Boss Jake Leberl felt it was impossible to pick a Dover Athletic man-of-the-match as they pulled off an FA Cup upset at home against National League Wealdstone to move into the second round.

Midfielder Jack Bates lit-up the tie with two fantastic first-half goals in a 2-0 victory to move the in-form National League South side one round away from a possible third-round contest against Premier League champions Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Manchester United.

But those in Dover’s defence, particularly centre-half Harry Beadle, were equally brilliant on a memorable day at Crabble.

Leberl said: “What a day for the club!

“An absolutely brilliant performance and an unbelievable result against a really good Wealdstone side. I thought we were brilliant from start to finish.

“There were literally 11 men-of-the-matches - every single one of them were almost perfect.

“I’m just so pleased for everyone involved.”

But it was Bates that came up with two strikes good enough to win any tie as he moved to 10 goals for the season - five of those coming in the FA Cup.

Leberl said: “He has been doing it all season.

“To do it on the big stage, the first round of the FA Cup, just about sums him up.”

Bates’ second even drew some comparisons to Wayne Rooney’s extraordinary volley for Manchester United against Newcastle in 2005, with Bates making the most of a lay-off by Corie Andrews after good work from Ruben Soares-Junior.

“It was a brilliant move,” said Leberl. “Ruben into Corie and he's held it up really well, set Jack and he’s unleashed from 25 or 30 yards out.

“I’ve just watched it back on the video and, with how he has hit it, you cannot even see the ball go in!”

Leberl revealed that No.2 and academy manager Mike Sandmann had called Bates would get the game’s first goal ahead of kick-off as two new LED scoreboards were used at the ground in front of a crowd of 1,913 for the first time.

The project, led by Dover Athletic’s Community Trust, received fantastic support from fans while club sponsors Megger and NewsTeam also chipped in.

Leberl said: “I thank Megger for their sponsorship and the donations.

“I said to the boys that it was great to have the scoreboard back. Honestly, I felt it made a difference.

“We were having a bet before the game ‘Who’s name is going to be the first on it?’. I have to say Mike won that.

“He said Bates so fair play to him.”

While Whites found themselves well in control of the first-round tie at the break, Leberl knew the match was not over as Stones manager Gary Waddock made a quadruple half-time substitution.

“We knew they’d change it,” admitted Leberl. “They made four subs so, obviously, it takes a bit of time to get used to the markers at set-pieces and everything. But we got on top of it.

“We also were very conscious that they came from 2-0 down last weekend against Southend, beating them 3-2 and, in the back of your mind, earlier in the season, we let leads go. But I felt if we started the second half well, which we did, we could hold on.

“I thought we could have nicked a couple on the break to extend our lead.”

Whites’ win against Wealdstone also saw Leberl name his son Jude Leberl on the substitutes’ bench.

He is part of Sandmann’s academy and the striker has gained senior first-team experience at Southern Counties East League Premier Division side Faversham Strike Force. While Jude, ultimately, was an unused substitute, Leberl hoped he enjoyed the experience.

“It wasn’t planned, to be honest,” explained Leberl, without striker Decarrey Sheriff as well as defenders John Oyenuga and Jacob Roddy.

“There were nine subs and, unfortunately, John is still struggling a bit with his ankle and he pulled out of training on Thursday. It wasn’t even in my mind until the morning when we had a count-up and we were one short.

“I spoke to Mike. Jude’s in the academy with Mike and he’s been doing really well. I was a little bit reluctant, but Mike said he’s deserved the opportunity.

“I hope he’s enjoyed his day as much as everyone else.”

Indeed, Leberl Jr was one of six from the nine-strong Dover bench that either has come through the club’s youth-team system or is still part of it.

“It’s brilliant,” said Leberl. “That’s what we want to be about.

“The academy boys - and I’ve said it so many times - their attitude towards this football club and their work has been spot-on from day one.

“You never hear a moan out of them. They just get on with it. I think they’re happy to be a part of it.

“Unfortunately, I can only pick XI, which is always the most difficult part of the job.”

Dover, who have now lost just once since early September, can now look forward to Monday’s FA Cup second-round draw.

With Gillingham knocked out by non-league Barrow on the same afternoon, they’re the biggest Kent club left in the hat, with Leicester and Luton among those to have progressed to the same stage already.

“It’s the same answer as before,” said Leberl when asked who he wanted Dover to be drawn against next in the competition. “We either want a really big one - the biggest one there is - or the minnow, if there are any minnows left in.

“That’s where we are at. Let’s not get carried away.

“We have got some important league games (coming up) and we really want to push on in the league. We don’t want this season to be just about the FA Cup. We don’t want to distract from the league because we want to go on and have a good season.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”

Whites will be at home to Isthmian Premier Burgess Hill in the FA Trophy second round next weekend as defensive midfielder Luca Cocoracchio makes his first Crabble comeback.