Vanarama National League

Dover 0 Forest Green Rovers 1

NEW caretaker manager Scott Bartlett began his temporary managerial spell in impressive fashion with a well deserved victory at Dover Athletic, who will now be his side's play-off semi-final opponents, writes Richard Joyce.

Appointed to the role late on Wednesday, in only a few days Bartlett managed to engineer Forest Green's first win in over six weeks, as the squad picked up a morale boosting victory at a ground where the two teams will do battle all over again on Wednesday night.

Brett Williams' strike, early in the second half, was enough to seal a welcome three points, as a strong defensive showing saw goalkeeper Steve Arnold keep a welcome clean sheet.

A number of selection decisions saw Bartlett make a number of changes to his new side. He included FGR Academy second year midfielder Joe Stokes in his starting XI.

The Wotton-under-Edge 18 year old shone in midfield on his debut, as Rovers showed plenty of ambition and excitement throughout the tie.

Elliott Frear's low hit on 20 minutes was the afternoon's first notable opportunity, and the wingers strike was pushed onto the post by Dover keeper Andy Rafferty.

Minutes later Tom Murphy headed wide inside the FGR box, while the hosts also saw Tyrone Marsh screw a shot off target when he was through on goal.

Then, for the second time in the half, James Jennings' threat from a set piece once again saw him go close, as he hit the woodwork from Marcus Kelly's fine delivery.

Immediately after the break Rovers started brightly, and they were rewarded when Williams burst through to open the scoring.

Great work by Aarran Racine saw him slip the ball into the path of Williams, who drove from deep and buried a shot despite Rafferty's best efforts to keep it out.

Racine then had a go himself with a header that Rafferty saved just before the hour mark, while only a minute later his central defensive partner Charlie Clough saw a scooped effort kept away from goal.

A vital Aswad Thomas block on the line for the hosts denied Racine again with another header.

With both team's play-off involvement already secured before the game, a number of changes through substitutions disrupted the flow of the tie.

However FGR continued to create chances, and replacement Keanu Marsh-Brown punched an effort towards goal, and Stokes was close to finding the perfect ball for Ben Jefford - who couldn't quite force home from close range.

One final opportunity for the hosts to salvage a draw saw Connor Essam head wide late on, as the final result combined with score lines elsewhere, confirmed that Forest Green and Dover will now go head-to-head in the play-offs to fight it out for a place at Wembley.

Bartlett will take his squad back to The Crabble on Wednesday night in the play-off semi-finals first leg, and will then host Dover on Saturday night in what promises to be two huge games.