Good things come to those who wait - just ask Dover forward Decarrey Sheriff.

The 28-year-old reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in his career on Saturday after scoring twice in the 3-2 win over Dorking Wanderers.

“I’ve never been in the first round before so I’m happy about that,” said Sheriff.

“I've always been knocked out in the fourth qualifying round.

“It’s been a long time coming. To be honest, personally I do watch games and see it every year, and always thought it would be nice to be in that position.

“But now we're here and I'm very happy, so long may it continue.

“It's a magical competition. For me, it's the best competition in the world.”

Dover were never behind against Dorking, Sheriff putting them 2-1 ahead from the penalty spot and then extending their lead with an early strike in the second half.

The hard work has paid off for Sheriff, whose confidence has been boosted by a goal-laden start to the season.

“It couldn't have gone any better,” he beamed. “Although, to be fair, I should have scored a third as it was a sitter in my eyes.

“But, overall, the team did well, we got over the line and got the win.

“As soon as I put my foot through the penalty, I knew it was going to go in.

“I hit the second goal cleanly, but the defender put his foot out and it took a little deflection. I knew it was going in.

“I've been working hard behind the scenes to put myself in better positions, where maybe I wasn’t as confident in. It's coming to light, so long may it continue.

“A few of us stay after training and work on a few things, and that helps a lot. If you don’t try to shoot, you won’t score.

“The difference is, personally, I'm having a little bit more belief in certain areas of the pitch.”

Top scorer Sheriff already has 10 goals to his name this season.

It would be easy to set his sights on the 20-goal mark but the forward is keen to take it one game at a time.

“I don't want to speak too much about it,” he said. “I want to go game by game, league, FA Cup, whatever it may be, I just want to go game by game and help the team score goals.

“My goals help the team, just as the defenders making crucial blocks and keeping clean sheets help the forwards too.

“It’s a collective unit. We all have to work together to strive to get what we want.”

Sheriff admitted it was an advantage having played Dorking in the league seven days earlier – but the visitors also had that extra insight.

“I think it was an advantage for both sides,” he reflected. “It's cat and mouse. We knew what they were going to do, and obviously they knew what we were going to do.

“It was just a case of who was going to break out and fortunately we did.”