Luke Williams is relishing the chance to lead Town on a potential Emirates FA Cup run this season but is under no illusions as to how tough an obstacle Eastleigh will prove to be tomorrow evening.
The Robins head to the Silverlake Stadium on Friday night (7.55pm Kick-Off) to take on the Spitfires live on BBC Two in the First Round of the competition.
Eastleigh are going well under Ronnie Moore on the domestic front and boast plenty of experience in their squad, but Williams has full faith in his team to go and get the job done and secure their place in the Second Round of the FA Cup.
“I’m desperate to try and have a good run in the FA Cup because I’ve not experienced that yet and just a victory in the cup would be fantastic,” he told the local media.
“I went to watch Eastleigh the other week and they are a very competitive team in their division and they are going to be pumped up. There was a really good crowd there that was behind them.
“It is going to be a difficult game, we know that, and we’re going to prepare for that as well and as thoroughly as we can and take nothing for granted.
“Eastleigh feel like this is the right time for them to invest a lot of money at the level they are at, they’ve done that and I think they’ve done it really wisely.
“I looked at a few of the names on the back of the shirts the other week and I remember these players playing plenty of league games, so they will be a very strong side and we know that.
“We totally back ourselves as well and we believe we are a strong side and we will go have a ding dong.
“I’m sure it will be more like a League One game than seeing a league team playing against a minnow from non-league football – it won’t be like that.
“We’ll have to be fully prepared for that.
“From today until kick-off we’ll be focusing on trying to win a game of football and, yes there’s a big gap between the two teams in terms of division, but I don’t think there is an enormous gap in terms of the experience of the two teams and the quality of the two teams.
“It is a lot closer than that so we have to make sure that we’re at the top of our game.”
Williams also revealed that the mood in the camp has been positive this week as the Reds look to add consistency to their game.
“The mood has been good and very reflective of what has been happening this season,” he continued.
“There have been so many ups and downs. We’ve won so convincingly at times and then been so poor at times and been convincingly beaten, so there is a lot of soul searching to try and find consistency.
“The mood at the moment is one of reflection.”
