Jake Leberl is hopeful Charlie Naylor will slot in seamlessly following his return to Dover.

Defender Naylor left Crabble last summer after rejecting a new deal following relegation from National League South.

He’d been hoping to stay at Step 2 but when a move to Hampton & Richmond fell through, he ended up joining Whites’ Isthmian Premier rivals Chatham.

He’s since left Chats, turning out for Cheshunt in the same division, before rejoining Dover at the weekend.

A virtual ever-present last season, the centre-half comes in as cover for Harrison Pont, who will be missing a few games over Christmas due to family commitments.

“He’s a direct replacement for Harrison, like-for-like, so we’ll see how that develops,” said boss Leberl.

“He’d left Chatham and he’d been in contact wanting to come back.

“He had a couple of games for Cheshunt and the opportunity came up that we had a space available.

“He’s someone we know and someone who knows what we’re about, so rather than bring someone in totally cold, hopefully he’ll slot in seamlessly.

“That was the thinking behind it. He did well for us last season.

“We didn’t want him to go, he was hoping to stay at Step 2, it didn’t quite happen, and he had an offer from Chatham that was a lot better than we could offer him.”

Leberl described fans’ reaction to Naylor’s return as a “mixed bag” given his decision to leave last summer.

But the manager is confident he will soon win over any doubters with his performances.

“What you know with him, and you can never fault, is his attitude’s always been very good,” said Leberl.

“He’s one of those boys who turns up every week, he puts his body on the line and I think, as a manager, that’s what’s needed.

“You know what you’re going to get and the fans, they will see Charlie give his all every time he’s given the opportunity.”

Naylor didn’t feature on Saturday as league leaders Dover suffered just their third defeat of the season, going down 1-0 at home to Cray Wanderers.

Nyren Clunis’ 47th-minute strike separated the sides as Whites failed to score in the league for the first time this season, with the result ending their 11-match unbeaten run.

“I don’t think it was a fair result but Cray did well, they did a job on us,” said Leberl.

“We weren’t quite at it. We had a couple of early chances that unfortunately didn’t go in and that’s the first time we haven’t scored all season.

“We’ve got 52 league goals so I suppose the forwards were due an off-day.

“It’s very difficult to be negative but football can change so quickly and we’re fully aware of that.

“In the back of my mind you think we’re going to have a little bit of a tough spell, like you generally do, but hopefully not over this Christmas period.”

Luke Baptiste hit the bar for Dover in the second half but that was as close as they came to a goal.

Cray, having scored with virtually their only chance, set out to frustrate and that’s something Whites have to live with.

Leberl, whose side are five points clear of second-placed Billericay, said: “We’re a big club in that league and you’re going to raise your game when you’re playing the leaders.

“Cray have changed their policy.

“They’ve got rid of a lot of older players and they’ve got a lot of young, hungry boys, similar to us, that are trying to make a name for themselves.

“They’re on a bit of a run and they did a smash-and-grab on us and got the win. Fair play to them.

“Unfortunately, you can’t play well every game but we probably had too many that weren’t at the levels they’ve been at recently.

“We could have been there another two or three hours and we wouldn’t have scored. It was one of those days.

“It just felt a little bit flat, we were a little bit off it, but I’m confident they’ll bounce back.”

Dover visit struggling Cheshunt this Saturday (3pm) looking to preserve their unbeaten away record.

Their opponents, who recently replaced long-serving manager Craig Edwards with ex-Hampton boss Mel Gwinnett, are in the relegation zone.

Leberl said: “This guy knows what he’s doing.

“He’s been in football a long time and they will be a totally different team to what they were when we played them in the FA Trophy.

“It’s going to be difficult but we’ve done well away from home, we’re still undefeated and we want it to continue that way.”