They may be the underdogs but manager Mark Benterman believes his Halstead Town players can go to Great Yarmouth and book their place in the final of the Thurlow Nunn League First Division Knockout Cup today.

Benterman (pictured) feels hosts Great Yarmouth Town will be strong favourites to progress, but he has been buoyed by their recent form that has seen just one defeat since a 3-0 loss to the Norfolk side before Christmas.

Halstead head into the game on the back of last weekend’s 3-1 win at Braintree Town Reserves in Thurlow Nunn League division one.

They remain ninth in the table, while Yarmouth are in the heart of the promotion battle at the top of the pile, but the Humbugs boss is backing his players to set up a final date against either Haverhill Borough or AFC Sudbury Reserves.

He said: “We go there as underdogs as Great Yarmouth are definitely favourites.

“They are at home, they are third in the league while we are ninth and they beat us when we faced them before Christmas.

“However, we believe in ourselves.

“We believe that on our day we can beat anyone and our squad will be the strongest that we can put out.

“Jimmy Laird is the only one who will be missing as he is cup tied, but – as it stands – we have everyone else available and we believe we can go there and get a result. "