Sam Magri says Dover players must show some ‘personal pride’ as they look to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat at Boreham Wood against Bromley at Crabble on Saturday.

The Malta international also said the team owe the fans following their 5-0 humbling in Hertfordshire.

Magri, who is in the 23-man Malta squad for the FIFA World Cup Group F qualifier against Slovakia on March 26, was not about to pull any punches.

The defender said: “It was a bad day for us and the club as a whole at Boreham Wood.

“We were well below where we should have been, but we can’t start making excuses.

“We can’t dress up what happened up on Tuesday – everyone now needs to stand up and be counted, everyone.

“That was a miserable showing and we need to respond to it now.

“We have already shown that we have character in this team, and now we have to do it again.”

Whites are sixth, two points behind fifth-placed Gateshead, with 10 games left to play.

And Magri has urged the fans to maintain their faith in the team, despite the recent disappointing results.

He said: “I can fully understand how they (the fans) must feel – it’s disappointing and frustrating for all of us.

“We all hurting after Tuesday – all of us.

“If I was a fan paying to watch that performance, I wouldn’t have been happy.

“I really do understand how they must feel, but it isn’t them and us, we have to stick together – all of us.

“We need them (the fans) to keep behind us.”