By Kevin Redsull

Dover manager Andy Hessenthaler says finding another centre half is his priority.

Whites will start their Blue Square South campaign in August without three central defenders from last season.

Player-of-the-Year Dean Hill is due to undergo a minor hernia operation in the next few weeks, Craig Cloke is still recovering from cruciate knee ligament surgery and Laurence Ball has left Crabble to take a politics Masters degree at Oxford University.

Hessenthaler said: "Dean and Clokey won’t be fit for the start of the season and we have also lost Laurence, so my priority is to sign a centre half. "

Hessenthaler revealed on Whites’ official website that one of the players he is targeting is an experienced Blue Square Premier centre half.

Former Gillingham player Chris Hope (pictured) who was released by Rushden & Diamonds at the end of the season fits that description but Hessenthaler added: "Chris is a player I know well because I signed him from Scunthorpe when I was at Gillingham but I am not going to say who the player concerned is."

Hessenthaler, meanwhile, received confirmation at the weekend that he will not be able to call upon Alan Pouton’s services next season.

The 32-year-old midfielder has, as expected, decided to leave Whites because the greater travelling involved in Blue Square South would make it difficult for him to keep up his work commitments.