From the Ryman South to the Ryman Prem...

To the Conference South where's it gonna end? In the football league's where we want to be, we're the Dover boys and we're living a dream!

Saturday's away day at Sutton United for the second leg of our Conference South playoff semi final really was something else. Just incredible. None of us ever imagined it'd pan out the way it did... If you know me, you'll know I love my football. I follow Dover Athletic home and away, near enough every weekend and even have the privilege to write their match reports for the official club website. We reached the playoffs this year on goal difference, on the final day of the season, after beating Hayes and Yeading with Havant & Waterlooville drawing at Tonbridge Angels. The luck was with us; the previous Monday we thought we'd blown it with another home draw but somehow snuck into 5th place to claim the final playoff spot.

No team who has finished 5th has been promoted to the Conference Premier through the playoff system. This year we're aiming to change that. Having drawn 1-1 with Sutton at home on Wednesday night we all had a fair amount of confidence going into yesterday (the team is always better on the road), but to achieve what we did was incredible.

Pre kick off at Gander Green Lane

Early minutes in the first half

Down to 10 men within 3 minutes, our skipper being the man sent off, it was a case of "Oh no here we go we've blown it. Sutton are going to beat us on their own turf which they've not lost on since mid December" but somehow, just somehow, it was still 0-0 at half time.

Team huddle before the second half

A simple case of re-grouping at the break, and come out all guns blazing second half. 12 minutes in and we were 1-0 up - cue limbs everywhere on the terrace we'd all congregated on (probably about 200-300 of us travelling fans) and suddenly the playoff final dream was alive. Could we really do this?! 10 minutes later our winger had scored again and it was just mental. How was this possible? We were down to ten men and were beating a side so strong at home they'd not lost for months there. Unbelievably just 2 minutes later we'd scored again and that was it. We KNEW we were into the final for the second time in a year!

Celebrations for our first goal!

Last year's heartache long gone, this year we really think we have a definite chance of promotion. The Conference South is a tough league to get out of once you're in it, but the playoffs are a lottery. Previous form goes out the window and it's winner takes all. The team will now travel to our Kent rivals Ebbsfleet United next Saturday in the hope of achieving what we didn't last year: going up. Having already beaten the Fleet twice this season, there's a strong sense of belief it'll happen again.

Post match

We'll hopefully flock in our droves to north Kent to Stonebridge Road next weekend to roar on our team. Together as one. Buzzing is an understatement for so many of us. Yesterday's match drained us all - non stop singing for 90+ minutes of play plus a half time sing-a-long, coupled with copious amounts of bouncing to "If you don't bounce, you're not a White!". It was brilliant. Such a surreal day. I didn't even go into yesterday thinking we'd win - anything that was gonna happen was going to be a bonus, and what a massive bonus it turned out to be! Simply one of, if not THE best, away days ever in recent times.

Could we really be swapping the likes of Boreham Wood and Whitehawk for Telford United and Bristol Rovers? BRISTOL ROVERS. Let's hope so... Roll on Saturday! Oh Stevie Brown, we're coming for you...