We want to target fifth-place, says Dover Athletic boss Nicky Forster

DOVER ATHLETIC manager Nicky Forster says his target is to secure a top-five finish come the end of the season, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Crabble club sit in sixth-place in the Blue Square Bet South table with 34 points from 21 games and are just four points adrift of Sutton United, the side that occupy that final play-off berth.

Dover Athletic welcome fourteenth-placed side Eastbourne Borough to Crabble on Boxing Day, before playing the return game at Priory Lane on 2 January 2012.

“I think it will be a tough game,” said Forster. 

“The midweek win for Chelmsford have got a little bit ahead of us (five points clear in third-place) and we have ground to make up again so it’s an important game for us.

“It’s a big chance for us to push us on.  We can’t underestimate how big a game it is.  I’m sure they’re saying the same.

“The Christmas games are either teams lose grips on their goals or they really set themselves in there.  I think it can go one way or another.”

This will be the first time that Forster has come across back-to-back fixtures against your nearest club in Conference South over the Christmas period.

He said: “I think it’s obviously a cost-cutting measure to and keep fans interested in going to games, but it’s never great as a player or as a manager to play the same team twice in short, quick succession.

“Everyone’s in the same level so no-one’s going to moan about it.  It’s very difficult to recreate the game if you beat the same team one game and you play the same team again.  The tendency is you should beat them again but it never quite seems to work like that.”

Dover Athletic have made it quite clear that they want to climb back into the top-flight of non-league football.

“We have got an in-house target that we would like and we need to break games down into blocks of six.  We have set short-term targets, in the next game, middle-term and long-term.

“We have made no secret of our target.  We want to target fifth-place.”

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

Dover Athletic  v  Eastbourne Borough
Blue Square Bet South
Boxing Day, Monday 26^th December 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Crabble, Lewisham Road, River, Dover, Kent CT17 0JB