Dover Athletic go into the Christmas period with boss Andy Hessenthaler looking forward to what could be a make or break Holiday season.

Dover were supposed to have a Tuesday night trip to Hampshire for a FA Trophy replay, but the game at Havant fell foul to torrential rain.

“Not playing Tuesday night was a relief to us if I’m honest,” Hessenthaler admitted when we spoke this week.

“It’s worked quite well as it’s given us the complete rest during the week, which means some of the players have had a two week break since we played AFC Fylde. There will hopefully be some freshness in their legs for Saturday which is good news – the replay will now be in the New Year – and so we can now focus on what’s ahead of us.”

“We didn’t reach the same levels that we have last Saturday but that had a lot to do with the conditions – boy it wasn’t great as the weather was horrible. It was a bit of a fluke goal that kept us in the hat against Harrogate so we’ve got them if we get through the replay, but it’s now all systems go into Christmas where we’ve got a lot to play for.”

Dover begin their Festive programme with a trip to Barnet in front of the BT Sport cameras. “The fact that we’re on the TV on Saturday won’t alter the way that we go to Barnet, we’ve got to carry on doing what we’re going – it gives us the opportunity to showcase what we’ve been doing in recent weeks and let’s hope that we can put a performance on.”

“But there’s always the thought too that players freeze in front of the cameras and you can legislate for that. It’s an earlier kick off so the pre–match stuff will have to change, but we’ll go there to face a good Barnet side”

“I’ve been there already with Eastleigh this season and was fortunate enough to get a win and am obviously hoping for a repeat on Saturday. It’s a good opportunity for us to get a result and get out of the bottom four if only for a couple of hours and put the pressure on some of the clubs around us.”

“Let’s hope we can get the result and keep the momentum going which would be six in all competitions – if we win we’re on 24 points and that’ll only be four points behind Barnet.”

After Barnet arguably come two of the biggest games in Kent this Christmas – the home and games with Maidstone – two games that the Dover boss cant wait for.

“There is still a long way to go but the two games we’ve got coming up with Maidstone will play a big part in where we’re going to end up come the end of the season. We know how important the two games are and I’m sure Harry (Wheeler – the Stones boss) and his staff have also been talking about them.”

“They’re two Kent derbies with that added spice to both games and they’re both being played over Christmas and New Year – normally the gates are a lot bigger over the Festive Period which will add more excitement to it.”

“I’m sure that they will be two feisty games occasions anyway – both games – there are now a lot of former Maidstone players here at Dover and there are lot of other connections too with both clubs which only adds a bit more spice.”

“I get excited by games like this, but then again if you can’t get excited by a good old fashioned Kent derby, when can you…”