ANTHONY LIMBRICK has warned his Woking side that Concord Rangers will be feel like it’s a cup final when the two sides meet in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round at the Laithwaite’s Community Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
The Cards head into the game in third place in the National League and have won five out of their last six matches and haven’t lost since the start of September.
They face National League South strugglers Concord, but despite the opposition sitting 21st in the league below with just two wins all season, Limbrick wants to put in a professional performance and go on a cup run.
He told Radio Woking Sport: “It’s a good draw for us at home but this will be like their cup final so they’ll be well up for it so we’ll do our research and make sure we’re ready.”
“It’s only early in the season but we’ll still be taking the game seriously regardless of where they are in the league. I know the history at Woking with cup runs. It’s an important game for us, we’re going to try and advance as far as we can in the cup.”
The Cards have been handed a boost ahead of the tie as Charlton loanee Regan Charles-Cook being granted permission to play by his parent club with the midfielder scoring three goals in his last three home fixtures.
Nathan Baxter and Jamie Philpot are also likely to be available, whilst Jason Banton, Nathan Ralph and Joey Jones are back in full training and in contention alongside the returning Richard Orlu.
The Woking boss, who will experience his first taste of this competition tomorrow, has hinted that he may make changes in the forward department, and stressed his vast amount of options available.
“You’ve got to remember that with those attacking players they do a lot of work for our team such as pressing and a lot of running so sometimes we do need to freshen that up.”
“We’ve got good options across that frontline behind the striker and there is healthy competition for places. It’s a small squad so they all know their roles and they understand they will play and get opportunities and they have taken their opportunities.”
Josh Staunton won’t be available after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the win against Dagenham and Redbridge last week. However, he has reiterated how his side must perform now that they are the favourites against a side who have not won in their last five games.
He said: “Everyone loves the FA Cup and it’s going to be another tough game, Concord will play with nothing to lose and we’re going to be the favourites so we’ve got to put in a performance and get the job done.”
Chez Isaac has filled in as interim captain in Orlu’s absence, and wants to continue their winning run even if there aren’t any points on offer to continue the momentum.
He added: “Whatever game we want to play in we want to win and winning breeds winning and that’s what we want to keep doing. The manager wants a good cup run and get into the hat for the first round proper.”