Chris Kinnear said his Dover side need to learn how to manage games to the end after conceding a late goal to lose 2-1 at Ebbsfleet on Monday.

Whites looked like they had snatched a point four minutes into stoppage time when Keanu Marsh-Brown had scored an equaliser from the spot after Sean Shields’ opener.

Within 60 seconds Fleet went up the other end and scored the winner through Drury.

Kinnear said: “It’s just typical of us to grab the ball and run it to the halfway line. They (Ebbsfleet) were gutted and I think they may have taken quite a while to get back to kick-off.

“We’ve given away a silly foul and the chap was not marked, which was ridiculous, and it wasn’t a great free-kick either but that’s part and parcel of football. They will be thinking they shouldn’t have given a penalty away.

“That’s the problem you have with a young squad and we are not managing the games at the end but that comes with experience. That’s what you have to learn.”

Dover still occupy the final National League play-off place but the two teams below them, AFC Fylde and Ebbsfleet, can catch them if they win their games in hand.

Kinnear believes his side were unlucky not to have come away with something from the game.

He said: “A draw would have probably been a fair. They had a good run in the last 15 minutes of the first half. The second half we were attacking most of the time.

“Really I don’t think any keeper had a great save to make. There was a few shots that whistled about but I can’t remember a keeper pulling off a great save.

“We aren’t blaming anybody but that’s the way it goes.”

Both Whites and Fleet went into the game with fresh legs after their matches on Good Friday were postponed due to the weather.

Kinnear believes pitch was still showing signs of the poor recent weather but it was tough going for both sets of players.

He said: “The pitch was very bobbly and that doesn’t suit us. When the pitches were lush we were flying. That’s the past and we have to look to the future and that’s Torquay.

“Neither side found it easy and they get a lot of people behind the ball. We managed to break them down and got a penalty and that’s where we should have been intelligent.”

Dover's next match is against Torquay on Saturday at Crabble. They have five matches left to play to the National League season.