MATCH PREVIEW: Chippenham Town vs Dover Athletic | Saturday 18th October | National League South

Charlie Sugg previews our home match against Dover.

The Bluebirds are back in league action this weekend following our late defeat to Chelmsford City in the FA Cup.

Dover Athletic FC were founded in 1983 after Dover FC folded. Dover Athletic joined the Southern League in 1983-84 and became champions in 1987-88. They joined the Southern League Premier the following season in which they were champions in 1989-90 and 1992-93.  Later, in 1997-98, they reached the FA Trophy semi-final where they fell short to Cheltenham 4-3 on aggregate.

In recent times, Dover were relegated from the National League in 2021-22 following a poor season finishing with 1 point after a 12 point deduction. In their first season back in the National League South they survived on the final day, despite a home defeat to Weymouth, thanks to our victory over Dulwich Hamlet that pushed Hamlet down. In the 2023-24 season Dover were relegated from the National League South finishing bottom on 27 points. They would return at the first time of asking, as they beat Dartford in the Isthmian League Playoff final last season.

The Opposition

Dover have started the season well with three wins out of the first four games with 19 goals in there first 12 games, however they are winless in their last five games in all competitions.
Their FA Cup run this season ended two rounds earlier than ours, losing to 4-1 away to Farnborough with Ruben Soares-Junior netting the only goal for Dover in their FA Cup tie.

Dover have made 10 new signings this season adding to their young squad, one of these signings being Ryan Hanson who had his successful loan spell in the second half of last season turn permanent in the summer. Additionally 6ft 7in, centre half Jalen Jones has signed from Oxford City after an impressive season with them in the National League North, scoring 4 times in 38 appearances.

Fixture history

The Bluebirds have had the better head-to-head record over Dover only playing them on four occasions in recent history where Dover are still waiting for their first win. Chippenham have won both home games 2-1 and 3-1, while both away games in Dover have finished 1-1.

Dangermen

One player that has been a standout for Dover is 22 year old academy product George Nikaj, who is their top goal scorer currently this season on six goals in 12 appearances. Last season he won Dover Athletics Golden Boot award after finding the back of the net 25 times throughout their promotion campaign.
Jalen Jones has been a first-class new signing this season for Dover slotting well into centre back who is well known for his aerial ability standing at 1.95m scoring twice in his first 12 games while keeping 3 clean sheets. Jones is an experienced centre half at step 2 playing for the likes of Aveley, Oxford City and Braintree.
Attacking minded player Alfie Matthews is another player to watch out for. His youth career started at Arsenal until 2020 where he also got called up to England u16s where he played three times. He dropped down into non-league when he was released from Crystal Palace making himself an experienced player in the National League South as he had spells at Welling United, Braintree and also Hemel Hempstead before joining Dover Athletic at the start of the 2024/25 season.