ROVERS squandered a glorious chance to overtake Barnet at the top of the Conference table and leave their fate in their own hands after conceding a late equaliser at Dover on Saturday.

It was looking good as news filtered through that Kidderminster had scored against the Bees towards the end of the first half.

It gave a huge lift to the 2,000 travelling Gasheads at the Crabble Athletic Ground, who roared the team on in the hope that we could take advantage of their lapse.

Ellis Harrison responded with a goal for the Gas in the 64th minute, meaning that as things stood the Pirates were top of the table and would head into this Saturday’s final fixture knowing that a win would be enough to guarantee the automatic promotion spot and a return to the Football League.

Barnet equalised with a quarter of an hour to go, but they had to win to stay above Rovers so we still had the advantage.

As the clock ticked by and we were willing the final whistle, the unthinkable happened as Dover capitalised on a slip by Puddy from a cross and tapped the ball in the net.

The goal came as a devastating blow just three minutes before full time, as we were unable to score again and both games finished 1-1.

Barnet had been let off the hook and we had let a tremendous opportunity to move a step closer to promotion slip out of our grasp.

However it is vital for everyone associated with the club not to be too downcast after Saturday’s setback.

We have to raise our spirits to beat Alfreton at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday and hope that Barnet struggle again by failing to secure a win against Gateshead at the Hive.

Although many fans will think our chance for top spot has gone, anything can happen in football and we need to remain positive to take full advantage if the Bees freeze on the day.

If not, we must head into the play-offs in confident and determined mood to ensure promotion is still achieved.