Dover Athletic boss Andy Hessenthaler wants his side to reproduce last season’s unbeaten finish
Published: 08:21, 11 March 2020
Updated: 09:06, 11 March 2020
Boss Andy Hessenthaler wants Dover Athletic to replicate last season’s unbeaten finish at the end of this campaign.
Whites are just outside the National League play-off places, having lost back-to-back games.
After flirting with relegation, Dover finished last season with an impressive run of nine league games without defeat to finish 14th.
Whites have been fighting at the right end of the table this term but they were beaten 1-0 by Yeovil on Saturday after a 3-0 loss at Solihull Moors the previous weekend.
With Dover only two points outside the top seven, Hessenthaler said: “That’s what we have got to take from it. We weren’t very good against Yeovil but it’s still not terrible.
"We just have to go to the next game now, don’t we?
“We are two points out of it, it was not good on Saturday, but we go again and anything can happen.
“The run we had last year was unbelievable at the end of the season.
“So we have to put these defeats behind us and try to emulate that again, and go on a nine-game unbeaten run now.”
He added: “We have to put these behind us. We can’t do anything about them now.
“It’s a poor day at the office, we have got to go again now.”
Next up for Hessenthaler’s side are relegation-threatened Chesterfield who have won three of their last four games.
Hessenthaler added: “We have just played a club in Yeovil who have just come down from the Football League.
“I don’t want to start talking about clubs’ structure and infrastructure but theirs is massive compared to ours.
“We are a million miles away from Yeovil – in terms of staff and in terms of everything we have got.
“Chesterfield are another massive club that have just come out of the league and it’s another big game for us.
“We have had two poor performances and we need to put it right, otherwise it’ll be too late.
“They are on a roll at the moment, Chesterfield. They won on Saturday (2-1 against Chorley) and are still fighting to do what they have got to do.
“At this stage of the season, it doesn’t matter who you are playing.
"Every game is a tough game because everyone is fighting for something.”
Dover lost 5-1 to Gillingham in their Kent Senior Cup quarter-final tie on Tuesday night.
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Thomas Reeves