Sittingbourne manager Reece Prestedge discusses the Brickies’ FA Cup preliminary round tie at Erith & Belvedere this weekend

Sittingbourne face lower-league opposition in the FA Cup this weekend - but manager Reece Prestedge is taking nothing for granted.

The Isthmian South East Brickies visit Southern Counties East Premier Division side Erith & Belvedere in a preliminary round tie on Saturday (3pm).

On paper, it’s a game the Brickies are favourites to win but Prestedge warned: “It’s a tough first game for us.

“No one’s going to take it lightly. We’ll go out there with every intention to try and get through to the next round.”

Prestedge was assistant manager when Sittingbourne reached the FA Cup third qualifying round and FA Trophy quarter-finals two seasons ago.

He would love another run while remaining conscious of league ambitions.

“We’ve had a good go in the cups. Will it happen every year? Probably not,” said Prestedge.

“But the FA Cup and the FA Trophy are the ones that you want to go so far in.

“It can be a bit of a catch-22 when you want to be up there in the league.

“You do well in the cups and then you’re playing catch-up in the league.

“We’ll give it a good go. We’ll win as many games as we can and then we’ll focus on the league.

“You want to go out there and put in performances in the games when you’re probably favourites.

“I think you’ve got to put performances in and end up winning those games and when you’re underdogs, just give it a good go and see what happens.”

Sittingbourne showed character to force a 1-1 draw against Cray Valley in their first home game of the season last weekend.

Trailing to a goal from veteran striker Chris Dickson, summer signing Jordy Mongoy levelled in the seventh minute of added time in front of a crowd of 350 at Woodstock.

“Our mentality is to be getting three points at home but Cray Valley are a