CONCORD Rangers manager Danny Cowley admits he is excited at the prospect of visiting his former club AFC Hornchurch in the Essex Senior Cup semi-final.

The Beach Boys were drawn away at either Hornchurch or Redbridge in the last four yesterday, with Cowley’s Conference South the highest ranked team now left in the competition.

Danny, along with brother and assistant manager Nicky, used to play for the Urchins although Cowley says whoever comes out on top in their quarter-final (played next Tuesday) will be a tough opponent.

“It will be a hard game either way,” he said. “Both are big clubs and have earned the right to get this far. We will get someone down to watch the game so we can prepare in the right way.

“We are very proud to be holders of this competition and it hasn’t been retained for a while now (Thurrock were the last team to retain the title in the 2004/05 season). There are bigger clubs than us in the competition but we will be giving it our all to get to the final once again.”

Concord beat Dagenham & Redbridge last week to set up the semi-final tie, and they have picked up where they left off after the penalty shoot-out triumph.

After beating fourth-placed Whitehawk on Saturday, they won 1-0 at third-placed Havant & Waterlooville on Tuesday, thanks to Tony Stokes’ individual strike after only 49 seconds.

And Cowley said it was a remarkable win for his side, daubing Havant, who had two men later sent off, as “the best team in the league with the ball”.

“They have a lot of possession,” he said. “They must have had 70 per cent of the play but we frustrated them and they lost their discipline.

“Stokesy scored a brilliant goal for us and all our forwards are chipping in at the moment. (Lewis) Taaffe and Steve (Cawley) looked revitalised at the weekend and Joe (Gardner) and Tony came in and did brilliantly too. It is great for competition as if the player next to you is doing well then that can push you onto a higher level.”

l Billericay Town beat Brightlingsea Regent on penalties to book a semi-final clash at Aveley.

The game, which had been re-arranged three times due to the New Lodge pitch being waterlogged, burst into life when Rowan Liburd put Town ahead. But an equaliser sent the game to spot-kicks, with Town prevailing 3-2.

The semi-final matches will be played on or before February 28.