Dartford manager Ady Pennock hopes their derby defeat at Dover will serve as a wake-up call to his squad.

The new-look Darts have been impressive in defence under Pennock this term but they made a series of errors to lose 5-1 at Dover last Saturday.

“It’s a wake-up call,” stated Pennock. “I didn’t like us turning up, I had that feeling before the game.

“It was the first game I’ve seen us not have that desire in both boxes and the middle of the park.

“The first two minutes we should have scored and then we make a poor mistake, but where’s his mates to help him? It is what it is. We have to learn from it and move on from there.

“We’re a young squad, they haven’t been in this situation for them and we didn’t play the way that I wanted them to play. We wanted to play a different way.

“I told them at half-time the difference but we were chalk and cheese from how we’ve been since the start of pre-season and then today, we weren’t at it.”

Pennock made his feelings known to the squad at half-time and while Dartford improved after the break, the game was beyond them once Dover added a fourth goal straight after the restart.

“You just make your point,” said Pennock. “I gave them a little bit at half-time.

“You can have a bad day at the office, your passing might be poor, your heading might be poor, your finishing might be poor.

“But you can still run around and have a go and that’s the first time, as a team, that we didn’t really do it. We were not doing it as a team.”

On-loan Sutton keeper Matt Kerbey was at fault for three of the goals at Crabble.

His deal has been extended from the National League outfit and the keeper still has his manager’s backing.

“He’s done well for us, when a keeper does make a mistake then we get punished for it,” admitted Pennock.

“I back everybody, I back the team. I believe in these players and it’s a learning curve for these players.

“It’s not a big bump (in the road) for me, we lost a game of football and we’ve got to move on. It’s only three points.

“I know it sounds silly but it could be a good thing in some ways. We didn’t want to lose, obviously, as it’s a local derby.

“But we can learn from it, and if we win next week and then go on another run like we need to then it will soon be forgotten.”

Dartford host Leatherhead in the FA Cup second qualifying round this Saturday (3pm).

The Isthmian South Central outfit play a level below the Darts but knocked out Dulwich in the previous round.

“We have to learn from our mistakes and then be ready for the FA Cup,” warned Pennock.

“It’s going to be a big test with Leatherhead, they’re not going to turn up and expect to be steamrolled.

“It’s going to be a tough game for us.

“It’s important because of the money. It’s not going to be an easy game. For me it’s the best cup competition in the world.”