AS Dover Athletic prepare to get their Dr Martens League season under way at Grantham on Saturday, followed by Tuesday's home game with Crawley (7.45), manager Clive Walker insists that he has only one target in mind: winning the Premier Division title.

In view of the introduction of Conference North and South divisions for season 2004-05, which will be made up initially from the top 13 teams in the Southern League Premier, Isthmian League Premier and Northern Premier at the end of this season, some Whites fans are claiming that a top-13 finish is all that is required to make the next nine months a successful campaign, but Walker will have none of it.

Sitting in his office at the Hoverspeed Stadium, the Dover boss stressed: "I would love to win this league and that's what I want to do. I'm not stupid and I know it won't be easy, but I want to set that standard for ourselves.

"I think the object has got to be to try to be No 1, and if I tried to say to the players that finishing in the top 13 will be good enough this season, it wouldn't register with them anyway because they want to win every game, which is the way it should be."

Walker's confidence that his side can mount a serious title challange stems from the fact that the squad, which finished third last season, is still intact and has been augmented with the addition of two strikers, Craig Wilkins and Israel Amadi, who will hopefully help to cure Whites' one obvious weakness last time out: their shortage of goals.

But, in the short term, Wilkins is likely to find himself playing at centre half as Walker tries to plug the defensive holes created by Danny Chapman's six-match suspension and Mark Patterson's bout of glandular fever, which he contracted while on holiday in Hawaii.

"I have signed Wilkins as a striker," Walker said, "but at the moment it's horses for courses and for the first few games I will probably play him at the back with Andy Arnott and Dean Readings,"

Walker is likely to field a 3-5-2 formation on Saturday, with either Simon Glover or Amadi partnering Tommy Tyne up front.

Wilkins is no stranger to defensive duties, having made the majority of his 20-odd appearances for Gravesend last season at centre half, and Walker believes that proven knowhow at the back will be vital in Whites' opening matches.

"We are away from home in our first match," Walker said, "and then Crawley at home will be tough with the likes of Joff Vansittart and Charlie MacDonald up front for them, and so I am going to need plenty of experience at the back."

Walker is a great believer in continuity, and he is hoping that the vast number of player moves involving Dr Martens League clubs this summer could work in his side's favour over the coming months.

"It doesn't matter what level you are talking about," he said, "I believe that to win a championship you have to have a settled side for two or three seasons because then the players know what the other players are going to do and you get a team understanding. That is so important, especially when you have young lads in the side.

"There have been loads of players changing clubs in this league this summer and we have been the exception. We've only signed two players and that might work in our favour because it's going to take time for all those players to settle in at their new clubs, no matter how good they are."

Grantham, who finished 16th in the Premier Division last season, have a new manager in Roger Ashby and he has brought several new players to the club.

Walker commented: "To be honest, Grantham is the sort of place you would rather go to in August then on a wet Wednesday night in January, but we know it will be a tough game because all the new players Roger Ashby has brought in will be keen to impress."

• Midfielder Steve Hafner has signed for Hastings United. Hafner joined Whites from Folkestone Invicta last season and made several substitute appearances but was unable to force his way into the starting line-up.

• Dover have been drawn away to Chatham Town in the first round of the John Ullmann Kent Senior Cup. The tie must be played by November 30.