Manager Mitch Brundle concedes Dover’s slow starts are giving him sleepless nights after they suffered a first home defeat this season against National League South frontrunners Worthing on Saturday.

When former Tonbridge winger Nicky Wheeler put the Rebels ahead in the eighth minute, it was the third goal they had conceded inside the first 10 minutes of their opening six league games - and the sixth they had let in inside the first 30 minutes - before substitute Reece Meekums’ second wrapped up the visitors’ 2-0 win.

Brundle, whose side visit Kent rivals Dartford on Bank Holiday Monday, said: “That still keeps me awake at night!

“I’m still trying to find out what the actual reasoning is. We’ve changed things and we’ll continue to change them until we get them right.

“It has to be a lack of concentration or a lack of organisation when they’re on the pitch while they’re playing.

“Certain teams come firing out the traps, like they did and which we did at Tonbridge [in last Tuesday’s 1-0 loss] - before we then go and concede - but if you could put your finger on it immediately, maybe you wouldn’t be managing at National League South. You’d be in the Premier League.

“It’s one of those things. Sometimes, you can have a terrible warm-up, no one can keep the ball but, when you start the game, you’re absolutely on fire.

Report: Dover 0-2 Worthing

“Overall, it’s disappointing.

“But there’s going to be plenty of work in the next couple of days because, obviously, we have got a game on Monday and a quick turnaround.”

Dover had appeared eager to press high against Worthing but, after Wheeler’s opener, Brundle’s troops struggled to create opportunities until the second period.

Striker Zidan Sutherland sent a dink narrowly wide while centre-backs Charlie Naylor and Michael Olarewaju also failed to hit the target with chances.

“They’re a good side,” Brundle admitted. “You can set up in certain ways and I thought some of our traps worked, but they’re going to break your press at some point.

“We had a system that we used. They don’t change away from their identity. They’ve had a team together where, in about the last six years, they’ve only had to change a couple.

“If you concede in the first 10 minutes of any game, you’re always going to have an uphill battle. The thing is you can get sucked into chasing them - and that’s what they want. They can break your press and pass through it.

“Going in at half-time, other than conceding in the first 10 minutes, I don’t remember too many real clear-cut chances where I thought ‘Right, that should have been 2-0’. The only other one was the save by Billy [Terrell, Whites’ keeper] in the second half.

“At 1-0, you’re in the game at half-time. I did lose it at half-time but also, if you go chasing them from the off, you can be 3-0 down in 10 minutes and then it’s really uphill. So, I thought we did hold our own in certain situations.

“We just weren’t clinical when we got in certain areas. Chev [Chevron McLean] got in a position down the left-hand side that he could flash a ball across the box and Zantai [Stewart, a Dover debutant] had one where he can set Zidan or shoot himself.

“Overall, I’m still disappointed. We’re a fit and athletic group but sometimes we need to be a bit more football-smart - cutting off lanes and doing what we worked on in the week.

“It’s a disappointing day but they’re a well-drilled team. If you score the early goal, you can put them under pressure and just sit in.

“Second half, we were well in the game and then we made an individual error, let him cut inside and the keeper’s got no chance.”

The boss also thanked Dover’s supporters club for helping them purchase the scouting tool, Wyscout.

He said: “I would just like to put on record my thanks to the fans for sorting us out with the Hudl [WyScout support system]. That’ll save a lot of hours in my lifetime!

“I don’t have to clip it [highlights] and do everything myself.

“The fans are helping as much as they can.

“I hope they can see that I’m doing the same for them and trying to, hopefully, turn around the results in the next few weeks.”

Dartford claimed their first league success of the season on Saturday, netting through striker Harvey Bradbury’s last-minute header to beat Aveley 1-0.