Four more wins should be enough for Dartford to secure second spot in National League South.

That’s the verdict of Darts manager Alan Dowson, who wants to finish as runners-up to champions-elect Ebbsfleet to retain home advantage in the play-offs.

Dartford are just two points ahead of third-placed Oxford City and Chelmsford in fourth, who both sit on 68 points with six games to play. Darts have an extra two games in hand on both sides.

“We’ve got eight games, we’ve got to win as many as we possibly can,” stated Dowson.

“I think we’ve got to win four of them to be in the top two and that’s what we’ve got to make sure we do.

“Panic doesn’t come into it, it’s the players that have to do better. We’re creating loads of chances, there’s no problem there.

“I’m concerned with the defence, we’re conceding too many goals in the big games. It’s a little bit of concentration but against the [top sides] we do concede goals here.

“We’ve been second-top all season so it’s not a fluke. We’ve got to make sure we stay there and we need to win this week, as simple as that. It’s a results business and we have to start winning.”

Many managers want to go into the play-offs on top form. But, for Dowson, it doesn’t matter. The Dartford boss has enjoyed play-off success previously and a solid finish to the league campaign doesn’t always translate to promotion.

“It makes no odds,” said Dowson, whose Dartford team have won just three of their last 11 league games.

“I’ve been there before and it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you finish in the top two.

“It doesn’t matter if you go in with momentum. At Woking we went in with two wins from the last 13 games and won promotion, it was the same at Kingstonian, so I’m not bothered about that.

“But I want to see players playing well and the team winning games. The sides below us have closed the gap now and we want to finish second.”

Dartford will have Connor Essam available when they host Dulwich at Princes Park this Saturday after he came off in last weekend’s 2-1 home defeat by Chelmsford.

Dowson could also field his new recruits, having landed Charlton full-back Richard Chin on loan along with former Crawley centre-back Manny Adebowale and teenage midfielder Bobby Dunn, who joined after being released by Sheffield Wednesday.

“I was tempted (to play them last weekend) a little bit but I thought we did well against Oxford City so I didn’t bother,” said Dowson.

“Sometimes you do things that are wrong or right in hindsight, maybe in hindsight I should have done.

“I wanted to cover as many bases as possible, anything can happen now and we wanted to strengthen as much as possible.

“We’ve got the 11th-best budget in the league, we’ve punched above our weight and we’re happy to be there.

“We knew we couldn’t compete (with Ebbsfleet), we’re not daft as they had another gear to give and we didn’t. Let’s get the cards on the table, money-wise, and we’ve got to make sure we keep digging in.”

Isaac Ogundere has been recalled from his loan spell by AFC Wimbledon while Tommy Block, who has not played for the Darts since joining from Hampton in January, has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign after having a groin operation.