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Dover Athletic manager Andy Hessenthaler reacts to the 4-1 National League defeat at Bromley

Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler felt the scoreline was harsh as his side were beaten 4-1 at Bromley on Tuesday night.

A late blunder by keeper Yusuf Mersin handed Bromley a fourth goal in stoppage time and made things look a lot worse than they were for the visitors.

Bromley's Byron Webster clears under pressure from Dover forward Ade Azeez. Picture: Keith Gillard
Bromley's Byron Webster clears under pressure from Dover forward Ade Azeez. Picture: Keith Gillard

However, Hessenthaler knows that his team were guilty of gifting of some poor defending at times.

“I’m disappointed and frustrated for the boys because it’s not a four-one game,” said Hessenthaler.

“Goals change games. We were on top at 0-0 and they scored. The players said it was a foul on the keeper because he’s fallen on him for their second but we got it back at 2-1 and we looked like we were going to go on and get the equaliser.

“We moved the ball well, had confidence with our passing and they dropped off deeper.

“Then Ben has run in behind off the flick, whoever it was, has given them another goal. We’ve got to do better.

“(Yusuf) made a wonder save in the first half but he can’t make that mistake. He took too long and it was awful. The goals we gave them were awful, we’ve got to do better.”

Dover's Will De Havilland jumps with Bromley forward Michael Cheek. Picture: Keith Gillard
Dover's Will De Havilland jumps with Bromley forward Michael Cheek. Picture: Keith Gillard

Bromley’s opener came after on-loan Millwall defender Harry Ransom pulled up with a hamstring injury.

Instead of kicking the ball out, Dover forward Ade Azeez ended up losing possession and Bromley took full advantage to score.

Hessenthaler added: “Ade should have kicked it out, whether he’s seen him get injured or not, we could see he was injured, but he’s ended up passing it straight to the boy from Watford and Harry is limping.

“He’s made a mistake, he’s held his hand up but we can’t make those mistakes.”

Oscar Gobern heads the ball forward for Dover at Bromley. Picture: Keith Gillard
Oscar Gobern heads the ball forward for Dover at Bromley. Picture: Keith Gillard

Ransom’s injury is the second in as many games for Dover in defence with Josh Passley picking up a similar problem against Notts County at the weekend.

With Paul Rooney also ruled out, Hessenthaler is hoping he can dip into the loan market before the weekend.

“I don’t know what we’ve done wrong but we keep picking up injuries,” he said.

“Let’s see if we can do a bit of business again in the next few days because it’s disrupted us again with players getting injured. Rooney has to have a scan on his knee as well.

“I need to talk to the chairman. It will have to be (loans) at the moment but I didn’t have anything lined up because I never expected this to happen.

“My day will be on the phone to see if we can do anything, if not we’ll have to look at what we’ve got and deal with it.”

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