Dover did the double over Gateshead last season and how boss Chris Kinnear would love to repeat that feat this season.

But he knows the Tynesiders will present a different challenge to the team who lost 1-0 at Crabble in the last meeting between the sides in March.

Of the 16 players who made the lengthy journey from the North East, just seven are still at the club.

The manager has also changed, Gary Mills leaving for Wrexham and being replaced by former Sunderland boss Malcolm Crosby.

Regardless of the changes, Kinnear is well aware of what lies ahead for his team at the Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday.

He said: “It’s always a tough place to go and they are always a difficult opponent, regardless of where you play them.

“Malcolm Crosby has a lot of experience and he’s started his Gateshead career well, so we know they will be well prepared for our visit.”

And Kinnear is on the ball, saying Gateshead have made an impressive start to their campaign – but so have Whites.

Crosby’s side are second, while Whites are eighth and on a four-game unbeaten league run, which includes two consecutive wins for the first time this season.

Kinnear is looking forward to the clash.

He said: “They are up there for a reason – they’ve started well and you don’t get to being second in this league by not.

“It will be a hard game and it will just show you how close we are in terms of getting where we want to be as a team.

“We’ve had a couple of cracking wins in our past two games but it’s so important that we must not let ourselves get carried away.

“Our performances against Eastleigh and Woking prove we are making progress but we are not quite there yet.

“We are creating a lot of chances in front of goal, but we are still not clinical enough.

“We can’t afford not to take our chances against Gateshead, otherwise it could come back to hurt us.”

Whites have another long trip to make on Tuesday, when they take on Torquay.