GRAVESEND & Northfleet manager Andy Ford believes his team are capable of going to the McAlpine Stadium on Saturday and beating Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup first round. The non-league outfit have been in excellent form for most of the season and Ford says they can take this confidence into the game against the Nationwide League Division 2 club.

He said: “We can definitely beat them. Both my assistant and I have watched them play in recent weeks and we've also got some reports from Notts County and former Brighton & Hove Albion boss Micky Adams. We know their weaknesses and their strengths and we've put together a game plan to try and frustrate them.

“We appreciate there is a massive gap between ourselves and them. After all, they played in the First Division last season but we'll go out there and give it our best shot.”

The Fleet currently sit in second place in the Ryman League's Premier Division and, with promotion into the Nationwide Conference a real possibility, Ford insists the cup run is a big bonus.He stressed: “The FA Cup isn't the priority because, at the end of the season, what people look at is how well you did in the league not how unlucky you were to go out in the cup.

“However, the financial rewards of this run have been excellent and it's not gone unnoticed. We should make around £20,000 plus in gate receipts."

The exact attendance for the tie is uncertain with supporters paying at the turnstiles on the day but, with around 1,000 fans travelling up from Kent, Fleet's players are looking forward to performing in front of a big crowd.

Fleet skipper Jimmy Jackson said: “We're chuffed to bits with the draw, hopefully we can perform now. In front of all those supporters you really want to put in a good display. We've set our standards pretty high and have performed brilliantly in recent weeks. We'll go to Huddersfield very confident and I'm sure we can get a result.”

The draw for the second round will be televised live on BBC1 at 3pm on Sunday.