Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler has challenged his players to bounce back after losing at Crabble for the second time in three games.

Hessenthaler said Whites got what they deserved in Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Torquay, admitting his players fell well short of the standards they had set in the opening weeks.

Dover face two games in three days over the bank holiday weekend, travelling to Sutton on Saturday before hosting Woking on Monday and Hessenthaler says they need to regain their edge, particularly at Crabble.

The Whites boss admitted he was taken by surprise by the performance against Torquay.

He said: “It’s unlike us because we’ve been going so well but we just didn’t really turn up, and Torquay deserved to win, but it happens we’ve got to take it, we have to be honest with it and we have to deal with it.

“I honestly don’t know what went wrong, because that starting 11 was a very good 11 and it was just one of those days.

“That group in there, they know they’re better than that, we’ve shown that with the three wins we’ve had, they know that. We’ve got to take it on the chin and move on.

“We’re still in the play-off area where we should be but we’ve got to bounce back.

“We’ve certainly got to improve at home, away from home we’ve done great (winning two from two) but at home we’ve got to improve.

“We need to improve all over the pitch, our tempo, and making the right decisions with the football. The players know what they’ve got to do, they know they’re better than that.”

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Dover’s hectic early season schedule has seen Hessenthaler continually juggle his resources, with all but four of his 22-man squad having been given pitch time so far.

He made five changes to his starting line-up for the visit of Torquay but refused to blame the reshuffle for the result.

He added: “People are going to say that but did they say it when we made four changes at Barnet and won.

“I picked a team I thought was good enough to win the game and had we played to our potential we would have so there’s no argument about how many changes you make. I don’t really buy into that.”

Full-back Bobby Joe Taylor picked up an Achilles injury against Torquay and the club are still waiting to hear how long he might be out.

Scott Doe remains sidelined by a calf problem but Hessenthaler admits he is considering giving winger Nassim L’Ghoul his first start.

He said: “The only bright spots (against Torquay) were Nassim coming on and Ricky, they brightened it up for us. We’ve played Ricky away from home, not so much at home, and Nassim hasn’t had a start yet but he’s certainly put a case forward for getting in the team."

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