DORCHESTER Town boss Steve Thompson did not write off a giant-killing as a confident Magpies side travels to Eastbourne Borough in the FA Trophy first round tomorrow (3pm).

Thompson’s men are five games unbeaten in regulation play and have taken three successive away league victories prior to the huge contest on the 3G pitch at Priory Lane, where £6,000 is on offer for the winners.

National League South side Eastbourne are the second team from the sixth tier to face Dorchester in the FA Trophy this season after the county town team dumped Hungerford Town out in the final qualifying round, winning 1-0.

Despite winning 4-1 and 6-1 at Gosport and Staines in their respective past two games, Thompson is aware the Sussex side poses a much greater threat.

He told Echosport: “We had Brian O’Donnell (scout) go down and watch them and he’s given us a report on them.

“He was very complimentary about their performance against Billericay even though they got beaten 2-0. It’ll be a tough game.

“We have played well in the last five games. The Weymouth game we played well, we played well (at Staines) and we played well at Gosport, particularly in the second half.

“So there are some good signs, but we’re not getting carried away,

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there’s a lot of hard work still to be done.”

While Thompson refused to express his confidence in obtaining a positive result, he stressed the Magpies’ form and confidence could not be better ahead of the match.

He said: “I’m not going to say I fancy our chances, but we’re going into the game as good as we can be at the moment in terms of confidence.

“We are missing a key player for us, like we were (at Staines), but we have to be reasonably confident.

“They will be a far better side than what we played (Tuesday) and will be better than Gosport as well.”

The aforementioned key player is striker Ben Seymour, who sits out the second of a three-game ban. Luke Winsper and Dom Panesar-Dower are doubts with sickness and diarrhoea.