Defender Jack Parkinson says the pain of Dover’s play-off heartbreak can fuel the players as they bid to launch another Vanarama National League promotion push.

Whites began pre-season training on Tuesday night, just 45 days after the second leg of their National League play-off semi-final defeat at Forest Green Rovers.

Parkinson said: “You can never have long enough off but it was nice to get back and to see the boys. We had a laugh and a joke with the manager about being back so early but he’s quite right when he says our first league game is only six weeks on Saturday.”

Dover kick-off their pre-season campaign with the visit of Billericay to Crabble on July 9 and Parkinson admitted: “The Forest Green game is still there. Most of the boys hadn’t seen each other since that game until this week.

“The disappointment of the day has gone – for many it had passed by the time we got off the coach on the way back, we had to move on –it’s done, there’s nothing we can do.

“We can use it to our advantage though. We made mistakes we can learn from and we’ll be better from the experience of playing in those big games on TV and the pressure being on us. It can only help us this season.”

Dover have lost Stefan Payne and Nicky Deverdics to the Football League this summer, with Sean Raggett possibly following suit, but Parkinson added: “Having a group who know each other and know the system we play, the set-pieces, is a real positive – settled sides have done well, just look at Leicester.

“Obviously the manager will be looking to add quality to the squad but we have got a strong foundation and we want to be up there competing again.”