Dover Athletic boss Andy Hessenthaler vows to keep calm and carry on despite mutterings of criticism from the terraces

Dover manager Andy Hessenthaler insists any negative voices won’t distract them this season.

Hessenthaler’s side sit 18th in National League South after an indifferent start to the campaign.

They’ve already played five of the current top six in the first 10 games but that’s not seen them exempt of criticism from some sections of supporters.

“I’m always enjoying it but it has been difficult [lately] and I’ve come under a lot of criticism,” said Hessenthaler.

“I think there were three people at the Weymouth game and all I heard was ‘Hess out’ from the first whistle to the last whistle.

“If they want to spend their hard-earned money to come to Weymouth and just shout Hess out, then it’s up to them.

“It won’t affect the team, it won’t affect me and it won’t affect the players. We’ve got a good dressing room and it’s starting to come together now.”

Dover have won three games so far but they responded well to their FA Cup exit at Ebbsfleet, winning at Weymouth and then picking up a deserved point against Welling.

“We’ve got 13 new players and it takes a little bit of time to gel,” admitted Hessenthaler.

“We’ve come to a team that were on a really good run in the league, they drew with Havant before, and we went toe-to-toe with them.

“I’d like to have more wins and perhaps we’ve deserved a few more wins in terms of our performances but we recognised that we’ve got to stop conceding goals.

“Long may it continue that we are hard to play against as I think we’ve got the creative players to score goals and create chances.”

Dover’s new-found defensive resolve has coincided with a change of formation. Even without injured centre-back Jake Goodman, Dover still fielded three at the back against Welling with Jordan Higgs and Mitch