Nicky Forster knows consistency is important at this stage of the season but the Dover Athletic manager believes that a touch of realism can also come in handy as well.

With Whites continuing to close in on the play-off spots after last Saturday’s 3-2 victory at Eastleigh, Forster said: "It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that we have always got to do better than teams like Sutton and Chelmsford but that’s not the case because they will drop points at some stage.

"Look at what happened last week. We drew 2-2 at Hampton (on the Tuesday), which at the time looked like two points dropped but the following night I watched Sutton draw 1-1 with Eastbourne and then everyone was saying, ‘Oh, perhaps the draw at Hampton wasn’t so bad after all.'

"We have set ourselves a points target which we believe will be good enough to get us where we want to be but there is scope within that to perhaps lose a game.

"When you set targets they have got to be realistic because the teams at the top are going to take points off each other and so you have to be a little philosophical because it’s a difficult time of the season."

Whites are in action at Farnborough on Wednesday night – their fourth successive away game and their sixth match out of the last seven away from Crabble.

Forster added: "It doesn’t matter who you are. Playing six matches out of seven away from home is a particularly difficult ask for any team."