Dover Athletic 5 Dartford 1 match report: Free-scoring Whites end five-year wait for derby win

Dover ended their long wait for a league win against a Kent rival in style at Crabble on Saturday.

Jake Leberl’s free-scoring side took their tally to 24 goals in just Isthmian Premier games to move up to second in the table.

It was the first league win against a Kent rival for Dover since they beat Ebbsfleet in December 2019.

Dartford had only conceded three league goals before arriving at Dover but were emphatically put to the sword.

George Nikaj was back in the Dover starting line-up after missing their FA Cup exit to Sittingbourne and he nearly had an immediate impact. Driving forward in the second minute, he set up Ruben Soares-Junior before getting in the box to meet his cross, only to divert his header wide.

Luke Baptiste forced an early low save from keeper Matt Kerbey before Soares-Junior set up Nikaj again but, on the stretch, he could only poke the ball straight at the keeper.

Dover took the lead on 25 minutes but they needed a helping hand to find the breakthrough. Kerbey spilt a right-wing cross straight at the feet of the alert Soares-Junior who scored from close range.

It was 2-0 just two minutes later, Jeremiah Pinder lost the ball in midfield and Dover broke swiftly, Soares-Junior setting up George Wilkinson to sweep home.

Dartford responded when Olly Box forced a decent save from Mitch Walker.

Kerbey was nearly caught out again 10 minutes before the break when he raced out of his box but his poor touch saw the ball bounce away. The alert Matthews saw his opportunity and hit a first-time right-foot strike from inside his own half which, fortunately for Dartford, landed wide of the vacant goal.

It went from bad to worse for Dartford two minutes before the break. Matthews’ intelligence saw him go for goal