Luke Baptiste enjoyed the attacking freedom given to him by Dover boss Jake Leberl at the weekend.

The 21-year-old academy product normally plays in midfield but featured as part of a front-three against Dartford, scoring the third goal in a 5-1 Isthmian Premier win as Dover moved up to second in the table.

“I’ve been in midfield recently and went out wide against Dartford,” explained Baptiste. “It’s not my natural position but I enjoy it because of the amount of times you get the ball and can go at defenders one-on-one.

“With the number of balls in the box that can drop to you as well, it’s what you dream of as an attacking player.

“Scoring to make it 3-0 was a good feeling. George Nikaj said it was going in but it definitely wasn’t so I had to tap it in!”

It was the perfect response from Dover after their FA Cup exit to Isthmian South East Sittingbourne in midweek.

Whites hit back from 2-0 down in stoppage time to force a replay but were unable to cash in at Crabble, losing 1-0.

“We had to bounce back from the two Sittingbourne games as we were terrible on the pitch in both of those matches, and I think we did that,” said Baptiste.

“The gaffer said after those games that we hadn’t won a Kent derby in a while and if we win against Dartford then it will push us up there.

“I’m not sure if we panicked against Sittingbourne and lumped the ball long but the defenders split against Dartford, we got on the ball and passed it around, and that’s the type of team we are.

“We won’t make a thousand passes before we score but we can make a few to make something happen instead of just lumping it long.”

Dover have already scored 12 league goals at Crabble this season in just three games. That’s as many as their long-suffering fans saw before Christmas on home soil last season in National League South.

“The night before games you know you’re going to get a chance, even if you play well or bad,” explained Baptiste.

“You know the ball will drop in a certain situation and you’ve got to take that goal.

‘A fantastic win but it’s only three points’

Report: Dover 5-1 Dartford

“The boys have so much more togetherness. The confidence of the boys going into games is a joke, it’s not in an arrogant way but we feel like we’re going to win before we play.

“You don’t win a league inside six or seven games. We’ve just got to keep going, be consistent and then we’ll be up there by the end of it hopefully.”