”