Chris Kinnear hailed Dover's display as outstanding after watching them see off Gateshead in style at Crabble.

The win was sparked by three goals in a 20-minute first half spell, Ricky Miller scoring twice, set-up by Nicky Deverdics, and Stefan Payne who added the others to light up a wet and miserable afternoon.

A first clean-sheet since the 1-0 win at Tranmere in October was another important statistic for Kinnear and his side to savour, after being forced into a late change with Mitch Walker replacing Andy Rafferty who was injured in the warm-up.

Boss Kinnear said: "I thought we were outstanding and could have won by more in the end.

"Everybody did their job and Jake Leberl, Mark Newson and I all said at the end, that is exactly how we expect us to play."

"You are not going to play well for 90 minutes, today we did it for 70, trying to score at every opportunity."

Dover were under pressure early on and Kinnear added: "Gateshead are a good side, they have been flying recently, and changed the way they play at the start with three forwards, instead of 4-4-2.

"I was pleased and positive with the way we played, and all three subs (Harry Crawford, Tyrone Marsh and Mitchell Pinnock) came on and looked very lively as well.

"Ricky could have had another couple as well, but I thought he, Nicky and Stefan rang them ragged at times.

"Things are looking up, but we are not going to get carried away because things can change in a week."

Meanwhile Kinnear says defender Aswad Thomas' knee injury may not be as bad as the club first feared.

The Dover boss admitted during the week that things didn't look good, but Thomas saw a specialist on Friday evening and Kinnear hopes he might be playing again in a month.

He said: "He is due to have keyhole surgery to trim a cartilage, and they could find something else as well.

"It might be wear and tear, but he broke his tibia two years ago, so it might be something to do with that."