Mitch Brundle felt Dover took their foot off the gas in the heavy loss to promotion-chasing Oxford City.

Striker Josh Ajayi put Whites ahead at Crabble inside the first five minutes last weekend, but things quickly unravelled in a 5-1 National League South defeat.

Whites manager Brundle said: “I think they took their foot off the gas.

“They stopped doing the things that got them there. We were just careless in possession.

“Most of the goals came from us actually being in control of the ball and moving it, trying to open up spaces and giving away sloppy passes.

“They counter well. They have got players who score and had the desire, and they ran past a couple of players in our team which is not acceptable.”

Brundle felt Dover showed a lack of zeal in their defending against a side still hoping to finish in second spot.

“Some of the goals we conceded came from us being in possession,” he added on Tuesday morning.

“We’ve looked into all the goals and the work-rate to actually defend the goal with their lives wasn’t good enough.

“We kept letting them get in with easy chances.

“The desire to stop people from scoring just wasn’t there.

"You can’t have that at this level, especially against a team fighting for the play-offs.”

Whites are still not entirely certain to avoid a second successive relegation and go to play-off chasing Farnborough this Saturday.

Brundle noted: “I said that from eight or nine games ago.

“You’re never safe until those teams, mathematically, can’t get to you. There’s always these things in football where something extraordinary happens so we can’t afford to switch off.”

The 28-year-old explained why he brought himself on in attack on the 70-minute mark against Oxford City, as he also called on young centre-backs Will Moses and Andi Janjeva to quickly improve.

He said: “I put myself on up top to just try and put myself in a position where we could actually get up the pitch and stop conceding.

“It didn’t seem to work that way. We were missing the experienced boys.

"But Will and Andi have done well in certain games. It’s just a lack of leadership, really.

“They’re still young kids but they have got to grow up quickly. You’re in the men’s team, you have earned the right to get there, and you have got to step up to the plate now.

“You have got to demand from the experienced boys.

“You’ve got to be really dominant and aggressive as a centre-half.

"That’s what centre-halves do.”

Janjeva and Moses have been put together in the heart of Dover’s defence with experienced player Jake Goodman still struggling for full fitness.

Brundle, who did welcome back centre-back Tyrone Sterling in midweek, said: "We’re going to need the experience, we’re going to need the energy, we’re going to need the athleticism and the desire.

“We’re going to need every player to roll their sleeves up now and go ‘Right, we need to fight for a massive result’.

"It’ll make it so much easier.”

It didn't get much better on Tuesday night, either, as they lost 1-0 at basement boys Concord.