Dover Athletic manager Jake Leberl reacts to 5-1 Isthmian Premier win over Dartford at Crabble

Dover manager Jake Leberl revealed six of his players missed training before putting Dartford to the sword.

Leberl had limited numbers at training for the first time this season on Thursday night but Dover came up trumps with a free-flowing attacking display to beat their Kent rivals 5-1 at Crabble on Saturday.

“There were six lads who didn’t train on Thursday with niggles,” said Leberl.

“It’s the first time as we’ve had a clean bill of health throughout pre-season and the start of the season.

“We’re just starting to pick up a few niggles so this break next week has come at just the right time. Hopefully, we can get everyone fully fit before the next game (on September 21).

“Hopefully they won’t get too carried away. At the end of the day, it is only a three-point league game.

“It’s a fantastic 5-1 win in a Kent derby but it’s only three points so we’ve got to keep concentrating on picking up as many points as we can and then see where we go with it.”

While Dartford were unable to stem the flow of Dover attacks at times, neither was the Dover boss!

He was hoping to see more game management from his youngsters but believes that will come with time.

“The game’s changed a bit and I want to play three forward players,” said Leberl..

“Five minutes before half-time, we were 2-0 up and our full-back is making an overlapping run. I’m going mad but having a joke about it.

“We speak about that and game management, and hopefully as we grow we should learn things like that. Although they want to score five, six, seven every week sometimes 1-0 will do.”

It was the perfect response from Dover following their midweek FA Cup replay defeat to Sittingbourne.

“It was a terrific performance off the back of a disappointment in the FA Cup in