Dover boss Jake Leberl won promotion on Monday - only to insist they’re not ready to go up.

Relegated from National League South 12 months’ earlier, Dover booked an immediate return after winning the Isthmian Premier play-off final at Dartford.

“What an absolute nightmare,” confessed Leberl. “Of course we want to go up, but realistically the club’s not ready to go up just yet.

“The club’s really not ready to go up. We haven’t even thought about planning for next year. We thought we’d be in this league. We’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do.

“We haven’t planned anything, the club's not ready, so we’re going to have to speak to the chairman.

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“Obviously, the fans are ready. The fanbase is ready and all that, but the financial restraints that the club’s under… we struggled massively in the National South, didn’t we?

“It's a real tough league, but I’m proud to get Dover there. We’re going to have to stick together even more next season to pull off anything. Let’s enjoy the promotion first and then we’ll think about that as the week goes on!”

Dover certainly did it the hard way. Winning three successive away games to earn promotion.

They beat Chichester on the last day of the campaign to secure the final play-off berth, before winning at second-place Billericay and third-place Dartford.

“I just felt we’d finish the season strong, I really did,” admitted Leberl. “To finish as strong as we had, the Chichester one was the quarter-final, really, and then to go to Billericay and win, that was a tough ask.

“I think it helped us being beaten by Dartford here a few weeks ago when we lost 3-1.

“We were well beaten on the day, we were overpowered. The boys really knew what to expect, and we were ready for them.

“The defenders put their bodies on the line, that’s what I say to them - defenders are here to defend.

“We're not here to do anything else. I want defenders to defend, and to get a clean sheet as well. I’m really proud of all of them.”