Cox wants to see more from Poppies in replay

Paul Cox knows there is an opportunity in front of Kettering Town tonight (Tuesday).

The Poppies have a ‘bonus’ game under the lights at Latimer Park this evening after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Spalding United in the second qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday.

Kettering looked to be heading through thanks to substitute Claudio Ofosu’s second-half strike but Nathan Stainfield levelled things up in the sixth minute of injury-time to earn the Step 4 outfit a replay.

The winners of tonight’s clash know they will travel to Leamington in the third qualifying round after the draw was made yesterday lunchtime.

But Cox knows better than anyone what these types of matches can potentially lead to and he believes his squad have a bit more to show than what they produced in Lincolnshire at the weekend.

“This is now our next game and this is the biggest club cup competition in the world,” the Poppies boss said.

“Myself, John (assistant-manager Ramshaw) and Ben (coach Marvin) have been in these scenarios.

“I can remember at Mansfield Town we played Slough who were in the Southern League at the time and we were lucky to draw 1-1 at home and we ended up going through on penalties.

“In the end, we played Liverpool in the third round so that’s an example of it. Our focus is on the next game and trying to get through to the next round.

“We are having to teach these young players that if you don’t punish teams then they will come back at you.

“At any level of football you have to earn respect and we have to do that in the replay.

“We are on our own pitch and we know we will get another tough game.

“I think we have another 20 to 25 per cent more in us than we showed on Saturday and we will be looking for the lads to play with a certain intensity tonight.”