CHELMSFORD City boss Glenn Pennyfather has his fingers crossed that his team require no luck when they take on npower Football League One club Crawley Town away from home in the FA Cup Second Round this Saturday, hoping they can display the same credentials which caused an upset against Colchester United.

He leads his team out at the Broadfield Stadium at 3:00pm with the humbling of the U's in the back of his mind as the Clarets aim to give around 1,100 away supporters, and the watching ITV cameras, another historic occasion to focus on.

Chelmsford have the opportunity to place themselves amongst the Premier League clubs in Round Three and collect another £27,000 in prize money if they’re successful.

“We’re just going to go out there, enjoy the game and express ourselves,” explained the City Manager, whose team are currently fourth in the Blue Square Bet South.

“I know the players will give me their best, because they’re all honest lads. We’ve been in the Second Round for three years in a row now, so maybe this is third time lucky and we’ll make it through.”

Defenders Kenny Clark and Nicolas Bondon will both serve suspensions for this match due to red cards against Basingstoke Town and Dover Athletic respectively.

Central midfielder David Bridges will also be missing through injury, but Glenn otherwise has the rest of his squad to select from.

The Clarets' boss has been interviewed by BBC 5Live and TalkSport amongst others this week, while The Sun took the FA Cup to his home for a photo shoot.

He admits to loving the extra publicity for the club, which Town enjoyed themselves when they met Manchester United a few years ago. Glenn said: “We'd have liked a home draw, but it’s not long since Crawley were non-league like us, so they’ll know all about giant killings.

"There’s a gulf in league positions at the moment since their meteoric rise thanks to financial backing and the money from their own cup runs. They’re now a really top League One side.”

Colchester were also in good form in the third tier when the teams met last month and the Clarets claimed the headlines with a 3-1 win.

Pennyfather wants his players to harness the belief they took from that match, while he prepares just as thoroughly off the pitch with Player-Assistant, David Rainford. “We’ve got a lot of information on them,” he added.

“I’ve seen them a couple of times and watched DVDs, so we’ll be doing all our usual homework so we can be as ready as we possibly can. We need to counter their strengths and exploit any weaknesses.

"We have to be on top form and hope they’re below par, with a little bit of added luck.

"Although we didn’t need luck against Colchester, and Joe Dunne was very complimentary of us after that game, so I was immensely proud of the team.”

He has several decisions to make before he chooses his final eleven, although the postponement of Monday night’s FA Trophy with Hampton & Richmond Borough cleared the pre-match midweek schedule.

Glenn continued: “I’ll be sleeping on the line-up, and David and I will throw ideas about right up until decision time.”

“You have to earmark certain players to do certain jobs. The Hampton postponement was of benefit on one hand because it was another week for some of our injured players to get back to full fitness who may not have been available.

"But we still have to play it some time and next week it’ll come before an important league game at Salisbury City. We know success breeds big games like these, though, and we’ll accept it as a sign of the progress we’re making.”