Kevin Lokko admits it is an 'honour' to be named the new Dover Athletic captain.

Whites boss Andy Hessenthaler has entrusted the defender with the armband following the departure of Mitch Brundle, who has signed for Dagenham.

Lokko, who signed from Stevenage in June 2018, was ever-present in the side that sealed National League safety last season, contributing six goals and three assists in 42 appearances across all competitions.

He said: "I'm relatively young, I'm only 23 so to have the belief from the manager to put me as captain I'm very honoured and I'll make sure I make use of the role and be a leader to the club."

"Obviously Brunds (Brundle) did a good job here, it's good to come in after him having left. I've got big boots to fill and I'm just glad the gaffer has put his trust in me to do that role.

"He (Hessenthaler) didn't really ask me, he just told me and knew I'd be keen on it. He told me on the first day of pre-season, straight away I said thank-you and that I'd love to take the role.

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"The boys have all been joking about it, they thought I'd get it but you don't really know until you're told so it's nice for that to be official now and for me to be captain."

Such was Lokko's influence at Crabble last year that he was recognised by his teammates as players' player-of-the-season and named runner-up to Brundle in the supporters' player-of-the-season award.

Given the club's unbeaten finish to the campaign and the influx of new signings, Lokko is hopeful of building on the team's 13th-placed finish.

"It's looking really good," he Lokko. "We've got a good mix of players with experience and youth, physical and technical players as well. I'm really excited for the season to be honest and think we can do really well and finish high up to table.

"It's been a tough start (to pre-season training) but that's expected with the gaffer. We'll all be firing and ready to go.

"We've got a lot of games coming so it will be good to get rid of those cobwebs and get minutes under the belt.

"It's not the most favourable part of the season but we're all just excited to get as fit as we can and come first game of the season make sure we're at our best."

Dover started their pre-season with a 3-2 win away to Bearsted thanks to goals from Alfie Pavey and summer signing Steven Rigg.

Fixtures for the 2019/20 National League campaign were released on Wednesday, with Whites learning that they will begin the campaign away to Chesterfield on Saturday, August 3.

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