Joff Vansittart, who has scored in each of Dover's FA Trophy matches this season.

Dover produced a defensive performance of Rourke's Drift proportions to hold off a determined Doncaster Rovers in a very entertaining and hard fought battle at Crabble to progress to the last 16 of the FA Trophy.

Both sides had won four consecutive games going into the match and Rovers were the only Conference side to have won at Crabble this season, so a close game was anticipated by all.

Bill Williams made eight changes from the depleted side he fielded in Tuesday's Kent Senior Cup game. Paul Hyde reclaimed the No. 1 shirt and captain's armband, Lee Shearer returned to centre of defence alongside Simon Beard, Dave Clarke returned to midfield having completed his suspension, in place of Jake Leberl who was starting his own suspension. Clarke was partnered by Stuart Munday with Simon Wormull on the right and Steve Norman, in the continued absence of Neil Le Bihan, taking the place of the cup-tied Dave Morrison on the left. In attack Vansittart and Brown were reunited, with Hynes and Carruthers returning to the bench. There was no place, not even on the bench, for midfielder Anthony Hogg who had netted twice in midweek. Doncaster Rovers welcomed back ex-Premiership striker Mike Newell who had missed each of their four previous matches.

The first half was an even contest with lots of pressure from both sides without any clear goal-scoring opportunities for either team. Doncaster won a large number of corners that were all comfortably dealt with by Hyde and his defence. The only action for either keeper was when Hyde had to react quickly to deflect a powerful shot over the bar. Simon Wormull looked to be Athletic's most dangerous player on the break and he caused problems for Doncaster's back line with some excellent long passes. A feature of the game was the lenient nature of the referee. He allowed the game to flow but also allowed too many reckless challenges to go unpunished, there were lots of high boots flying around as both teams fought hard for possession.

The most significant incident of the first half occured just before the interval. Steve Brown was caught as he tried to skip through the tough-tackling Doncaster midfield. His legs were tangled with those of a Doncaster player on the ground and he fell very awkwardly. Play continued while Brown was writhing in agony in the centre circle until the ball was eventually put out for a throw to allow the physio on. Frank Brooks rushed onto the pitch and administered lengthy treatment but Brown was in bad shape and was eventually carried off the pitch by Brooks and the helpful Doncaster physio. Brown was unable to walk to the changing rooms at half-time and had to be carried by Frank Brooks and Scott Daniels. He did not reappear after the break and his place was taken by Matt Carruthers, who had made a remarkable recovery after having left the pitch on a stretcher on Tuesday night.

The second period saw long spells of sustained Rovers pressure with the Whites threatening with quick counter-attacks. It was from one such counter-attack that Dover took the lead. Stuart Munday played a diagonal ball to Matt Carruthers who advanced into the area from the Dover right. As Warrington came out, Carruthers knocked the ball across him and into the path of Joff Vansittart, who arrived before any of the Rovers defenders to slide it into the back of the net. 1-0.

Doncaster redoubled their attacking efforts and should have equalised. A misunderstanding between left-back James Virgo and goalkeeper Paul Hyde allowed Ian Duerden through one-on-one with Hyde. Duerden got to the bye-line and crossed across the face of goal, past Hyde at his near post, into the path of ex-Blackburn "superstar" Mike Newell who tapped it into the net unchallenged from a distance of 18 inches. Or that's what he should have done, but instead Newell produced what can only be described as the worst miss in the entire history of all football ever. With the ball on the ground, less than two feet from the goal, in a central position, Newell made an attempt at finishing so pathetic that it made even Ronny Rosenthal's infamous blunder look like a good effort. Somehow Newell managed to get enough elevation on the ball to hit the bar, and the rebound was gratefully snatched by a relieved Paul Hyde, who celebrated his good fortune by verbally abusing James Virgo.

Much of the second half was spent in Dover's half of the pitch but Doncaster's attempts on goal were restricted by some excellent defending. The excellent team attitude was reflected in the fact that two of the best defensive performances were by winger Simon Wormull and striker Joff Vansittart. The central defensive pairing of Lee Shearer and Simon Beard showed again why Dover's two longest serving players, Scott Daniels and Stuart Munday, are unable to regain their preferred defensive roles.

There were three bookings for Dover players in the second half. Vansittart was booked for inflicting injury with a sliding challenge for a ball that had already gone out of play, Clarke saw yellow for an innocuous trip on the edge of the area, and Carruthers was fortunate not to be sent-off for a very late lunge on Doncaster's right-back.

Joff Vansittart left the field on 70 minutes with a recurrence of his hamstring injury and was replaced by Mark Hynes.

The last 10 minutes saw relentless Doncaster pressure but the Whites' defence stood firm. Scott Daniels replaced Stuart Munday as the game approached full time, and was instrumental in keeping Rovers out. A fantastic flying save from Paul Hyde in injury time extinguished Doncaster's flagging hopes and saw Athletic into the last 16.

Doncaster keeper Andy Warrington beats Steve Brown to the ball.

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