Page 6 - Yate Town FC v Dover Athletic FA Cup replay 261021

THOUGHTS FROM THE DUGOUT

Good evening everyone and welcome back to the South West Interiors Stadium at Lodge
Road for the second attempt at playing our FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay with Dover
Athletic. A very special welcome to all our supporters returning who braved the difficult
conditions last week and waited so patiently for so long as we tried to get the game on, your
support is immensely appreciated and I hope you can get behind us again this evening as
we try to get into that first round of this historic competition.
I’d also like to wish a warm welcome to Andy Hessenthaler, Nicky Southall, the rest of the
Dover staff, players, officials and any supporters that have made the long trip. In football we
often have different opinions and perspectives but that doesn’t mean that respect has to be
lost. I was quite passionate last week that we should’ve played as I felt that was right for
our club and our supporters, I’ll always fight for what I believe is right for us, but I also
respect that the opposition, or anyone else in football will passionately choose the right
option for them. Last week was one such time where we had different opinions but that
doesn’t mean today I don’t want our opposition to have a safe trip, enjoy the hospitality of
our club off the pitch and hope for a great game on it this
evening.
The dust has settled on last week, we managed to re-focus
on Thursday and put in an excellent performance on
Saturday beating Walton who were 4 unbeaten before KO.
The performance had a bit of everything, great build up
play for long periods controlling the game first half, good
quality attacking & great goals plus periods where we
concentrated and defended against long throws & set
pieces. In team news Matt Bower is back after injury &
illness, Luke Hopper is back after injury however Liam Angel
has a thigh problem which meant he failed a fitness test
Saturday and Joe Hall is out through illness at the
moment. A great piece of news this week was
that Tyler Ashmead had his knee operation and
the surgeon believes it was a success. I’m
sure you’ll all join me in wishing him every
success with his rehab so we at Yate can
see what a wonderful young player he is in
the future.
Tonight marks a fantastic opportunity to
reach the first round of the FA Cup with that
great carrot of Yeovil home awaiting the
winners. We know that Dover will come
here and play better & be even more
motivated than the first game, having had a
full weak to prepare the game, bringing with
them a wealth of football league experience
& quality in their ranks. Please get behind the
team tonight, give us your support and I think
the players will respond on the pitch. Who
knows we might create a great night in our clubs
history together.

Let’s go bluebells!
Paul