It's FA Cup time again for Bedford Town fans with visit of Canvey Island

Bedford Town fans have another exciting game in prospect on Saturday with the visit of Canvey Island in the first qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Canvey Island beat Waltham Abbey 2-1 in the preliminary round, with a 3-0 victory over St Neots Town earning Eagles their place.

And manager Gary Setchell is expecting it to be a testing encounter.

“It will be tough game, they are a good side,” said the Eagles’ boss. “I don’t think there will be a definite favourite in the game, obviously we have home advantage which would make us favourites but I don’t think there will be much between the two teams.

“It’s good to keep the fans coming. I think there were over 400 here on Monday so hopefully we can build on that for future weeks.”

Those Bank Holiday supporters saw Eagles beat their ground-share rivals Biggleswade FC 2-1 but only after suffering their first defeat of the season 1-0 at AFC Dunstable on Saturday.

Eagles conceded in the 34th minute, despite goalkeeper Alex Street getting his finger tips to Jack Harvey’s shot.

“We just didn’t do well enough,” said Setchell. “We had quite a bit of possession in the second half but I think if we had been there until today we probably wouldn’t have scored! It was a bitter blow for us, but in a season you are going to hit speed bumps so it was important to bounce back on Monday.”

And Eagles did, after going a goal down to Biggleswade just before half time at the Eyrie after a dominant first half.

“That was a big test of character,” said Setchell. “There was a little bit of pressure for the second half but they came out and scored within a minute.”

Dan Walker levelled and Danny Setchell soon made it 2-1.

“There was a lot of good play, a lot of indifferent and a little bit of poor as well,” he concluded. “We will work on the poorer things but amongst it was some good football as well.It was a great reaction from Saturday’s defeat.”

With nine points from their four games so far, Eagles are fourth in the Pitching In Southern League Division One Central, behind Berkhamsted, Didcot Town and North Leigh.

They will be back in league action next Friday (10th) hosting Hertford Town.