Chris Kinnear says the acquittal of striker Ricky Miller on racially aggravated assault charges justifies the faith the club put in him.

On Tuesday the 27-year-old was cleared of attacking a taxi driver following former club Luton Town’s end of season do.

Miller - who had scored in Dover’s three games prior to Saturday’s 5-2 win against Aldershot - tweeted: “Crazy. I lost my job, my house, had to sign on, mine and my family’s name completely dragged through the mud and in the end .... not guilty.”

Kinnear revealed the decision had given the whole club a boost and revealed: “We supported him because we believed him.

“We have a multi-cultural squad here and we see him mix with the lads. We know him and never had any doubts.”

He added: “He was quite emotional when he found out. It has come as a great relief because he’s found it hard at times, but he’s managed to keep a lid on it.

“It’s not been a nice situation but it is over now and he can look forward to the rest of his life and his football career.”

Kinnear backed ‘unburdened’ Miller to start Dover’s FA Trophy First Round tie at Vanarama South promotion-chasers Whitehawk on Saturday (3pm), also admitting he was impressed by the ‘professional’ Hawks in a 1-0 league win at Maidstone on Tuesday.

He said: “They deserved to win. They have a lot of good players. We won’t take the game lightly. We want to win and we want a run in the competition - particularly after going out of the FA Cup.

“Some sides in the Conference have played weakened sides in the Trophy but we certainly won’t be doing that.”

Liam Bellamy (knee) trained this week but won’t feature.