Chris Kinnear hopes Dover’s attacking freedom will help his side avoid the late-season nerves which he believes will hamper their rivals.

Whites head for an FA Trophy quarter-final at Nantwich on Saturday (3pm) before resuming their Vanarama National League promotion-push at home to Southport on Tuesday (7.45pm).

With his side potentially three games from Wembley in one competition and well-placed for a play-off place in another, he said: “Nerves start to come in at this time of year.

“We deal with it by virtue of the way we play. We go for it and we stay relaxed and that’s contributed to me, (assistant) Jake Leberl and the team tending to have success towards the end of the season.

“We’re heading towards March in with the chance of everything.”

Kinnear vowed to channel the pain of last year’s FA Trophy last-eight exit at another lower division side – Bath – claiming: “I’ll mention that in the team-talk.

“Some of the players have changed but I’ll remind those that played how that felt – it’s important to learn from these things.” Dover scout Kevin Raine watched Nantwich draw 1-1 at Matlock in the Evo-Stik Northern League Premier Division on Tuesday and Kinnear said: “They should have won. They are a good team, they score lots of goals.

“They have been successful in their league which is decent, full of big, strong and hard players. We will have to be up for it.

“It’s not going to be easy and we can’t afford to take them lightly. They will have nothing to lose. This is their Wembley game.”

Nantwich sought to borrow covers for their pitch this week to try and ensure the game goes ahead after recent wet weather in the north west, which caused the postponement of Dover’s league game at Macclesfield on Saturday.

Dover have slipped to eighth in the National League but are just three points outside the top four with three games in hand on most of the sides above them and four on fourth-placed Wrexham.

Subject to a Trophy replay, Southport visit on Tuesday, although Kinnear insists he won’t contemplate the fixture until after the Nantwich game.

Dover have confirmed the appointment of former Northampton and Luton physio Calum Green, who recently worked with new coach Loui Fazakerley at Welling.

Defender Aswad Thomas is set to have surgery to repair knee cartilage but Kinnear hopes to have him available by the end of March. Tyrone Marsh and Harry Crawford are cup-tied on Saturday.