Chris Kinnear was unhappy with the way Dover surrendered the lead during Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at playoff rivals AFC Fylde.

Taking charge of his 1,500 game in club football, the 63-year-old saw his side grab a second half advantage through Mitch Pinnock, only for the Whites’ Lancashire opponents to respond with three goals in the final 25 minutes of a game that was there for the taking.

“I was disappointed with the way we played after we got the lead,” Kinnear said.

“Once we’d got the goal the game died down a bit, but we were guilty of trying to play too much. We gave the ball away and you can’t do that.

"We had to see the game out and we couldn’t do it. The players need to learn, once we get one nil up you can’t over play.”

Dover weren’t helped in their quest to cement a place in the Vanarama National League’s top seven by the conditions.

An icy breeze shot across the exposed Mill Farm stadium throughout proceedings, and the pitch in parts was best described as slow and bobbly. Not that Kinnear was making excuses.

“The conditions weren’t the best, but it’s the same for both teams,” he said. “The wind didn’t help, but the pitch was more of an issue for the way we like to play.

"But you get to play on all kinds of pitches in this league. Flat, bobbly, slow, 3G. Sometimes they suit, sometimes they don’t. We should have done better keeping the ball, and in the end that’s what cost us.”

Defeat also took the shine off the manager’s incredible landmark. Not that he was overly bothered by the figure.

“It’s irrelevant how many games I’ve managed really, it’s no different from the first one. It’s disappointing whenever you lose a game. We’ll move on and look towards next Saturday.”