Dover slipped out of the play-off places on Saturday but keeper Mitch Walker insists there is no need to panic.

The 1-0 home defeat to promotion rivals Sutton saw Chris Kinnear’s side drop from sixth to ninth – their lowest position in the National League since August.

But for Walker’s heroics, particularly in the first half, Sutton’s victory might have been more conclusive but the 26-year-old keeper says he fully expects Whites to bounce back.

The league ever-present said: “It’s a different sort of season, the way the table is laid out, it’s tight at the top and it’s still pretty tight down the bottom.

“It will be interesting going into the last 14 games but I’m confident that we’ve got enough in the dressing room and about us to go on and do what we want to do this year.

“I’m sure, in the next 14 games, there will be ups and downs but I’m confident there will be a lot more ups than downs.

“We’ve just got to stick together as a team, as a club. I don’t know how many points we’re off the play-offs at the moment, it’s probably one or two, it’s not many at all and this time next Saturday we could be right back in the mix.

“I’m sure at the beginning of the season that if we were offered this considering the rebuild we had, I think most people would have taken it but everyone in there (the dressing room) is young, hungry and wants to be up and around the play-offs.

"I’m sure we will be there, where we want to be at the end of the season.”

Walker admitted he was pleased with his own performance against Sutton but disappointed that, at the end of the day, it counted for little.

He added: “I think a draw would have been a fairer result. we certainly had enough chances to possibly score but they also looked dangerous on the counter attack.

“The result was disappointing but the losses we’re having at the moment, they’re just by the odd goal so it’s nothing to really panic over but it’s certainly something we’ll be addressing.”