Hayes is taking charge of his second season as Dover manager

Dover boss Martin Hayes has defended his team changes in the opening weeks of the Blue Square Bet South season.

Injury and suspension have hit the squad and Hayes has tweaked his seventh-placed team regularly, making 11 changes in their last two matches.

Hayes told BBC Radio Kent: "The first five games gave me a chance to look at different combinations.

"We've started the season with a little bit of rotation purely because I've wanted all the squad to get matches."

He added: "I've got a squad of 19 and they're all pretty much first team players."

Dover signed 11 players in the summer, while Ross Flitney, Adam Birchall and Lewwis Spence all left the club.

"We're trying different things at the moment," Hayes said. "We've got a formation that can play a couple of different ways.

"We want to win every game so if we can be flexible and achieve that, then great."

Dover travel to 12th-placed Chelmsford City on Saturday for a 1530 BST kick-off as part of the Blue Square Bet South's 'Non-League Ground Hop' to coincide with Non-League Day 2011.

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