Tis the season to be jolly, especially if you’re a Dover Athletic supporter. Their side were gifted three points and six goals by generous hosts Sutton United on a bitterly cold Tuesday night at Gander Green Lane.

With one eye on Saturday's Emirates FA Cup Second Round clash with League Two Cheltenham Town, United boss Paul Doswell rested several key players and handed a debut to on loan Brentford striker Herson Alves.

Despite going a goal down early on, the U’s were actually the better team for much of the first half and were unlucky not to make a breakthrough of their own.

However, they were dealt a bitter blow in the 21st minute when influential defender Dean Beckwith was shown a straight red card for leading into an aerial challenge with his elbow. Dover took full advantage by slamming three more goals past U’s keeper Ross Worner before half-time.

At the start of the second half it was clear that many of the 1,091 crowd were already back home drowning their sorrows with a hot toddy.

In a bid to limit the damage, Doswell made changes at half-time with Craig Eastmond and Kevin Amankwaah replacing Alves and Chris Dickson respectively. 

However, Dover went on to add two more goals to make it 6-0, heaping further misery on those brave souls left sprinkled around the sparse terraces.

But credit where credit is due, the visitors gave a sublime display of counter-attacking football, soaking up what pressure came their way before breaking away to devastating effect.

Moses Emmanuel helped himself to a hat-trick, Ricky Miller - the National League’s leading marksman - grabbed two and Ross Lafayette got the other as Dover journeyed back to Kent the early beneficiaries of the season of goodwill.

The match was a far from fair reflection of the capabilities of Doswell’s squad who brushed aside Aldershot 2-0 last Saturday.

Captain Jamie Collins bagged a brace to give the U’s their first league win in seven matches.

The Sutton boss accepted full responsibility for the Dover result. Talking to SUFCtv, he said: “I’m quite happy to take the blame. I made changes to make sure we had key players available for Cheltenham. These things happen in football.

“If we get a good result on Saturday and get a plum draw then I’ll look back at this as the right thing to do.”

Doswell will have no trouble lifting his team back up for this one with a potential money-spinning tie against Premier League opposition just a victory away.

Tickets for the game (kick-off 3pm) will be available on the gate priced £15 for adults, £8 concessions and £3 for u16s. More details at suttonunited.net