Manager Mark Benterman hopes his Halstead Town team can use their early season sharpness to spring an FA Cup upset against Newmarket Town at the Milbanks Stadium tomorrow.

The game has been moved to Sunday and the kick-off to 2pm to try to attract a bigger than usual crowd as all gate receipts will be going to help two Newmarket players who were injured in an accident last month.

The Jockeys’ Shaun Whiter and Joey Abbs were injured in the incident on July 1 after they had stopped to change a car tyre, with Whiter having to have both legs amputated and Abbs suffering leg injuries.

The Humbugs are hoping a big crowd will bring in plenty of cash for the duo, but they are looking to be less charitable on the pitch as they aim for progress past the FA Cup extra preliminary round.

A preliminary round tie at Thurrock as well as a £1,500 prize awaits the winners and Halstead head into the game in a positive mood.

While Newmarket are still to get their Thurlow Nunn League premier division campaign up and running, the Humbugs already have two Thurlow Nunn League division one wins – 2-1 against Needham Market Reserves and 4-0 against AFC Sudbury Reserves – under their belts.

Halstead elected to have two early games to make sure they were fully prepared for the FA Cup tie and with six points in the bag, Benterman feels it is a ploy that has worked for his team.

He said: “It’s good to have points on the board and to have had two very competitive games before the FA Cup tie.

“That means so much to us so we can be fully focused on it and be ready for Newmarket.

“I know they haven’t had a league game yet and that’s their choice, but we wanted as many as we could get.

“It seems to have worked for us both on and off the pitch as we have had two big crowds, taken six points and scored six goals and we will have high expectations against a higher-placed club.

“We didn’t make it into the FA Cup last year as we missed out on it by a few points from the season before so we’re looking forward to it this year.

“The club hasn’t seen much progression in the FA Cup for ten to 15 years and while it’s great to be in it, it doesn’t mean as much if you don’t get past the first round so we’ll be looking to do that this year.

“We’ll go out and give it our best and if we fully apply ourselves and come up short then we’ll hold our hands up, but we believe we can get through to the next round.

Continued on page 31 “We’ll approach it with caution as you don’t know who you’ll get in games like this against higher-placed opposition, but we have to make sure that we use our sharpness to the best effect.

“We have had two games now and we will take the game to them.

“We will look to be compact like we were against Sudbury on Tuesday when our shape off the ball was great and to break them down and score goals when we do have the ball.”

Benterman said Jake Brown is unavailable for the game and Sam Cripps is still about a week away from returning from a groin problem, but Ricky Spriggs would be back.

Sunday’s game is being sponsored by Hume’s Bakery and Benterman said he was pleased to be able to support a good cause.

He added: “Money from the gate receipts, the raffle and a collection around the ground will go to the fund that has been set up for the players.

“It is a great cause and hopefully we’ll get a lot of people there on Sunday for the game.

“We’ve had almost 400 for our first two league games, so we’re hoping for another big crowd on Sunday.”