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Dover Athletic manager Chris Kinnear relishing FA Trophy showdown with Dartford

Dover boss Chris Kinnear is seeking a response from his players when they venture on the road to Wembley with an FA Trophy first round derby at Dartford.

Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge ended Whites’ run of four straight wins in the Vanarama National League and saw them drop out of the play-off places and down to sixth.

A howler from keeper Steve Arnold handed the visitors an early lead and it was 2-0 at the break before Dover’s second-half fightback fell short.

Chris Kinnear Picture: Matt Bristow.
Chris Kinnear Picture: Matt Bristow.

Kinnear said: “We’re not going to blame people or point fingers, they’ve all done well for us.

“We don’t get too down, just like we didn’t get too carried away with the 6-0 win (in the previous game). We’ll move on, we’ve got a lot to play for this year.”

It was a sixth game in 16 days for Dover and Kinnear added: "You are going to get bad days when things don’t go right. The trick is to make it right and hopefully we can do that on Saturday.”

The game at Princes Park on Saturday will see Dover return to a competition which they have exited in the last eight the past two years – at Nantwich and Bath – leaving Kinnear still dreaming of his first managerial trip to Wembley.

He said: “The last two years we should have gone all the way to the final. Both times we’ve been in the semi-final draw.

“They were two great years for us but those games coincided with a couple of our worst results.”

The game is set to see Tom Wynter and Duane Ofori-Acheampong face their former club, although Tom Bonner is suspended and Kinnear said: “It’s a big game, we know a few of their players. They are in brilliant form and our players will know they have got to be on their game."

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