Dover boss Chris Kinnear was full of admiration for his side after they saw off the spirited challenge of Chester on Tuesday evening to cement their play-off position in the Vanarama National League.

On-loan defender Kevin Lokko grabbed his first goal in Dover colours to steady their nerves, before the pace of substitute Anthony Jeffrey forced an own goal that banished any chance of a Chester fightback.

“Considering we played a tough game on Saturday, and the fact Chester had been off for two weeks, I thought we handled ourselves really well,” Kinnear said.

“We competed really well, despite the odd struggle in the first half. Once we’d got our heads together and tweaked a few things at half-time I thought we were good value for the win.

“The goals were good from our point of view. Lokko’s always a threat from set pieces, and Jeffrey gave us another threat when he came on.

"We’ve got a good squad, and with the recent additions we now have a number of different options to call upon.”

Buoyed by Dover's second three points in four days, the 64-year-old was also generous in his praise for the hosts, who gave as good as they got for long spells of the contest, before the visitors’ superior quality came to the fore.

“If you ask me they are in a false position,” he said. “They got the ball down and played in the first half, causing us a few problems, and more than matching us.

"Thankfully we were able to raise our game enough and we can head into Saturday at Eastleigh full of confidence.

“It’s another tough away game against a decent side, but we’ll be ready and we feel confident of keeping this good run going.”