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Mitch Brundle is enjoying working alongside Dover’s management team in the dug-out - but cannot wait to be fit to play again.
Whites’ player-assistant manager Brundle is out injured, meaning he’s joined manager Andy Hessenthaler and coach Mike Sandmann on the sidelines in recent games.
Still only 27, he should have quite a few years left as a player before he considers a move into either a coaching role or even a managerial capacity, but he’s benefited from seeing matches from a different perspective as he recovers.
“I have really enjoyed it,” he said.
“I try to do it as much as I can when I’m playing but it’s good to see the game from a different perspective and be alongside the gaffer and Mike.
“It’s working well. We are unbeaten since it’s been happening so it’s been really good.”
Versatile midfielder Brundle has been sidelined since last month’s 1-1 National League South draw at Welling with a knee problem. While it’s too soon to give an exact time-scale on when he hopes to be back, he’s recovering well.
He said: “We are waiting for the pictures back on my scan results to fully tell. The knee actually feels quite good, I had a fracture in my tibia, but we’ll have to let the bones sit together.
“Hopefully, once we get the pictures of the scan, we can really put a time-scale on it. But it feels good at the moment. I’m just itching to get back out there.
“As much as I enjoy it on the side, I want to get playing.”
A mixed start to the season saw boss Hessenthaler come in for criticism but, since then, Dover’s form has been much improved and Alfie Pavey’s second-half penalty helped them to a 1-1 draw with Farnborough on Saturday.
“There was a lot of positivity and, to be fair, they didn’t have much to cheer about,” Brundle said of the support from the home fans. “They stuck by the boys when we were 1-0 down.
“Yes, it’s frustrating, and it’s as frustrating for us on the side as it is for them, because the previous week we were getting ‘Oles’ for how well we were passing and moving. It just didn’t click on Saturday.”
They are now five unbeaten in the league, though, and Brundle outlined what he feels has helped them to string a run of positive results together.
He said: “I’d say it’s the way we have been playing and the belief within the squad.
"We know we have got a good squad in there, I know they didn’t show it on Saturday, but the last few games we have performed well and deserved those wins.”
Captain Lee Martin missed Dover’s match against Farnborough as he served a one-game ban having picked up five bookings this season. Midfielder Jordan Higgs has served a suspension for the same reason while defender Myles Judd is only a booking away from his fifth this term.
But despite Whites only earning one caution against Spencer Day’s men at Crabble, Brundle said that was more incidental, rather than as a result of any deliberate disciplinary discussions.
“We just let the boys play,” he explained.
“If there are suspensions, we have a good enough squad with other players that can come in to replace them. We use the whole squad - the two substitutes [George Wilkinson and Luke Baptiste] on Saturday were excellent when they came on - so we just let them play their game.
“You are going to get suspensions, you are going to get injuries throughout the season, so we’ll just move on.”
Whites are finally back on the road this Saturday. They are at Bath after a run of four home straight league fixtures.
Brundle, speaking ahead of Dover’s game tonight against struggling Concord, said: “Bath are a good side and we’ll have to be on our A-game against them.
“We’ll just have to make sure we are focused and we are ready, and we’ll prepare everything, like we always do, aiming for a positive result in that game after Tuesday.
“But we can’t look past Tuesday yet. I don’t like to get too far ahead, so we’ll get the game on Tuesday out of the way first and then we’ll talk about the Bath game after that.”
Ex-Dover players Ricky Modeste and Ben Williamson are among the Concord squad.
Martin is now available again after serving his suspension.
The date for Dover’s First-Round FA Youth Cup tie against Langley at Crabble has been changed. It will now be played on Thursday, November 3, kick-off at 7.45pm.
