By Alex Wilshaw
It’s not often Dover go on a good FA Cup run, having only made the First Round Proper twice since its inception in 1983. This season, Dover made it into the First Round Proper of the FA Cup and were rewarded with an away tie against Corby Town. Corby were beaten 2-1 by the Whites, with goals from Nathan Elder and Chris Kinnear. Sadly, the game was marred by violence after the second Dover goal, with Corby fans taking exception to our wild celebrations by pelting Dover fans with cans, coins and bottles. We all tuned into ITV the next day after the bile that Adrian Chiles produces, for the next round of the FA Cup. MK Dons away it was and there was a mix of excitement and disappointment. Stadium:MK maybe a fantastic venue, but it’s a passionless pit and is not regularly filled. This is also combined with the fact I’m not a fan of the way they were set up as a club and tend to refer to them as Franchise FC.
On to the matchday and everyone was very much excited for the day ahead. A quick bacon sandwich was enough to soak up the copious amounts of alcohol to be consumed throughout the day (unsurprisingly, this never turned out that way). The bandwagon jumpers were all here for this match and the train was filled with six carriages of Dover fans, much to the displeasure of shoppers getting on at places such as Folkestone and Ashford. After getting off at St. Pancras, we set out to head into Euston and have a mini-pub crawl. The Rocket was the first port of call and it was somewhat disappointing in my opinion, but the ale I had was nice although it didn’t have much of a kick to it. We then quickly headed to the Euston Flyer which was a far better setting albeit a bit more expensive, which is what you expect with a pub near a train station. Another ale consumed, and another name forgotten, but this was certainly much better. Everyone then stumbled into the Euston Tap which was a pub split in two, with one bar selling cider on one side of the road and the other selling lager and ale on the other. Again, the name of the ale was forgotten!
We then proceeded to head on the train to Bletchley where we were greeted by policemen who had obviously seen the videos from our day out at Corby. A bit of an overkill, seeing as most Dover fans are harmless. The train to Bletchley produced a very good atmosphere and was shared by rugby supporting Leinster fans who decided to join in for the fun and if we’re going to be stereotypically Irish, it was for the craic. A few of us were a bit sozzled now and once arriving upon Bletchley, the shuttle bus they were to be providing for lots of us was awful, only consisting of a 14 seater bus, whilst the rest us proceeded to march on foot to Stadium:MK. On route to MK, we realised how much of a dump Milton Keynes, not to mention a random run in with Spartak Moscow fans who for some reason, did not take kindly to us.
We eventually reached the ground and was amazed at how modern it was. The atmosphere created before the game was brilliant and some were genuinely believing an upset could be made here, with MK Dons in bad form having lost 8 games in 11, whilst Dover had only lost one in 14, winning 11 of them. The facilities were basic behind the seating, but the staff were very efficient in serving everyone, so credit to them. On to the game, and MK Dons a team ranked 70 places higher than Dover created the first few chances of the game, but rarely tested Mitch Walker, the Dover keeper. Once Dover had found their feet as Nathan Elder and more notably, Chris Kinnear Jnr had spurned chances to put us into a shock 1-0 lead. Milton Keynes looked dangerous from the counter-attack as Whites held firm and went into the break with their heads held high, with a great defensive performance and some potential going forward. (On a side note, for those who were there, the skill from Dover right back, Craig Stone, to get past Jason Banton will stick with me forever!)
The woeful Jason Banton was replaced at half time by George Baldock who made a great start to the second half leading to their one and only goal of the game. Baldock had set up Ben Reeves to slam it into the Dover net. The MK Dons fans certainly didn’t throw their limbs about for this one, but maybe they should have done given they have rarely won in the past 11 games. Dover didn’t given up and were roared on by the 1,068 fans who had sung for the full 90 minutes and had two glorious chances from Nathan Elder who blazed the ball over the bar, when it looked easier to score than miss. 19 year old Sean Raggett headed inches over the bar towards the end of the game and a goal then really would have caused mayhem in the away end.
It was not to be for Dover, but the squad and the fans should come away from the game with a sense of pride as we matched our opponents for most of the game and the atmosphere was fantastic. Give me the chance to be Dover fan over being an MK Dons fan anyday. There is no way I could sit in such a soulless dome for 90 minutes whose fans lack any passion whatsoever. Sorry, Pete Winkleman, but your joke of a franchise is not my cup of tea. On the other hand, the reward of getting Wigan away for them next round left me quite happy as Wigan away isn’t much to shout about. On our journey back, Dover fans were still in high spirits (and still drinking for that matter). Hearing about another Man Utd loss at Old Trafford cheered us up quite a bit and being soaked in alcohol on arrival near to Dover sums up it was a messy, enjoyable and happy away day. I’d do it all again, just at a ground where the home fans can produce an atmosphere in a ground that is just the right size for them.
Under The Floodlights 