Chris Kinnear admitted Dover were not quite at their best in their FA Trophy win over Eastbourne Borough but there was no faulting the team's application.

After a goalless first 45 minutes Mitch Pinnock, Ryan Bird and substitute James Alabi all found the net as Whites triumphed 3-0 at Crabble to book their place in Monday's second round draw.

The victory followed the previous Saturday's 4-0 National League home win over Hartlepool and boss Kinnear said: "We didn't reach the heights we did last Saturday but then you're not going to do that every week but there's a lot of sides up near the top of our league that have gone out today. (Wrexham lost 2-0 at home to Harrogate, while Aldershot were beaten 4-0 at East Thurrock and Hartlepool went down 1-0 at Workington).

"It's the application of the lads, it's a joy to be with really. The opening goal came in the second half from something we talked about at half-time and the second one they again applied what we wanted.

"We're just there (as coaches) to give them information but they've got to go and do that and I thought they were great."

Kinnear said that before the game he had been keen his players did not under-estimate Boro - 15th in Conference South - and even at 0-0, he felt Whites were in control.

He added: "They only had one shot and (Dover keeper) Mitch Walker did not have a save to make but you can get caught.

"They came here to make it hard for us, they gave it their best shot. They worked hard, they didn't take liberties but at the moment, as they have all season, the lads applied themselves.

"At half-time we were disappointed but we were calm talking about it. You want to do better and you enjoy it more when you're playing well but this is what happens.

"It's hard but you work hard in the second half and the other side could start making mistakes which is exactly what happened."

For the second week running top scorer Bird and Pinnock were both on the scoresheet.

Each man has three goals from the last two games and Kinnear said: "It's good to see them getting in the right positions.

"Ryan's been scoring a lot, he scores a lot anyway but now Mitch is learning, apart from his ability and what he does, he knows how to score a goal now so hopefully he'll have along career ahead of him."