Manager Jake Leberl praised Luca Cocoracchio as he led play-off chasing Dover to an Isthmian Premier victory against Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday.

Cocoracchio netted in the 12th minute - his first goal this season - as Whites won 1-0 at Crabble to maintain fifth place in the table after back-to-back defeats.

Having started the campaign at centre-half, Brighton & Hove Albion Academy product Cocoracchio now finds himself in a midfield role.

“Luca is an absolutely tremendous professional,” said Leberl.

“I think he travels the furthest - he travels from a long way away - and he’s been a model professional since the first day he came in. He’s, obviously, very versatile.

“When Harrison Pont was away for Christmas, we first put him into that midfield role. It was one of the reasons we brought him in because he’s a little bit versatile so we knew he could do it.

“He’s an absolute credit to himself, a credit to the club and we’re really pleased to have him.

Report: Dover 1-0 Dulwich Hamlet

“He’s having a really solid season.”

Dover’s boss was also delighted with the displays of full-backs Fuad Sesay and Roman Charles-Cook while goalkeeper Jordan Gillmore kept his first clean sheet following a two-game ban this month.

Leberl said: “Both full-backs were tremendous. There were lots of really good individual performances.

“For the first time at Cray (in last weekend’s 2-1 loss), I did question the group where I think we lost virtually every individual battle, other than Roman. That’s three (good performances) in a row for him.

“All in all, I was really pleased with the win and with lots of the individual performances.”

The match was played in front of a crowd that the club announced as 3,021 on their second community day this term, with 1,000 tickets being given away to local schools and community groups.

Live music was played ahead of kick-off and free face-painting also was on offer.

Leberl said: “It makes a difference, doesn’t it?

“The boys are still signing autographs out here and I’d love for it to be like this every week.”

While Whites scored through Cocoracchio, it was struggling Dulwich, managed by ex-Welling boss Bradley Quinton, who had initially started brighter.

“They played a team we didn’t expect, to be honest, and went with a little bit of a different formation,” Leberl revealed. “So, it took us a bit of time to adjust to it.

“But once we got the instructions on, I thought the boys carried out the game-plan very well.

“It was a really important three points at this stage of the season so we’re really pleased.”

Dover, who headed into the match with 11 points from their past 11 league games, arguably should have extended their advantage, though, and nearly paid for their inability to kill the game off.

But away defender Michael Chambers saw his injury-time header from a right-wing cross clip the upright.

On the victory, Leberl reflected: “It was a massive three points and I thought it was a really professional, solid, performance.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing that we didn’t get the second to make it a little bit easier. The way things have been going of late, you were dreading something going in, in the last minute, and they had that free header, didn’t they?

“I don’t know how they’ve got a free header in the 94th minute that’s hit the post! But I felt we deserved the win.

“We created quite a few chances and, really, should have put them to bed a lot earlier. Then, it would have been a more enjoyable game.”

Harrison Pont revealed his Dover exit on Sunday morning - after being left out of their matchday squad against Dulwich.

“Good luck to the boys at Dover Athletic on their final games, pushing for promotion,” the midfielder posted on social media.

“Met some great people on the journey - time for something new.”

Speaking on the selection headaches he faces, Leberl said: “It’s really tough.

“They’re decisions that I hate making because all the boys have been brilliant. We have got to be a little bit careful because, obviously, the transfer window closes (next week).

“I have generally gone with a 16-man squad, with some boys out on loan, so we haven’t had that (people out the squad). At this level of football, boys don’t want to be travelling and not even in the squad.

“It’s really harsh on them, but we have got to do what’s best for the club.

“Today’s decisions were made based on who could potentially affect the game. We had a couple of knocks so we wanted to cover those positions and a couple of the boys don’t generally finish 90 minutes, and we need to cover that.

“Ruben Soares-Junior came off against Chatham and it was touch-and-go whether he would start. So, we had to make sure we had the right cover on the bench - and that’s what we will be doing for the rest of the season.

“We will probably be chopping and changing, depending on who we’re playing.”

Dover will travel to mid-table Cray Wanderers, 4-0 weekend home winners over relegated Bowers & Pitsea in their first match under Tim O’Shea after Neil Smith’s departure as their manager, next weekend.