Caretaker manager Clive Walker made it six points from his three games in charge with a vital victory in Saturday's survival struggle against Chester City. At the start of the day both teams were level on points in the bottom four and this was a game both were desperate to win.

Dover's only change from the side that lost at home to Nuneaton last weekend was Chris Allen in for the injured Matt Carruthers as the Whites were forced to revert to 4-4-2.

In the absence of any regular right-sided players Lee Shearer deputised at right-back and Jimmy Strouts played on the right of midfield, with Neil Le Bihan in the centre and Allen on the left. Chester's most notable change was that their outfield players were forced to wear Dover's red and black away shirts from the 1999/2000 season after the referee deemed that their blue and white shirts were too similar to Athletic's white and black kit.

With 21 players in Dover shirts on the Crabble pitch the omens looked good for the Whites and it was Tommy Tyne who came closest to opening the scoring on nine minutes when his shot from fifteen yards beat Brown at the near post but rebounded back off the upright, dropping just short of the on-rushing Darren Davies.

Tyne was in the thick of the action for Dover. Scott's pull-back just evaded the ex-Millwall man's finish after half an hour. Before that Neil Le Bihan had skipped past four Chester defenders into the area to set up Tyne six yards from goal but he was adjudged offside.

Chester probed the Dover defence but goalkeeper Paul Hyde was in flawless form. The visitor's best effort came just before the interval when Darren Wright's thunderous drive hit the far post.

Jimmy Strouts ought to have doubled Dover's lead four minutes into the second period following an excellent move by the Whites. Jake Leberl's diagonal long pass picked out Keith Scott perfectly. The Dover captain controlled the ball well, turned inside and rolled the ball into the path of Strouts. Strouts exchanged passes with Tommy Tyne and found himself with the ball at his feet on the edge of the area with only the keeper to beat. He snatched at his shot and launched the ball over the River End.

The visitors had the ball in the net after 60 minutes from Williams' close range finish but the linesman's flag was raised. Dover responded by going close through Chris Allen who's cross-shot from Le Bihan's lay-off evaded Keith Scott who arrived in the six-yard box half a second too late.

Tyne gave the Whites the lead on 63 minutes with a little help from Chester goalkeeper Brown. As the keeper came out to challenge Tyne for Chris Allen's through-ball, he missed the ball allowing Tyne to tap in from ten yards to give the Whites the lead, and ultimately three vital points.

Chester tried in vain to equalise but despite using their width well, Jake Leberl and Colin Vowden were in fine form at the back and didn't look likely to surrender the advantage. Strouts coud have put the game beyond doubt before the final whistle but fired just over from 12 yards with a snap-shot from Scott's knock-down.

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