Boss Tommy Widdrington is confident there will be no hangover from Eastbourne Borough’s FA Cup exit.

Borough can move into the top five in Conference south with victory over Bromley today to ease the disappointment of their 1-0 replay defeat at Dover Athletic on Tuesday.

Widdrington admits it was a big blow to miss out on a place in the first round proper for the first time in six years and the opportunity to host League Two outfit Morecambe at Priory Lane.

But he believes the way they pushed Conference premier side Dover all the way over two games shows they are capable of maintaining their challenge for the play-offs.

Widdrington said: “I thought the lads put in a fantastic showing over 180 minutes and although only losing by one goal was a big disappointment it should also give us a lot of confidence.

“Dover are a much bigger team than us from a higher level but we gave them two very tough games so the challenge now is to build on that rather than feeling sorry for ourselves.

“It is always hard when you come so close but in the three years I have been at the club we have progressed a bit further each season in the FA Cup. We were in the hat for the first round this year which was a good achievement so we have got to take the positives from that.

“We need to dust ourselves down straight away as I think Bromley are one of the best sides in the league. They had an unbelievable start last season which perhaps highlighted the dip they had a little bit more than was fair but I’m sure they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.”

Defeat at the Crabble ended a seven-match unbeaten run for Borough stretching all the way back to the 2-0 setback at Bath City on September 20.

Widdrington has undoubtedly made the Priory Lane outfit difficult to beat but their inability to find the net over the course of two games against Dover highlighted their weakness at the other end of the pitch.

It was the third time in five matches Borough have failed to register a goal – and the sixth in the last 12 outings – with only Hayes having scored fewer times than them in the top half of the table.

Widdrington said: “I’m not really concerned. I can count on my hand the number of games we have not scored in in the league this season so I don’t think that is an issue at all.

“We have had 14 different goalscorers this season too which says something. Obviously strikers are judged on the number of goals they score but I don’t care who scores the goals as long as someone does.

“What matters is that we have only lost four times in the last 22 matches so we are doing all right. We are a tough team to beat but we can also impose ourselves on the opposition and win games.”

Borough could welcome back defender Adam Watts from a hamstring-related injury today but skipper Ian Simpemba is ruled out through suspension.

Meanwhile, former Southampton trainee Lloyd Foot has left Borough to join Conference south rivals Farnborough. The utility player, who made seven appearances this season after moving to Priory Lane in the summer, scored on his debut for Farnborough on Tuesday night.

Widdrington said: “I can understand why Lloyd wanted to go as he had not played enough game time and also lives a lot closer to Farnborough At his age (21) he needs to play games but I wouldn’t rule out him coming back one day.”