The FA Cup is the biggest competition in the country and Walthamstow will be hoping to spoil Hornchurch’s party insists manager Mark Stimson.
The Urchins will welcome the in-form Essex Senior League side to Bridge Avenue on Saturday for the second qualifying round tie.
“It’s FA Cup, it’s massive, it’s the best competition in this country and it’s known world wide,” Stimson said.
“Walthamstow are going to come and want to spoil our party like we spoilt a lot of parties last year, so we’ve got to make sure we do our stuff right, then we’ll get a positive result.”
Hornchurch endured mixed fortunes as they suffered a 1-0 loss to Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday, but they bounced back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over Margate on Tuesday evening.
Ben Greenhalgh opened the scoring early for Gate in the second-half, but his effort was cancelled out by a brace from in-form striker Sam Higgins.
“The two results, one positive, and one not so positive as such but against two good sides. I went on record to say Bishop’s Stortford will be up there amongst it.
“They pipped us 1-0 in a really tight game. Both teams not creating many chances, to come away with a loss was disappointing, but it was then about how we reacted against a team who hadn’t been beaten.
“First-half both sides were going for it and couldn’t score, second-half we came out and they got quite a fortunate goal.
“The reaction after that was outstanding from the boys involved, although we had a couple missing, the boys that stepped in really stood up to that challenge to come away with a real well-deserved win.”
The boss was full of praise for Sam Higgins who took his tally up to eight goals in all competitions while the Urchins have also brought in new faces Jili Buyabu and Maxwell Statham.
“Sam is all about service, if you get the ball into him, he’s proven at the level and the level above but you have to get the ball into him.
“We didn’t get the ball into him on Saturday so it was impossible for him to do anything whereas last night (Tuesday) we had a couple of wide players that really got beyond their full-backs.
“Young full-back Maxwell Statham making his debut at right-back he even put a cross in for the second.
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