Dover Athletic manager Andy Hessenthaler wants side to build on opening-day draw at Worthing ahead of home games against Hungerford Town and Tonbridge Angels

Andy Hessenthaler wants Dover to build on their opening-day point as they aim to attract supporters back to Crabble.

Whites started their National League South season at the weekend with a 1-1 draw at Worthing in front of a big crowd of 1,506.

Lee Martin levelled for Dover at Woodside Road after Jake Robinson had given the Rebels an early advantage, while Worthing’s Ollie Pearce fired wide from the penalty spot early in the second period.

Having been relegated from the National League last term, with just two wins, Whites boss Hessenthaler is targeting a victorious return to Crabble this Saturday when they host Hungerford.

Hessenthaler said: “Winning games will bring them [the fans] back.

"We were well-represented on Saturday, I have got to say, although there were a few idiots as well.

“But hopefully, most of these fans support us again. I have been in the game long enough to know that, if you are winning games, they will come back. If not, they get bored of it.

"Any sport can be a fickle world.

“There’s a hardcore of real supporters and fans who want to see you winning football games and it’s our job to do that.”

The result came after a tough pre-season for Dover but former Gillingham boss Hessenthaler, who served the first of a two-game touchline ban at Worthing, always knew not to read too much into their pre-season results.

He said: “I never read too much into pre-season, I have been doing it for too long.

“The starting 11 on Saturday had 10 new players in it from last season. We had a four or five-week pre-season of getting players together, so they don’t know each other that well. But there was a meaning to the game.

“I woke up on Saturday morning excited that the league was starting.

"I got the statistics back on