Dover Athletic manager Jake Leberl on striker Decarrey Sheriff’s injury in midweek 1-0 National League South to Chelmsford City as defender Henry Lukombo makes a Ramsgate loan move

Boss Jake Leberl concedes Dover striker Decarrey Sheriff’s injury is a big blow.

Sheriff, who had scored three goals in Whites’ previous two National League South fixtures, came off in the first five minutes of Tuesday’s 1-0 loss against Chelmsford.

With influential forward Ruben Soares-Junior also out, it leaves Dover light on out-and-out goalscoring options and, although the Clarets lost defender Joe Grimwood early on, too, they have much deeper resources to help fill the void.

It's too soon to know how long Sheriff will be sidelined for but the early signs aren’t good.

“They’re a full-time side,” said Leberl. “They can bring players in and have got a huge squad.

“Obviously, they did have a centre-half that has gone off but we have had a guy, who has got us the goals in the previous two games, coming off in the first couple of minutes.

“The block on the keeper (Chris Haigh) very early on has opened up his knee. It doesn’t look great for him.

“It’s a big blow for us, losing Decarrey. But that’s not the reason we lost the game.”

It’s now 10 matches since mid-table Dover last won, 2-1 at Farnborough on September 6.

Chelmsford midfielder Taylor Clark earned the game’s only goal at Crabble.

Leberl reflected: “It had 0-0 written all over it. Obviously, it wasn’t a great game of football but not every game can be.

“We had a brilliant game against Dorking (a 2-2 stalemate) last Tuesday. Against Chelmsford, I felt we sort of evened each other out.

“It was a game of very few chances but conceding the goal in the manner we did, which is totally against what we do and our ethos, is bitterly disappointing.”

Clark netted as Whites were made to pay for giving possession away cheaply. Minutes earlier they had done likewise - only for