We can't afford to lose more points in the league, says Dover Athletic boss Nicky Forster

The Whites slipped to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to play-off chasing Welling United at the weekend and suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at Ryman League Division One South Hythe Town in the Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodights.com Semi-Final last night.

They are ten-points adrift of fifth-placed side Sutton United in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table and with 12 games remaining, the Crabble faithful are losing faith in their team  and they booed their team off the pitch at Reachfields Stadium.

Forster is looking for a reaction when he takes his side to fourteenth-placed Salisbury City on Saturday, before welcoming fourth-placed Chelmsford City to Crabble next Tuesday.

“They’re key games for us now.  That’s now what we focus on, we re-focus on,” said Forster, after his side put in a woeful performance against a side that play two league’s lower.

“We’ve had two defeats on the spin now. We can’t afford to lose more points in terms of the league, certainly in terms of a big game against Chelmsford on Tuesday.

“We’ve got two of the teams above us in Chelmsford and Sutton. We’ve got some of the other teams playing against each other so they’re all big games.  I’m sure the teams above us will be dropping points between now and the end of the season so we now have an opportunity.”

Meanwhile, club captain, Shane Huke, who was not named in the sixteen-man squad at Hythe last night, wrote in his blog, which was published on www.doverathletic.com today that the team must bounce back from their woeful week.

“This week has been a frustrating one with two big games ending in defeats for us,” said Huke.

“Saturday saw us take on Kent rivals Welling in a big encounter to help close the gap on them and catch the others in sight.  Unfortunately we lost 1-0 at home, where defeats have been very rare this year.

“On Tuesday night we took on another local rival in Hythe Town in the Kent Senior Cup Semi-Final.  Unfortunately this was another game we didn’t really turn up in.  We had a few chances to score, one being Ollie (Schulz)’s superb volley against the bar but Hythe defended well for 90 minutes and are now through to the final.”

Huke added: “At every club you have ups and downs and this week we have hit a down.  Big teams show their strengths when they are down in how quickly they can bounce back to winning ways.

“I’m very confident we have the players, staff and management to achieve this and I’m sure on Saturday away to Salisbury we can show this.”

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

Salisbury City  v  Dover Athletic
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 3^rd March 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Patridge Way, Old Sarum, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 6PU