Manager Chris Kinnear says Dover Athletic will continue to “grow as a club” as they prepare to visit Skrill South high-fliers Ebbsfleet United on Saturday (3pm).

Whites ended a run of three straight defeats with a 2-2 draw at Staines on Saturday but were eight points behind the play-off places, sitting 12th, before the Boxing Day visit of Tonbridge Angels.

Ebbsfleet had won 10 of their previous 11 games in all competitions and were sitting third before their game at Bromley on Boxing Day.

Although Dover beat Fleet at Crabble early in the season, they look well set for promotion back to the Skrill Premier with the backing of a Kuwaiti investment group.

Kinnear said: “They are in the position we’d like to be but they were in the Conference last year and are throwing money at people. Money does buy success, I don’t care what anyone says.

“One of the problems these clubs may find is that the turnover of so many players hurts them. We are trying to build for the future here with a settled group and young players like Sean Raggett and Tom Murphy.

“We didn’t know Sean when we came in but we saw a lot in him, gave him his debut. He’s only young and still learning but he’s not made many mistakes and hopefully he will continue to grow as a player as we grow as a club.

“Hopefully, in a couple of years’ time both he and the club will be playing at a higher level.”

With the fixtures coming thick and fast over the festive period and a trip to Tonbridge awaiting on New Year’s Day (3pm), Kinnear said he won’t be drawn into squad rotation for the sake of it.

He said: “We want to try and win each of the games but the important thing is to look at them one at a time.

“There’s no point worrying about a game a couple of days later. It could be called off, you might get an illness in the group, people might get suspended.”

Nine points over the festive period would move Dover back into the play-off pack, however Kinnear insisted: “It’s hard to gauge anything yet, so I don’t even look.

“The table still hasn’t settled down and won’t until everyone’s gone out of the cups and Trophy, until everyone has played a similar number of games. It’s not until March that you can really see where you are.”