Zeros and heroes: the best non-league football stories you may have missed
After 42 games, Dover Athletic sit at the foot of the National League with zero points. They have scored 34 goals but conceded 97 on their way to achieving literally nothing. There will, however, be an asterisk next to their name when the campaign ends in two matches’ time. The Whites were given a 12-point deduction for failing to fulfil fixtures last season, putting an almost entirely new squad on the back foot before a ball was kicked. The deficit was made up thanks to two victories and six draws, leaving them where every other team began. The part-timers’ first league win came in January against Eastleigh – a result celebrated like “we had won the Champions League”, one player told the Guardian – to avoid the ignominy of going a calendar year without a victory. They specialise in glorious failure. For example, Dover went 5-2 up at Hollywood’s Wrexham, only to lose 6-5 thanks to a 98th-minute winner. A visit to Bromley is their next chance of moving off nought before the crunch final-day fixture at Weymouth, who have also been relegated, to ensure the season wasn’t all for nothing.
