Ilford play Southend Manor

Ilford chief Allan Fenn thinks his side will be in for a tricky afternoon when they travel to Southend Manor on Saturday (KO 3pm).

The Foxes are on a good run of form having won five of their last seven matches in the league.

But the weekend’s hosts head into the match having put six past Sporting Bengal in midweek which Fenn fears may give them a boost.

“Southend always make things tough. They’ve got a lot of passion and enthusiasm and we’ve got to match that,” he said.

“Hopefully our quality will take over. They’ll be buoyed by their result over Bengal.

“Having said that, we put four past Bengal ourselves. Southend will be up for the match but so will my boys.”

The Cricklefields club go in to the match at the Arena Stadium following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Haringey Borough in the Essex Senior League Cup.

Despite the midweek result the Foxes supremo think his side will take heart from their performance in that game into this weekend.

“The boys are buzzing for Southend. They’re disappointed they lost but we’re really looking forward to the next game,” added Fenn.

“We’ll go there confident of getting a result. What I’ve seen against Haringey shows how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.

“We have to switch our focus to Southend and make sure we’re up for it. The boys will be motivated.”