Tommy Widdrington believes Eastbourne Borough are well prepared for a variety of tests, thanks to their efforts against direct Dover.

But the Borough boss expects a very different contest when they return to league action at home to Sutton and two of his old mates.

Widdrington has shrugged off the initial disappointment of cruel FA Cup defeat to Dover and reflected that his side coped well with a physical test.

He said: “I was delighted with the overall performance of the group.

“Dover are a team who know what their strengths are and what they can be good at.

“But we dealt with it and we did more getting at them than worrying about their threats.

“Sometimes football is not fair, like life.

“But I hope the players were left feeling they would rather play as well as that every week.

“I’m not saying teams in our division just boot it but there are some who play maybe a bit more agricultural than us and we need to deal with it.”

Whatever the style of the opposition, Widdrington knows his side will have to be strong at corners and free-kicks and he hopes the Dover tie was a handy reminder of that.

He said: “People dismiss set plays a little bit but that’s a massive part of the game.”

Sutton are managed by ex-Eastleigh boss Paul Boswell, assisted by Ian Baird, and Widdrington knows them both well from his days in the Southampton area.

He said: “They are a good footballing side. They have got a lovely 4G pitch so they are hardly going to put together a team who boot the ball up in the air.”

Meanwhile Adam Watts is closing in on a comeback as he recovers from a troublesome hamstring problem.

The former Lincoln City centre-back is currently their only absentee and has been pencilled in for a run out against Worthing United in the Sussex Senior Cup a week on Tuesday.