Former Town man Mark Brennan is looking forward to Saturday's FA Cup match against his old side at the weekend. Brennan is club captain of Dagenham and Redbridge, but looks likely to have a place on the bench at Victoria Road.

Brennan still has a soft spot for the club he left back in the summer of 1988: "Bobby Ferguson and John Duncan were the managers I played under. But Bobby [Robson] was still around the place when I went there as an apprentice in 1982.

"This match has been on my mind ever since the draw was made because I still have a great deal of feeling for the club and still have a lot of friends in the area. Even though I come from Blackburn, it was a club that always attracted me.

"They were famous for their youth policy when I went there and Portman Road is the place where I learned to play football. They had this great family feeling at the club and from what I hear they still do. I made more than 250 appearances for them.

"But it was difficult at first. When I went there all the talk was of the UEFA Cup win and with people like Eric Gates and John Wark around, as well as the Dutch pair Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen, it was difficult to get in the side."

The midfielder says that his current side have not been playing that well lately, but expects them to give Town a tough test: "I'm a bit worried that we're not playing as well as we can at the moment, because we'll have to be at our best if we are to cause them problems.

"What we must do is close them down and make life as difficult as possible for them. Despite their position in the table everyone knows that they are a class footballing side. So as a team we must work to give them no time on the ball.

"They seem to have found some form in recent games and Marcus Stewart, who was so important to them last season, is on the way back.

"Their poor position in the table won't count for much when we play them. But we are hoping they might find the conditions at Dagenham uncomfortable.

"It's a tight ground with not much room. There will be a full house and when they take corners and throw-ins they will feel the atmosphere."

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