Andy Hessenthaler insists Dover are good enough to compete in National League South - as their search for consistency continues.

Whites are 15th in the table, five points clear of the relegation zone after a 2-1 New Year’s Day loss at home to Dulwich. The teams drew the reverse fixture on Boxing Day 1-1.

They’re 11 points adrift of seventh-placed Eastbourne Borough but do have two matches in hand.

Asked if he was concerned about being closer to the relegation zone than the play-offs, the Whites boss replied: “I have not looked, to be honest.

“Obviously we are going to be closer [to the relegation zone following their latest defeat] but I’m confident we’ll be fine.

“There’s a good team in there but we’re just not consistent enough. That’s what we need to find, that consistency.

“If you looked at us at Dulwich, we were a totally different team to what we were on Sunday at times.

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“I just said to them keep your heads up and we’ll go again.”

A trip to basement boys Hungerford is next this Saturday for Dover. Hungerford were beaten 2-1 on New Year’s Day at Farnborough and they have taken one point from their last four league games.

“It won’t be easy there, they lost on Sunday by the odd goal,” said Hessenthaler, whose hopes of freshening up his squad have been dealt a blow with finances tight after a recent lack of home fixtures.

“It’s never an easy place to go, is it?

"But we have got to go there and try and get a result.”

Whites are due to play nine matches in January in total, hosting Taunton on Tuesday, amid a vital period in the context of their season.

Hessenthaler said: “We have a big month coming up in terms of games.

“We need to try and keep everybody fit, but we have the younger players in the Academy that we can move up as well. We have done that before.

“If we have to do that, we’ll do that again.”

Young frontman George Nikaj was left out of the squad against Dulwich and the manager isn’t ruling out letting him go back out on loan again after a successful spell at Ashford.

He said: “In forward areas, we have got quite a lot of players.

“Chike Kandi, Noah Carney who we like, Alfie Pavey, Luke Baptiste and Luke Wanadio, and George feels that he needs to play.

“Because of the numbers, it’s very difficult, but that’s an area we’re not too bad in.”

Hessenthaler also commented on former Whites coach Darren Hare - his brother-in-law - who’s part of Faversham’s new-look management team for their battle to avoid Isthmian South East relegation.

He said: “It’s nice to see Daz back involved. I was with him over Christmas a little bit.

“They have a tough job on their hands, with the position that they have taken the club over in. They have a good chairman there [Gary Smart] who wants to do things right and get them out of trouble.

“There’s plenty of time. Darren has been in that position at Dover when we were second-from-bottom of the National League and we got out of trouble.

"They have an enthusiastic manager in Sammy Moore, who played for us at Dover, working alongside Darren, Darren Beale and Timmy Dixon.

“He has spoken to me about our younger players but, at the moment because our squad is tight, it’s not possible for us to help them out.

"But if there was a way we could help then, obviously, we would.”