Dover have enjoyed a superb first season after promotion and there was desire and ambition from Chris Kinnear to build on his excellent work and develop the side further before the start of the new campaign. Connor Essam was the sole serious loss to the squad and the Whites only added further quality to an already very competent group of players. Aswad Thomas was a really good addition in the wing-back role while the likes of Jamie Grimes and Toby Ajala had the potential to be excellent players for the team as well. Yet the start of the season was mostly frustrating as the Kent side could not get as many wins as they were hoping for to start with. They were proving very hard to beat, with only Cheltenham getting the bette for them in a run of 15 games from the early stages of the season to October. But they went on a four-game winless run during that run and were overall finding it hard to hit the back of the net as consistently as they would have hoped. But a superb 5:2 beating of Eastleigh in September served as the knock to the glass ceiling needed to let this talented team blossom into the force that they became. Dover won five games on the spin and seven of the next eight to get into the play-off places. They rarely left them for the rest of the season as Kinnear manager to extra a lot out of his squad and kept them remarkably focused and efficient for a side of not much experience at this level. Stefan Payne and Ricky Miller were a constant thorn for opposition defences while Ricky Modeste was complementing them well in a three-man attack. Nicky Deverdics developed into one of the best all-round midfielders in the league with his controlling skills and no shortage of goals. The defence was as solid as last season as the experienced Richard Orlu marshalled the three-man unit with assertiveness and knowledge. There was the odd setback later in the autumn and during the festive period but Dover remained fiercely committed to their specific style of play and kept on getting mostly positive results to stay close to the top of the table. They had a disappointing start of March when lowly Southport surprised them for a 2:1 loss at their Kent fortress where they rarely lost points. But that setback was used by Kinnear to fuel the desire of his side and Dover went on the sort of run that eventually sealed their play-off spot. They played some really good football and showed bags of character to turn some tight games around to win five and draw against direct rivals Tranmere in the next six games. They did not let a poor loss at lowly Boreham Wood distract them and responded with another excellent run as three wins in a row, including at direct rivals Wrexham in a really tough test, and three draws in the next six games ensured their finish in the top five. It was a brilliant achievement for a side that was playing in the division below just two years ago and slightly overshadowed by the heroics of another massive overachiever in Braintree. Disappointingly for Kinnear, his side seemed spent and short of their best by the time the play-off games came around and they could not get past a Forest Green side that was actually without a permanent manager at the time. An insipid 1:0 loss in the first leg put them on the back foot and despite a valiant effort in the second leg, they only managed a draw. Thus, the journey was over for Dover just before the final step but they can look back on a wonderful progress over the past nine months when they laid the foundations for this club to remain a real force at this level for years to come.
