Matt Carruthers takes on two Hereford defenders.

Dover's FA Cup nightmare extended to a nineteenth year at Crabble on Saturday, as they once again failed to qualify for the First Round proper. However, this was not one of the great FA Cup disasters of the recent past, it was a narrow defeat against a higher placed team but the missed opportunity of a £20,000 windfall and a money-spinning First Round tie is a big blow.

With Tommy Tyne suspended and Chris Dorrian and Gareth Risbridger unavailable because of their loan status, Gary Bellamy's task of becoming the first Dover Athletic manager to win in the Fourth Qualifying Round was made that much harder. Things went from bad to worse as the Whites lost three players to injury in the course of the match.

The first player to limp off was defender Darren Carr, who was making his home debut. The ex-Brighton star pulled up injured in the 33rd minute and Hereford capitalised with Gavin Williams exploiting the space to put the visitors ahead. Carr was immediately replaced by Lee Shearer, who was named in the squad despite having requested to be omitted to avoid becoming cup-tied prior to his imminent transfer, but Dover's FA Cup curse had already struck.

Was this the last time we would see Lee Shearer in a Dover shirt?

Dover looked for an equaliser but, with Keith Scott as their only out-and-out striker, chances were few. The best fell to Jimmy Strouts who will have been extremely disappointed to have blasted high and wide when well placed with just the goalkeeper to beat.

There were a couple more chances in the second period but Athletic's efforts to restore parity were hindered by the loss of first Chris Allen and then Jimmy Strouts, both to injury. They were replaced by John Elliott and Jamie Day respectively.

Jake Leberl challenges as Dover desperately try to equalise late on.

The closest Dover came to equalising was when Scott lifted a shot onto the bar from an acute angle following a neat exchange with Neil Le Bihan.

In footballing terms the final result was not entirely unexpected and is not the end of the world, the FA Cup is a competition that non-league clubs can't possibly win and Conference survival is always the priority, but in financial terms the cost of defeat is massive.

Neil Le Bihan was one of the few Dover players to have come out of the game with any credit.

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