Chris Kinnear remains upbeat about Dover’s standing in Vanarama National League, denying their recent run of results means they have taken a step back.

After a losing start to the campaign at Barrow, Whites averaged two points a game through their next 18 matches.

However, since the beginning of November, they have won just twice in the league, during which time they have earned just seven points from seven games.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Grimsby was a third loss in four away fixtures and saw Kinnear’s side slip to fifth, 10 points behind the leaders.

The Athletic boss said: “We have had a lot of the top sides in that seven-game run and away from home, too. The likes of Grimsby and Forest Green, even Chester were supposed to be up there challenging.

“We are still up there in that top six and have not done too badly considering the run of games we have had. Grimsby are one of the top couple of sides and I thought we did enough to win up there.”

Kinnear added: “It’s football – you are going to have tough runs from time to time in a season, you just hope you can get another good one going as soon as you can.

“We are not doing badly. I was a lot happier with how we played in the loss on Saturday than in the game the previous week that we had won (against Whitehawk).

“We are not big payers up against some of these big teams. We have to fight hard for every point in this division and that’s what we have been doing. You could say we are the Leicester of the National League. We might not have a Jamie Vardy but we have been sharing the goals around.”

Kinnear bemoaned the festive-period demands of visiting fifth-bottom Welling on Boxing Day (Saturday, 3pm) and the visit of mid-table Bromley to Crabble on Monday (3pm).

He said: “Two games in three days is not ideal and I’d rather have the one game but it is what it is.

“Welling is never an easy place to go. The pitch is all right but it’s got a slope and it’s tight there. We might be higher in the league but they are at home and we’re definitely not the favourites.

“They have been in the league a lot longer than us and are much more experienced at this level.”

Dover will assess the fitness of skipper Jamie Grimes (groin) while Stefan Payne is set to receive the results of a scan on a knee problem this week.