Ray Turner has vowed to play it cool in the build-up to Faversham Town’s FA Cup trip to Maidenhead, focusing on the game as a bonus, rather than a potentially historic one.

The Town manager claims to have learned a lesson from last year’s Cup run, which ended in a 2-0 defeat at Horsham in a corresponding second qualifying round game when the Lilywhites were seen as favourites to progress.

The club have never previously been beyond this round and Saturday’s winners receive £4,500 prize money.

However, Turner revealed this week that last year he delivered what he hoped would be an inspirational pre-match team talk only for it to backfire.

He said: “I bigged it up last year and it didn’t work. We were out-of-sorts and we lost 2-0. It was a disappointing day.

“You live and learn as a manager and I probably won’t do that again this year.”
Looking ahead, he added: “Initially you think it’s a bit of a harsh draw, away at a big side but you start to look at it as a huge bonus game, a new challenge.

“We are a dangerous side. We always look capable of scoring and they’ve not had too much success at home so far, so you never know.

“We’ll go there and give it a go. You don’t want to go out wondering, there is no expectation on us this year.”

Luke Harvey and Ashley Brown are expected to be available for Saturday after returning to action against Burgess Hill on Wednesday.

Wayne Wilson is available after his one-match ban served at Burgess Hill, while Jamie Maxted and Renford Tenyue could feature. However, Darren Marsden remains out until mid-October and Maidstone loanee Jack Harris (ankle) is unlikely to be risked.