With Dover Athletic facing another weekend in self-isolation, boss Andy Hessenthaler has questioned how – or indeed if – their season will – or can – be completed.

Talking exclusively to KSN, the Dover boss told us, “It’s our second time self- isolation now! With the games that we’ve got in hand, the situation is getting silly, the number of games that we’ve got in hand, we’ve just got to catch up, but what else can we do?”

“It’s come back into the group and the protocols are what they are, meaning that we have to self-isolate again. We come out of isolation at the weekend – on Sunday – and then we’ll train for one day before we’ve got to play Boreham Wood on Tuesday.”

“Basically, we train one day and then have to play a League game which for me is crazy, but that’s what we’ve been told to do so it’s what we have to do.”

“We don’t think that the decision to make us play so soon is fair, but we’ve been told by e-mail that the game will go ahead,” said the Dover boss, before adding with a lot of frustration, “how can you prepare a team that has been sat in isolation at home since Thursday before New Year and then come back in one training session ready to play on Tuesday?”

“It doesn’t make sense to me and it is unfair, but that’s what we’ve been told that we have to do!”

Dover start January marooned at the bottom of the National League having played just ten League games thus far, “The League table is obviously grim reading for us at the moment in terms of where we are,” Hessenthaler admitted.

“Of course, we’re disappointed where we are, but for me there are reasons… It’s not just because of the small number of games that we’ve played, it’s also got a lot to do with the momentum of the team. I have to say that in the last game against Dagenham on the telly, I thought we performed very well and looked a lot more solid base.”

“We had a good week’s training leading up to it – we didn’t get the result that I thought that we deserved – and leading up to the second game with Dagenham which was postponed because we went back into isolation the boys were training well.” 

“So, for me, it’s just that we have never got any momentum this season at all – it’s been stop, start really from injuries right back to our first game at Bromley, and it broke up the group straight away and then we had all the postponements with COVID, and it’s just never really got started.”

“The boys have been training every day by Zoom indoors which is really difficult – the table isn’t good reading; we just want to get back playing again, but I do admit that with all the games being called off at the moment, even that had to be questionable!”

A frustrated if not angry Dover boss then had a stark warning for the National League. “I honestly don’t know how the League can be completed in time without it being extended,” Hessenthaler told us, “the number of games that teams have got to make up is going to take its’ toll on players and squads because you’re going to pick up injuries and that will hurt the welfare of the players – it’s almost as though there will be no training now as it’s play, recovery, play, recovery.”

“We haven’t got the biggest of squads and we are going to pick up loads and it’s going to be difficult. As it stands the only way that they can help the clubs is surely to extend the season even further and I’m not sure that they want to do that?” Hessenthaler questioned.

“How do we solve this? And I’ll be honest, we’ve gone back into Lockdown, but how can it be a full Lockdown if we’re still playing football?”

“It’s beyond me really, I don’t understand it! I perhaps get it at Premier League level because they’ve got the resources that they have, but we haven’t, and it’s taking its’ toll on everybody and it’s really frustrating!”