Dover produced a stunning second half display as they stormed to second place in the Dr. Martens League Premier Division with their sceond win in a month against highly fancied Crawley Town.

Dover's injury-ravaged side was further depleted by the loss on Saturday of leading scorer Nicky Dent, and they travelled to Crawley's Broadfield Stadium without four key players and with Paul Sykes, injured in the reverse fixture last month, fit enough only for a place on the bench. As a result Clive Walker was forced to field a side that contained no recognised strikers, with winger Simon Glover leading the line, supported by midfielder Lee Spiller playing in a more advanced role than normal. Kenny Dyer took Dent's place in the starting line-up.

Given the lack of fire power in the Dover side, it appeared that goals would not be forthcoming and that proved to be the case in a fairly even first half in which Dover's most notable attack was in the 32nd minute when Glover was shoved to the ground after bursting into the area, but the referee decided against awarding a penalty. The home side, despite some occasional neat passing, failed to trouble the Dover defence other than one good long range effort that forced Paul Hyde into a fine save to tip the ball over the bar.

Whatever Clive Walker said at half-time had the desired effect as Athletic attacked the second half with renewed vigour and took control of the game. The workrate of the Dover players was phenomenal and Crawley were effectively seen off by two goals in the first eleven minutes after the restart as Dover's purposeful play brought two goals from three corners. Lee Spiller's expert delivery first picked out Nick Hunphries in the 51st minute and he powered home a back post header to give Athletic the lead with his first ever goal for the club. Five minutes later Spiller provided another perfect corner, this time picking out captain Andy Arnott who somehow squeezed his header inside the back post from a seemingly impossible angle for his first ever Dover goal.

Two goals to the good and Dover looked comfortable for the three points. Crawley threatened occasionally but the Dover defence was solid and Paul Hyde's handling was excellent. Spiller came close to adding a third, clearing the bar by a foot with an ambitious shot from a 35-yard free-kick, before Dover struck again nine minutes from time to send the home fans heading for the exits.

Once again it was a set-piece that was Crawley's undoing, this time delivered perfectly by Steve Norman for Arnott to bundle the ball over the line for his second of the night, giving Dover their biggest competetive away win since they won 4-0 at Morecambe in February 1999 (John Budden, Steve Brown and Mark Hynes (2) were the scorers on that occasion).

Athletic are now second in the table, two points behind unbeaten leaders Worcester City. This Saturday Dover's unbeaten away record is tested again with another top of the table clash, at third placed Grantham.

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