Goldberg says team spirit can propel Ravens to an upset in the FA Cup

Bromley manager Mark Goldberg believes his side has the talent and character to make it third time lucky on Saturday by upsetting Leyton Orient in the FA Cup.

The tie at Brisbane Road on Saturday will mark the third time in five years that the Hayes Lane club have reached the first round of the historic competition.

In the 2006-07 campaign, the Ravens lost 4-1 at Gillingham – although the scoreline was flattered by two late goals – and took 1,485 fans with them to Priestfield.

Two years ago, Colchester United visited Hayes Lane and ran out comfortable 4-0 victors.

Having beaten Welling United, Margate and Dartford to reach this stage, Goldberg has his eyes on an even bigger shock.

“Since we recovered from our defeat last weekend we’ve been looking forward to it,” he said.

“We’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain. We want to go there, enjoy it and give the fans something to cheer about.

“We want to be in the game with 25 minutes to go. If we can do that then anything can happen.

“Against Gillingham we were in the game at that stage. However, against Colchester we enjoyed the build-up and then let the game pass us by on the day.

“This time we have enjoyed the build-up, but let’s hope we’ll have something to celebrate on Saturday night as well.”

Tutu Henriques, who played against Gillingham and Colchester, is likely to start in midfield, but the manager has doubts over the fitness of Bradley Goldberg, Hakeem Araba – who lives in Leyton, Gareth Williams and Salifou Ibrahima.

“It’s a bit of shame that we’ve taken our eye off the ball in the league recently and we’re disappointed with where we are in the table (17th),” added Goldberg.

“But we do really believe that on our day we can beat anyone in our league and potentially beyond our league.

“The table shows that we are inconsistent, but that’s because we’ve got a new team this season.

“The spirit is the best it’s been since I’ve been at the club and, even though we’ve got one of the lowest budgets, we’ve got the right type of characters.

“I think we can build something very strong at this club if we can keep everyone together.”

Leyton Orient, who drew 1-1 at home to Hartlepool United on Saturday, reached the fifth round of the FA Cup last season, where they were beaten by Arsenal in a replay, after drawing at home.

After a slow start to the campaign, Russell Slade’s men are unbeaten in their past eight matches and the Orient boss would like a repeat of last year’s odyssey.

“It promises to be a big occasion,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it and let’s hope we can get somewhere close to where we ended up last season.”