The time to strengthen is when you’re winning games, according to Dartford boss Alan Dowson.

The Darts made it four National League South wins in a row on Saturday by defeating Hungerford 2-0 at Princes Park, a victory that took them up to third in the table.

It’s been a quick turnaround since their shock FA Cup exit to lower-league Beckenham, and Dowson doesn’t want to rest on his laurels.

“I went to a game on Monday, I’ve been speaking to managers on Tuesday and I went to Oxford on Tuesday night as we’ve got good connections there,” he said.

“Bringing players in usually happens on a Thursday if you can get them so the clubs have the time to reflect on what they’ve got.

“I cannot gamble any more, I’ve got to be 100% on my next signings. When you’re doing well, that’s the time to get people in.

"They’ve got to [be] better than what you’ve got so the next signings are crucial for us.

“We’ve done all right this week without being great but we’ve got nine points. Now, can we turn the screw and get a bit more in different areas?”

Dartford were without injured duo Sam Odaudu and Dan Wilks plus the suspended Samir Carruthers against Hungerford. Luke Coulson had to be replaced due to injury while Charlie Sheringham missed out due to the birth of his daughter.

Sheringham, Carruthers and Odaudu could all feature at Dulwich this Saturday but Dowson wants more options.

“We’re looking at three players there who will be back in contention before we start,” said Dowson.

“I’m looking for more pace in the team as I think we’ve got some good footballers. We miss someone who can go over the top.

“Our squad is not big enough. We had four or five out so I’m trying to get some signings in. All I won’t do is just panic and get someone for the sake of it.

“We’ve found a way to win games. I want to play more football at times.”

Kwaku Frimpong has completed his three-match ban for the red card against Beckenham but his loan from AFC Wimbledon is due to expire after the weekend.

Dowson added: “He’s with us until Saturday but it’s a tough one as he needs some games now but I can’t take that gamble at the minute. I need to see how he is on Thursday in training.

“He’s unlucky, the red card was scandalous, but he’s missed two weeks. I need people who can start against Dulwich and last 90 minutes.”

Darts head to Dulwich looking up rather than down. It means Dowson’s gamble to bring forward the Hungerford game has paid off.

“People thought I had a screw loose when I put that game on as they thought I needed time,” he added. “But I put it in because I believed we would win three games in a week. If it hadn’t come off, then I would have taken the blame for that.

“You look at the table now and it’s a better state, we’ve won three to not only get into the play-off places but to go a bit higher and, yes, we’ve played a game more, but it’s only one game. We might close the gap even more now if we win at Dulwich.

“When we got knocked out of the FA Cup. it wasn’t a nice place to be around and I knew that was on my head. But I also knew that I’d only been in the job for a couple of months and I needed time to turn it around.

“It’s strange. We’ve played better when we’ve lost games - we ran the game at Taunton and I thought we were good against Havant in the second half. We were the better side at Chippenham but we lost there.”

Dulwich parted company with manager Gavin Rose and his assistant Junior Kadi last month and they are under the charge of interim coach Paul Barnes.

They moved out of the relegation zone by winning their last league game but were knocked out of the FA Cup by Folkestone last weekend.

Dowson said: “It’s always a tough place to go. I was devastated by what happened to Gavin and Junior, they’re two good mates of mine. They’ve been at the club for a long time and it was a shame they went.

“They’ve got a couple of former Dartford players and on paper they’ve got some good players so it will be a big test.”