Jon Wallis outmuscled by Steffan Gaisie in Dover's FA Cup struggle with Welling in the previous round. Picture: Paul Amos

By Kevin Redsull

Dover manager Andy Hessenthaler is targeting a return to the top of Blue Square South before his side get back on the FA Cup trail.

Whites travel to bottom side Weymouth on Saturday followed by a home game against Basingstoke on Tuesday, and with current leaders Newport not playing in midweek, two wins will guarantee Dover top spot ahead of their FA Cup fourth qualifying round home tie with Eastleigh on October 24.

"It would be nice to be back on top before the cup game," said Hessenthaler, whose side made it eight wins out of eight at Crabble this season – albeit after being below par in the first half – with Saturday’s 2-0 third qualifying round win over Welling.

Away from home, however, Dover have already dropped 10 points.

The cash-strapped Terras are having a terrible time at the moment, with their chairman Ian Ridley and manager Matt Hale both stepping down last week ahead of their 5-0 home defeat against Maidenhead.

"There’s loads going on at Weymouth," Hessenthaler added. "But we know what can happen in these situations.

"We were disappointing in the first half against Welling and I made it clear to the players at half-time that it wasn’t good enough.

"But I got a response from them in the second half, we played at a much higher tempo and finished good winners."