Boss Andy Hessenthaler concedes Dover cannot afford to go back up and will be instead attempting to rebuild the club this season.

Whites, who have lost six of their last seven matches, were knocked out of the FA Cup on Saturday as they were beaten 2-0 by early National League South frontrunners Ebbsfleet.

They have lost four games in a row and they sit 19th in National League South having been relegated from the National League last season with just a point after a 12-point deduction was handed to them before the start of the season.

Hessenthaler, who returned to Crabble in 2018 for a second spell in the hot-seat, said: “We have had a couple of tough years as a club, minus 12 [points] last year and a £40,000 fine, with the decisions the chairman [Jim Parmenter] wanted to make.

“When I first came in, I kept us up. We went full-time but we’ve gone back to part-time. It’s been really difficult for everybody concerned.

“We’ve just got to settle down and start winning games - and I believe we will.

“We can’t afford to go up, let’s just put it out there, we can’t afford to go up. The league above, financially, is just a joke. We can’t compete and people will realise that when they get in there.

• Whites boss on FA Cup defeat

• Report: Ebbsfleet 2-0 Dover

“We’ve just got to have a season where we get a few wins, enjoy some games and make sure we rebuild.

“We have got 14 new players so it’s a rebuild again, isn’t it? But we’ll keep going.”

Weekend opponents Weymouth, also relegated from the National League last season, have had an even worse start, though.

They are bottom with just two points, five less than Whites. Although clubs in some quarters are expected to automatically bounce straight back after relegation and compete at the top-end of the league they go into, that’s not always the case.

“My old club, Gillingham, they’ve just come out of League 1 [and are struggling in League 2]. It’s not easy,” Hessenthaler noted.

“When you have to rebuild, it doesn’t become any easier to drop a league. We have come out of the [National] League and everyone’s excited to come to Dover because we have been in the league above. There’s good facilities, a nice pitch, like there is at Ebbsfleet.

“That doesn’t make the games any easier. I think it just shows, if you look at Weymouth and ourselves, what can happen.”

But Weymouth have recently brought in new boss Bobby Wilkinson, with David Oldfield leaving after their poor start, and Wilkinson started his time in charge with a 3-1 FA Cup victory at Winchester at the weekend.

On Weymouth’s “new manager bounce” ahead of Saturday’s trip, Hessenthaler said: “It always happens, doesn’t it? We have to guard against that.

“He will have his own ideas, he’ll change things around and they become a harder team. But we have to go there and make sure that we get a result.”

Goalkeeper Ryan Sandford, who joined Dover on a one-month loan at the start of the campaign after Stuart Nelson picked up a pre-season injury, will now come up against Whites as he has recently signed for the Terras on another one-month loan from Millwall.

Dover then visit Welling on Tuesday night. The match will see Whites come up against ex-striker Stefan Payne, who had a successful two-year spell at Crabble.

“Welling are one of the big guns in terms of finances. That’s going to be a tough one,” Hessenthaler said.

“They have got some good players - they have brought in the likes of Stefan Payne - and those players don’t come cheap. But we have got to dig in.

“It’s the world of football, isn’t it? When you win, it’s a wonderful game. When you are losing games, it’s a poor game.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and it doesn’t faze me having managed in the Championship and having had success in the Championship.”