Dover Athletic 1 Bath City 0 match report: Whites ended five-match losing run as defender Jalen Jones scores a first-half goal in National League South success at Crabble

An early goal helped Dover to a hard-fought National League South home success over Bath that ended their five-match losing streak on Saturday.

Defender Jalen Jones' effort ensured Whites did the double against the Romans as it ended 1-0 despite a nervy finish at Crabble.

Jake Leberl’s Whites had drawn first blood after a cagey opening in the eighth minute.

Striker Decarrey Sheriff delivered the corner and away keeper Harvey Wiles-Richards felt he was fouled - albeit he got little support with his appeals from his team-mates in his appeals - and Guyana international Jones nodded home.

Romans defender Jack Batten came close to heading into Wiles-Richards’ own net, a cross by right-back Roman Charles-Cook flying just wide after a speedy counter-attack with 21 minutes played.

Six minutes later, an away corner was only half-cleared, only for midfielder Matt Bowman to drag wide of Mitch Walker’s left-hand post.

George Nikaj cut inside for the hosts and dragged inches wide of Wiles-Richards’ right-hand post on 40 minutes before, two minutes later, the Bath keeper was well behind a snapshot by Luke Baptiste.

Striker Bradley Ash should have got the visitors level in first-half injury time but failed to hit the target after centre-back Harry Beadle had made a mess of an attempted clearance.

Six minutes after the interval, the ever-willing Sheriff curled wide of the upright when he probably could have been better off finding a home team-mate in the middle.

Sheriff again did well to create a chance for forward George Nikaj but the Albanian failed to double their advantage with a golden opportunity, which he dragged wide, shortly before the hour.

Midway through the half, Dover were given a reprieve as a near-post flick by skipper