Maidstone United defender George Fowler hopes to cause major FA Cup upset on his return to Ipswich Town

Ex-Debenham High School pupil and current Maidstone United defender George Fowler says the Stones are heading into tomorrow’s Emirates FA Cup clash at Ipswich Town with ‘optimism’ that they can ‘catch’ his former side ‘off guard’.

The Blues and Maidstone will face each other in the Fourth Round after the 26-year-old helped the lowest-ranked side left in the competition overcome League 1 Stevenage 1-0 in the previous round.

The former Town defender made just one first-team appearance for the Portman Road outfit, which came in a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace in the Second Round of the Carabao Cup in 2017, when Mick McCarthy was at the helm. And Fowler admitted that he is ‘excited to be going back’ to a place that he has ‘fond memories’ of.

“We’re fully aware that we’re coming up against a much stronger opposition than we’ve played so far, a team in the Championship who are trying to get back into the Premier League,” he said.

“We’re aware of the quality that we’re coming up against but at the same time, they’ll be aware that we’ve played a League 2 team in Barrow, and beat them, and a League 1 team in Stevenage and beaten them.

“So we’re going with some optimism that we can catch them off guard and not even necessarily get a draw and bring them back here, which would be another great occasion, but you never know we might even be able to get the win.

“We’re not going out there to hold out and see how we get on as there’s obviously hope that we can get a result.”

The National League South outfit’s tie with the Championship’s second-placed side will be broadcast live on BBC One (12.30pm).

When the fourth-round draw was made, Fowler admitted that most of the players were ‘a bit gutted’ as they were hoping for a Premier League