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Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler admits his summer recruitment has panned out better than expected as he prepares for Saturday’s National League opener at Chesterfield.
Whites have welcomed 11 new faces to Crabble this summer, the latest being former Wolves right-back Aaron Simpson and French midfielder Bilel Hinchiri.
Increased strength in depth, however, also promises some difficult decisions as Hessenthaler whittles down the squad into a starting XI.
“It’s probably gone better than expected,” he said.
“When you’ve got the likes of Bilel and Aaron Simpson that have popped up, they weren’t really what we were looking for but you can’t let those types of players go because they’ve improved our squad and put players under pressure for their places.
“Recruitment has gone really well. We’ve worked within our budget well, we probably squeezed a bit out of the chairman for the Aaron Simpson deal as that was just over budget.
“That will balance itself off because some players at some stage if they’re not playing are going to need games so it may be that they go out on loan.
“We’ll wait and see on that because we want to keep everybody together. We’ve got nine games from August 3 to September 3 and we’re going to need everybody.
“Whatever the team is on Saturday, I’m sure by the end of August it will be different because you will pick up knocks and you will rotate.
“There are going to be a few disappointments on Saturday – some players won’t even make the bench because we’re that strong this year.
“Obviously when the games start, some of the boys that are playing are going to have to pick up some of the boys that aren’t playing because they’ll be down.
“I’ve got to pick them up as well, they’re great lads. They know my job won’t be easy because we’ve got such a good group here and we’ve got to keep players that are not involved happy the best way we can.”
With a strong transfer window and an impressive pre-season behind them, Dover have been challenged to build on last season’s 13th-placed finish by their manager.
Hessenthaler added: “Top half is probably the minimum for us and then who knows where that can take us if we’re in that top half area at Christmas?
“We know what we’ve got to do. Every game brings a different challenge. What I’ve been pleased with is that we’ve got a Plan A, but we’ve also got a Plan B and C in this group.
“It's also about the mentality of the players out there to go and press the ball, make it hard for the opposition and then be good with the football and I think we've done that well in pre-season.”
Dover will be without Paul Rooney as the defender continues to nurse an injury picked up early on in pre-season.
Hinchiri is also a doubt as he waits for his international clearance to come through.
Hessenthaler’s men host Dagenham & Redbridge at Crabble on Tuesday.
