Jay Saunders desperate to take high-flying Tonbridge Angels on FA Cup run after recent early exits

Jay Saunders is desperate to lead Tonbridge Angels on an FA Cup run to go with their flying start in the league.

Things could hardly be going better for Saunders’ unbeaten side in National League South.

They climbed to third place with last weekend’s goalless draw at Chippenham and have kept five clean sheets on the spin.

But attention turns to the FA Cup this Saturday (3pm) as Tonbridge take on Isthmian League Merstham at Longmead.

They’re out to improve a poor recent record which has seen them fail to win a game since their historic run to the first round in 2021.

Saunders has lost 4-0 to Binfield and 4-2 to Haringey Borough in his two seasons in charge.

He twice reached the second round as Maidstone manager and would love to take Tonbridge on a cup run.

“I don’t care what anyone says, you do need a bit of luck in the FA Cup, you need things to go your way,” said Saunders.

“First and foremost, we wanted a home draw against lower opposition and we’ve got that.

“But we won’t be taking it lightly because we’ve watched Merstham and they’ve got players that can hurt you.

“In a one-off game, you’ve got to be right, you’ve got to prepare right and hopefully we can get over the line.

“It’s never easy but a cup run is important and that’s what we’d like to do.

“There’s no doubt about it, everyone wants a cup run like Maidstone had last year.

“It can set a club up for a long time.

“I’ve got to say, the club have been brilliant since I’ve come in, they’ve never said you’ve got to do this or you’ve got to do that in the league or the FA Cup.

“But as a management team and a group of players we’ve got things we want to do.

“It’s a banana skin on Saturday, it’s a lot of pressure on the boys but we’re desperate to get through for the