Stefan Payne secured a fourth consecutive Vanarama National League win for Dover, scoring a stoppage- time winner at struggling Torquay United on Tuesday.

Payne, who had earlier opened the scoring for boss Chris Kinnear’s side, has now scored eight goals this season, including five in his past three games.

The win took Whites up a place to fourth, but captain Jamie Grimes admitted the performance, which condemned the hosts to a fifth straight defeat, wasn’t pretty.

“We started well and had chances to put the game out of reach for them,” he said.

“But we let them back into the game with a very sloppy goal on our part and then they scrapped and battled, as you would expect from a team down the bottom.

“We weren’t at the races, really, but it shows where we are in terms of confidence that we still came away with the win.

“Although we got the three points, we are disappointed with our performance and we know we need to work hard to improve it for Saturday’s clash against Wrexham at Crabble.”

Payne put Dover ahead after Jaydon Gibbs, who was replacing Sam Magri, set up the striker to slot home from eight yards following Aswad Thomas’s cross.

James Hurst levelled from 20 yards five minutes before half-time, but Jack Parkinson headed home Nicky Deverdics’s corner to regain the lead for Whites in the 69th minute.

Hurst headed in his second equaliser two minutes before the end, but Payne won it for Dover as he fired home from 18 yards.

Dover: Walker, Orlu, Grimes, Raggett, Thomas, Parkinson, Deverdics, Gibbs (Sterling 67mins), Ajala (Murphy 63mins), Miller (Ofori-Acheampong 85mins), Payne. Subs not used: Diallo, Rafferty. Attendance: 1,210.