Dover boss fancies Hammers tie

A goal from skipper Conner Essam seven minutes from time secured a 1-0 win over Cheltenham and took the Conference side through.

Kinnear said: "I teach PE in the east end of London so West Ham would be perfect for me as my kids would fill the ground up.

"When I left school I was an apprentice at West Ham when Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst were there so I'd love to get them. And I really respect Sam (Allardyce) - he's the manager that I'd love to be really.

"It's a magnificent day for the club and I think we deserved it," Kinnear added. "We didn't play great but we were always in the game and always looked likely to nick a goal because, as a bunch of lads, they never give up.

"Cheltenham were under a lot of pressure and we had talked about that. It was all about the money for them. We are flying at the moment so I think there was a lot more pressure on them than us.

"We told the lads that they had a great chance. Not knocking Cheltenham but they're not going through the best of times so we thought we could do it.

"There'll be some celebrations but I've got to go back to work tomorrow. To be honest, I'm always looking to do well in the league because hand on heart, when you are out of the cup people forget about any run that you've had.

"That said, it raises the profile and means we can get those players to want to be at a club that's really on the up."

Cheltenham's best chances came either side of half-time, Terry Gornell having an effort deflected against the outside of the post and Jason Taylor sending a shot soaring over the target.

But it was the non-leaguers who finished the stronger with Tyrone Sterling hitting the upright before Essam bagged the winner.

Cheltenham manager Paul Buckle said: "I'm bitterly disappointed for the supporters and the board. This was a golden opportunity for us to get into the third round. We were at home and had a positive result against Oxford that sort of stopped the rot in terms of conceding too many goals.

"It was there for us and we trained right in the week but it never happened for us. We needed to score that first goal. We had chances and got in great areas but never had that killer touch that was needed.

"I think it was pretty even game, neither side had sustained pressure. We weren't positive enough. You need to put the efforts away if you want to progress.

"There's a lot of hard work to be done out on the training field to get us winning and to try and get us up the league again."