Barnet lived up to their status of Conference leaders with a comprehensive victory over Whites at Crabble last night, running out 3-0 winners in front of the BT sport cameras.

Manager Chris Kinnear, though unhappy at losing, conceded that on this occasion the better team won. ‘There is no doubt the quality they have got’ said the manager. ‘We could have gone in front and Stefan (Payne) had a good chance to equalise as well. We also hit the bar a couple of times. It was just disappointing really, but we have to move on. *Q1*

As Dover continue to hover perilously close to the danger zone, Kinnear pointed out the fixture list has not been kind to his side thus far. ‘We have played six of the top eight in what has been a very, very difficult start. It has been a great learning experience, but we have to move on.’

Recent deadline day signings Connor Essam and Soloman Taiwo started, whilst Ricky Miller came off the bench in what was a difficult evening for the trio. Nonetheless, Chris is still pleased with his recent acquisitions. ‘They are decent players and we would not have signed them if we did not think so. It takes a while for them to bed in and get used to everything.’

Those three appear to have put his squad size over maximum capacity, but Kinnear is adamant he has the right number to cope with the demands of the next few months given the fact he will be unable to add to his ranks until January. ‘We do have quite a few, but saying that at Woking we had two YTS boys on the bench. Sometimes you think there are two many, but when you get a few injuries and suspensions you are then short. Again with the transfer deadline and not being able to sign anyone, we have to make sure we have signed people in case we need replacements.’

Fans will be looking to the next trio of games as prime opportunity to pull away from the bottom four, though Dover’s boss is warning caution against such thoughts,in particular looking ahead to the next game. ‘Macclesfield are eighth. They are an ex league club in a good catchment area and the type of team that lots of players want to play for. You can lose to anybody in this league and we are probably the least experienced side by far. We just have to make sure we keep on improving.’

Chris has nearly a fully fit squad with only winger Ricky Modeste missing due to injury. ‘We have missed Ricky’, said Chris. ‘He gives us a bit of pace down the one side and he runs past people – He has been very important since I have been here.’*Lpic1*