Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler wants to take the positive points from this season - quite literally.

Whites have been cast adrift at the foot of the National League and have won just once, at home to Eastleigh a fortnight ago.

Relegation to National League South might not be confirmed until the end of March but Hessenthaler says their main aim now is to wipe out the 12-point deduction handed out before a ball was kicked after the club decided not to complete the 2020/21 campaign.

“Our aim is to get into the plus points rather than be on minus, and the players will tell you that as well,” stated Hessenthaler.

“We’ve only won one game this season, we’ve got 17 left and we want to get a few more wins on the board, then we can sit down and go forward.

“To watch some of the younger ones give their all in front of 7,500 fans at Stockport last weekend was fantastic.

“They (showed they) can play at this level and can handle the occasion. We can take loads of positives but we’ve got to continue that now.

“We still have a say in what happens in this league and we’ve got three ex-Football League clubs in the next week.”

Dover host Torquay this Saturday and Notts County on Tuesday night before visiting Halifax next weekend. It’s a run of games they approach with increased confidence after an excellent display in losing 1-0 at big-spending Stockport last Saturday, despite being reduced to 10 men by Myles Judd’s harsh red card in the first half.

There’s been times when Hessenthaler has been questioning his players - and himself - this season but he could not have been prouder of his squad, even if they didn’t collect what they deserved.

“I was a proud man on the touchline,” said Hessenthaler.

“The average age of the 16-man squad was 22, it will be even lower this Saturday (after Dover's appeal against Judd's red card was rejected).

“I lived off the back of hard work as a player. People talk about me as a manager and how my teams play, they work hard and make it difficult for teams. That’s how proud I was.

“They went across the white line and gave everything for the football club and for each other.

"We knew we were up against it but we deserved something out of the game - I can say that’s my team and I’m proud of them.”

Hessenthaler has changed Dover’s outlook after their 5-0 humbling at Solihull, which saw the hosts race into a four-goal first-half lead.

It’s an approach which has paid off, with victory over Eastleigh and performances against both Southend and Stockport which could have easily been rewarded.

Hessenthaler explained: “We’ve set up 4-5-1 when we’re defending and then three up front when we’re attacking, with Ryan Hanson sitting in front of the back four which is a perfect position for him.

“We’ve been poor out of possession and we needed to address that. It means we’ve not created as much going forward but we’ve got to start staying in games.

“We’ve played like that a few times but we lost Ryan for a period earlier in the season, our hands have been tied with selection some weeks and we’ve had people injured or out with Covid.

“I can criticise myself, though, and maybe I panicked and changed the shape too many times. We’ve looked a lot better in this shape.

“We did a bit of work last Thursday because we didn’t start the previous away game at Solihull Moors too well. We wanted to make it difficult for Stockport and to cut down their options, get behind the ball and hit them on the counter attack.

“For 85 minutes it was going to plan, although obviously we didn’t envisage having to play with 10 men for over half the game.

“It was a cruel blow to concede when we did, we didn’t deserve that. As much as Stockport dominated the game against 10 men, it was cruel and I can’t fault our players.

“I could see against Stockport on Saturday how together the group are.”