Dover went into their Second Round Nationwide Variety Club Trophy match against Kingstonian at Crabble with history against them on two fronts. Firstly, Athletic have an abysmal record against Kingstonian. In the seven previous league and cup matches between the two sides, Dover have been victorious only once, with the Surrey side winning all of the other six, the most recent of which was just two weeks ago when the Ks won 3-1 at Crabble in the Conference. The second factor was that the Whites had not won a game in this competition for five years. In fact, the competition has had three name changes since the Whites were last victorious - when they beat Farnborough in the Second Round in November 1995.

Bill Williams would probably have chosen to rest one or two key players for this game, chosing to save them for more important fixtures, but whether he intended to field a full side or not, his options were limited by the unavailability of Joff Vansittart through an ankle injury, and Steve Brown and Neil Le Bihan who were suffering from flu. They joined Jake Leberl and Dave Clarke on the sidelines. That influential trio were replaced by Saturday's two impressive substitutes, Lee McRobert and James Pinnock, and midfielder Anthony Hogg. The most welcome team news though was that James Virgo was on the bench for the first time since his five hour heart operation in the summer. Kingstonian also started without key players, Akuamoah was absent and Sammy Winston was on the bench.

The first half was unspectacular, but the best of the goalscoring chances fell Dover's way. Jimmy Strouts should have done better when he ghosted in unmarked at the back post to meet Lee McRobert's cross but headed over from six yards. McRobert was the most dangerous player on the park and caused a number of problems for the visiting defenders. On 34 minutes he should have given Dover the lead when Farrelly's attempt to clear a ball over the top resulted in an "air kick" and McRobert would have poked the ball into an empty net had he not been deliberately obstructed by Farrelly and one of the Kingstonian defenders on the edge of the area. Fortunately for the visitors, the referee gave them the benefit of the doubt.

The end of the first period was played in a massive downpour that made play very difficult. On 41 minutes Jimmy Strouts was chopped down by a nasty tackle from Saunders that caught him below the knee. He had to be carried from the pitch and into the dressing room. Dover chose to play the final four minutes of the half with 10 men rather than make a change before the interval.

Suprisingly Strouts reappeared after the break, by which time the incessant rain had made the pitch almost unplayable with pools of water in many areas. The rain eased off five minutes into the second half but the conditions were very difficult for the rest of the match.

Dover dominated completely in the second period, with almost all of the play occurring in the Kingstonian half of the pitch. McRobert was the danger man but he was well supported by Tony Browne and James Pinnock. Such was Athletic's dominance, the full-backs Stuart Munday and Steve Norman spent most of the half on the attack and even centre-back Lee Shearer was able to join in on a number of occasions.

Lee McRobert came close to beating Farrelly after getting past the static Ks defence but the big keeper pushed the ball behind for a corner. Farrelly made two other excellent saves to keep the Whites out. Anthony Hogg's 18-yard effort took a deflection that looked to have beaten the keeper but he reacted instinctively to throw his hand up and divert the ball onto the underside of the bar. Soon after, he kept Darcy's very well hit shot out by tipping it over the bar. When Dover did finally manage to beat Farrelly, through Pinnock's low drive, there was a defender on the line to intervene.

The Kingstonian defenders had a torrid time in testing conditions and were unable to clear the danger effectively most of the time with their sliced clearances going straight out of play or straight to Dover players. The visitors launched only two meaningful attacks in the second half but it was from the second of these that they scored the only goal of the game. Steve Norman and Lee Shearer were unable to get the ball away and Luckett hit a sweet shot that curled inside Hyde's near post from the edge of the box on 84 minutes.

Bill Williams replaced Tony Browne with Roy Godden for the last few minutes but the Whites were unable to get back into the game.