Forest Green Rovers have booked their place in the National League playoff final courtesy of a 2-1 aggregate victory over Dover Athletic this evening.
Rovers went into tonight's second leg at The New Lawn with a 1-0 lead after the first leg, and Keanu Marsh-Brown scored what proved to be the decisive goal to earn his side a 1-1 draw on the night.
Dover made a quick start as they pushed to overturn their first-leg deficit, with Nick Deverdics testing Steve Arnold from 20 yards after just five minutes.
Ricky Miller was the next to threaten for the visitors, but he couldn't keep his shot down after creating space to shoot from outside the Forest Green penalty area.
The hosts created their first opening after 15 minutes when Marsh-Brown broke forward before finding Kurtis Guthrie, but his low strike was kept out by Mitch Walker.
Dover were soon back on the offensive, however, with Stefan Payne turning well inside the Forest Green penalty area only to fire his subsequent effort off target.
Brett Williams came close to breaking the deadlock midway through the first half when he danced his way into space before seeing his shot saved by Walker.
The visitors should have opened the scoring with 10 minutes of the first half remaining when Miller was presented with a gilt-edged chance from just a few yards out, but he failed to hit the target.
Forest Green ended the half on top, though, and had two efforts before the interval as both Marsh-Brown and Charlie Clough fired shots over the crossbar.
It was Dover who came out quickest for the second half, though, and it took a smart save from Arnold to deny Ricky Modeste just two minutes after the restart.
The visitors were ahead shortly after, however, when Miller's shot deflected off Ben Jefford to leave a wrong-footed Arnold helpless.
That levelled things on aggregate, but Dover enjoyed parity for just five minutes before Marsh-Brown put his side back ahead in the tie.
Dover were inches away from taking the lead once again shortly after the hour mark when Sam Magri fired a powerful effort on goal, only to see it hit the underside of the crossbar before being cleared.
Miller and Sean Raggett both threatened for the away side as they pushed for another aggregate equaliser, before Chris Kinnear's dipping 20-yard effort flew off target.
Marsh-Brown almost curled in a second of the night to put the tie to bed in the closing stages, but Forest Green did hold out to book a trip to Wembley, where they will face either Grimsby Town or Braintree Town.
Barney Corkhill
