Lee Shearer equalises from the spot.

Dover Athletic battled back from being a goal down and playing most of the match with only ten men to salvage a point at home to Scarborough, their sixth draw in their last nine matches.

The game started brightly and promised to be an entertaining affair with both sides looking to test their opponents' defence. For Dover, James Virgo delivered a couple of crosses from the left early on that tested Martin in the Scarborough goal.

Dover's chances of taking all three points were severely dented in the 27^th minute. Andy Morris' goalbound shot was palmed away by defender Jake Leberl at full stretch. Steve Brodie fired the rebound into the net but the goal was disallowed and Dover were hit by the double punishment of a red card for Leberl and a penalty to Scarborough. Darren Roberts sent Paul Hyde the wrong way to make it 1-0 to Scarborough from the spot.

There were few chances for the rest of the first half, Dover's numerical disadvantage making it difficult for them to create any openings. The closest the Whites came to equalising was when Neil Le Bihan caught the Scarborough defence off guard with his quickly taken free-kick that went no more than an inch wide of the far post.

In the second period Dover pushed forward more, looking for an equaliser. Steve Brown went close with an ambitious effort from about 30 yards, with Martin off his line. The Scarborough keeper just managed to reach the ball, and gathered at the second attempt, as it threatened to loop over his head and into the empty net behind him.

Dover were given a lifeline in the 65^th minute when they were fortunate to be awarded a debatable penalty. It appeared to the supporters behind the goal that the penalty had been awarded for a handball but it was later revealed that Martin had been penalised for a foul on Mark Hynes, something only the referee spotted. Lee Shearer stepped up to take his third penalty of the season, and for the third time he put the ball just inside the goalkeeper's righthand post with the keeper diving away to his left.

Referee Wendy Toms did not have her best game, constantly pedantic about the positioning of throw-ins and free-kicks, and frequently ignoring the flags of her assistants. Two minutes from time she dismissed Scarborough's David Bass and booked Dover's Neil Le Bihan in a bizarre incident on the touchline. Le Bihan and Bass had collided and both required treatment. After initially being treated on the field, both players were taken off the pitch and had to wait to come back on. When Scarborough were awarded a throw-in, both Bass and Le Bihan returned to the pitch. Toms then reprimanded both players because she had not given them permission to return to the field of play. Both Le Bihan and Bass insisted that they had been waved on by the linesman. There was some discussion on the touchline and after a couple of minutes both players were shown yellow cards. Bass had been booked previously and as a result was shown the red card. As he made his way back to the changing rooms he was given a generous, almost apologetic round of applause by the Dover fans, and chants of "You don't know what you're doing." were directed at Toms.

In the end Dover did enough to deserve a point, even though the manner in which they scored was perhaps slightly fortunate. Perhaps if Jake Leberl had resisted the temptation to handle on the line Dover could have secured a win. One plus point for Athletic was Scott Daniels lasting 72 minutes and looking comfortable in his first Conference game for 18 months.

Dover's Mark Hynes challenges Martin in the Scarborough goal.

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