I think the Deal game is a nice game for us, says Dover Athletic boss Nicky Forster

DOVER ATHLETIC player-manager Nicky Forster says he will be running with a twenty-man squad this season.



The Whites kick-off their pre-season campaign with a local away game at Kent League neighbours Deal Town on Saturday and Forster is looking forward to their first outing.

He said: “The training and pre-season work is vital but the most important thing players look for is game time at this stage of the season.

“We’re kicking it off quite early this year. We’ve got a game within seven days of the beginning of pre-season so everyone’s looking forward to that more so than the training sessions.”

The Dover Athletic boss revealed he will be taking a full-strength first team squad to play Derek Hares side, which will bring much-needed revenue to the Kent League outfit.

He said: “It will certainly be the first team squad.  It’s the first game. There’s no point arranging a game filling up the game with trialists or Academy boys.  If that’s the case I wouldn’t have arranged the game in the first place.

“It will be a first team fixture. We shall play two teams for 45 minutes.  There might be a couple of trailists there as well maybe a couple from the trial day so we’ll go there with a full-strength team.”

Forster added: “I think the Deal game is a nice game for us and a nice game for them, but there shouldn’t be any importance on the performance at this stage, for either team to be honest.

“I’d rather not perform particularly well on this game and go into the season on the 18^th of August with a fully fit squad raring to go.”

Reflecting on the club’s open-trial day, which was held at Crabble, Forster added: “It was a good success I thought.  Obviously you’re not going to get a huge amount of players you’ll get who are going to make the first team squad. It would be very unusual if that was the case otherwise the scouting network around the South East aren’t working if that’s the case.

“There’s two or three players who we’re interested in bringing in for training and for putting into games.”

Forster revealed he is looking to run with a twenty-man squad by the time they lock horns with Farnborough on the opening day of the new Blue Square Bet South season on 18 August.

“I think around the 20 mark is a decent number for us,” said Forster.

“I didn’t want to make it as large as it was last year but then what you don’t want is to be affected overly by a couple of injuries.

“I think we’ve got really good competition for places.  We’re looking to improve on one or two more areas and we’re looking to do that.”

The club have called upon the services of Matt Cole, a sports scientist at Canterbury Christchurch University, to put the players through their paces.

Forster said:  “The most important thing at this stage is that the players are starting to condition themselves because pre-season is vital for injury prevention, for maintaining fitness throughout the season.

“This is where they build up a store of energy and resistance to injuries and so forth.  You’ll never get a block of seven weeks to work on fitness and tactical stuff.

“The most important thing is that we’ll get through all of that as a group and we’ll go into the first game as a fully fit group.

Forster revealed he is getting fit for the start of the season to play a part in the club’s campaign.

“I’m going to prepare just like the players are preparing,” he said.  “When I decided and made the decision that I was going to do it, the first thing I thought if I don’t do it properly 100% like the players that would be disrespectful to them and it could cause problems so I’m in there doing the sessions they’re doing.

“If I’m needed and I’m playing well enough then I will play – if not then I won’t.”

Visit Dover Athletic’s website: www.doverathletic.com  

Deal Town  v  Dover Athletic
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 7^th July 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Charles Sports Ground, St Leonards Road, Deal, Kent CT14 9AU