Dover boss Chris Kinnear claimed a draw with big guns Grimsby was 'two points lost' but spoke of his pride at bossing their promotion rivals.

Whites are two points ahead of the Mariners in third and fourth in Vanarama National League and the two sided looked destined to meet again in a two-legged play-off semi-final next month, nomatter the outcome at Crabble on Saturday.

As it is, both sides can secure their play-off spot with a win next time out after Omar Bogle's first-half penalty opener for Town was cancelled-out by Jack Parkinson's header after the break.

Kinnear claimed: "I think it was two points lost, we were the better side by far. The penalty was dubious by any stretch of the imagination.

"We could have had a penalty with exactly the same thing, I don't now why we don't get that.

"We've had great chances, their keeper's been diving about all over the show. I'm really proud of the lads and I think we looked really sharp."

Kinnear refused to get downbeat and claimed the performance highlighted Dover's progression to the point where they feel former Championship sides like Grimsby are beatable.

He said: "You can't get too disappointed, by playing as well as we did it just shows you... it wasn't so long ago if we'd been drawn against Grimsby in the FA Cup it would have been a full-house, now we're disappointed not to have beaten them - I'm positive we should have beaten them."

Despite being able to secure a top-five spot with victory at lowly Kidderminster next Saturday, Kinnear added: "You can't worry about the play-offs, we've just got to try and get points in the next two games, that's all we can worry about. Ifs and buts mean nothing.

"We've got KIdderminster away, they've gone down so they're going to play without any pressure and that's quite dangerous at times.

"In the summer if you'd even given us the faintest hope of getting into the play-offs on the last game what an achievement the players and the club has made.

"We mustn't get too carried away with ourselves, I know everyone is willing it and wants it to happen but it's only our second year at this level and there are a lot of bigger clubs way below us who are not getting there. We're close but we're not there yet."