Kieran McKenna says Town have given National League South Maidstone full respect ahead of Saturday’s live-on-BBC One Emirates FA Cup fourth-round tie at Portman Road (KO 12.30pm).

The Blues, secondin the Championship, will be looking to reach round five for the first time since 2007, while the Stones are already in uncharted FA Cup territory.

Town beat AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in round three at Plough Lane, while Maidstone have already played six games to get to this stage of the competition.

They first won 4-1 away at ninth-tier Steyning Town in the second qualifying round in September.

A 2-0 victory at seventh-tier Winchester City followed before 2-0 win at fellow sixth-tier side Torquay United saw them into the first round proper.

Chesham United, also seventh tier, were vanquished 2-0 in another away fixture before the Stones defeated League Two Barrow - who knocked Town out of the competition in 2021/22 - 2-1 at their Gallagher Stadium home.

Earlier this month, Sam Corne’s penalty in first-half injury time saw the Kent side to a 1-0 win at home to League One Stevenage and into round four for the first time in their history.

“We've given them the full respect that they deserve,” McKenna said. “They've won six games to get to this point, have knocked out a team doing really well in League Two and a team doing really well in League One in the last round and there's no doubt they'll want to take another step on top of that.

“They've certainly deserved the respect with the terrific run that they've done to get to this point and we've paid them that respect with the preparation.

“We've watched all the relevant games as we normally would do, analysed them as best as we can and tried to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

“It's always a bit more challenging when you're playing a team from that division, partly because of how the transfer windows work differently and how you can move in-season, so they've had quite a high turnover of players.

“They've got quite a few that they've brought in that are cup-tied for this game, they've lost some who are doing really well for them and there's some new signings that they've made as well.

“The turnover tends to be a little bit higher and that means we've got a little bit more research to do, but we've prepared as well as we can for the game and I think the work that [manager] George [Elokobi] and his team have done fully deserves that.”

Despite the lower level of the opposition, McKenna wants the same performance from his team as he would hope for in a Championship match.

“The demands are pretty set for us and we wouldn't expect any drop of that tomorrow,” he said.

“It's full concentration for the game, prepare as well as you properly can and then go out and play with intensity and spirit and try and attack as much as we possibly can and do our defensive jobs really well.

“That's going to be the goal of the performance and that's what we'll try and live up to.

“We know we're coming into the tie as the favourites and the story is Maidstone's terrific journey to get to this point. We're there to be shot at as the favourites in the tie and we know our responsibilities within that are to go out and perform well and make sure we do enough to get through to the next round.

“On top of that, there's a fantastic crowd that's going to be in the stadium, we're looking at 27,000-plus which is fantastic for a cup game that's televised anyway.

“We know Maidstone are bringing a big crowd as well and we expect there to be a good atmosphere, and we expect a really lively cup tie. We're looking forward to that and we know what our responsibilities are within that.”

Quizzed on whether any Maidstone players had crossed his radar during his days working as an academy coach, McKenna said: “Of course, with [George] Fowler having been here and in the same youth team as Luke Woolfenden and having played for the club in the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace, he’s really well known to all the staff.

“Gavin Hoyte I came across as a youth team player [at Arsenal], [Harry] Kyprianou played with Rene [Gilmartin], the goalkeeping coach, at Watford.

“Football’s a small world, there are always some players who have played with different people, I think there are a few other links in the squad.

“At National League South level there are always players who have been in the higher leagues and had different experiences.

“No really close links for me personally, but the link with Fowler who was here is a nice one for him.

“Other than that, we’ve analysed all the players individually with the full respect that we normally would and we’ll be as ready as we can for a difficult game.”

McKenna says the team he fields will be a strong one: “We're a little bit down on numbers at the moment with the international tournaments that are on and some injuries, but we're training with 18/19 senior players on a daily basis from an outfielder point of view.

“Every single one of them is here because I trust them to perform and contribute for us, but, of course, we'll make changes, that's important.

“We've had a busy first half of the season and we've got a really busy month coming up in February, so we need people in the squad to be game-ready and to have minutes in their legs and be ready to contribute.

“We'll make changes but I fully trust everyone in the dressing room to contribute to a good team performance, so that's what we'll be looking for.”

The Blues boss is likely to start Christian Walton in goal but the rest of the defence is difficult to second guess.

Cameron Humphreys could perhaps start at left-back and Dominic Ball at right-back with two from Axel Tuanzebe, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson the centre-halves.

Skipper Sam Morsy has served his suspension and in any case would be available for the FA Cup and the Egyptian international is likely to start alongside Jack Taylor at the centre of midfield.

McKenna has numerous options for the three in front of the double pivot with Sone Aluko perhaps getting a start in the middle with Jeremy Sarmiento making his full Town debut on one side and Omari Hutchinson on the other. Nathan Broadhead could start as the out-and-out striker.

Maidstone manager George Elokobi knows the game is a big occasion, 4,480 fans will be travelling from Kent and filling most of the Cobbold Stand, but says it’s important that his team - about whom you can read more on this TWTD Blog - show their qualities on the pitch.

“It’s going to be an incredible day for us - it’s not just win-win, it’s win-win-win really,” he said following a 1-1 National League South draw at home to Braintree Town on Tuesday.

“It’s a win for Maidstone United Football Club and it is a win for our community. We want to showcase ourselves the best way we know how to.

“We need to go there and enjoy the occasion, but also let’s be competitive. We want to go there and give our fans something to shout about - we’ll be ready.

“It’s not about going there and silencing Portman Road, it’s about flying our flag high.

“I want our fans to enjoy it because they deserve this day. Take lots of videos, take lots of photos, have a drink and make the most of it. We know it’s going to be very difficult, but we are going to be ready.”

He added: “We’ve worked so hard to get to this point so we deserve to enjoy the moment and relish it.

“The message has been to keep our focus on the league but enjoy the attention that is coming with the FA Cup, because moments like this don’t happen very often at this level.”

Cameroonian Elokobi, a one-time Colchester United player, has less than fond memories of Portman Road having suffered a dislocated knee when facing the Blues for Mick McCarthy’s Wolves in a 2-0 victory in August 2008, an injury which kept him out of first-team action for more than eight months.

He credits former Town boss McCarthy as pushing him towards football management and the ex-Republic of Ireland manager was at the victory over Stevenage in the previous round.

“I never thought I could be a manager, it was Mick McCarthy who encouraged me to go for it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“He saw management qualities in me I didn’t see. I still reach out to him, he is my mentor. He is always there to pick up the phone, he doesn’t wait five hours, he rings me back in five minutes.”

The teams have never met in a competitive fixture but twice faced one another in friendlies in 1990 during the Stones’ three-year spell in the Football League which ended when they went bust at the start of the 1992/93 season, leading to the reformation of the club and a drop to the Kent County League Fourth Division.

In February 1990 the teams played a behind closed doors match which ended 2-1 to the Kent side, then in the following August, the Blues won 1-0 away in a 40 minutes-a-half pre-season game played at at Corinthian FC in front of a crowd of 800, Ian Redford netting the game’s only goal from 25 yards in the 68th minute.

No current Town player has featured for Maidstone but the visitors’ squad includes former Blues academy defender and ex-Debenham High School pupil Fowler, who made one senior appearance for the Blues in the Carabao Cup at Crystal Palace in August 2017, and another defender Reiss Greenidge, who had a trial at Town in 2015, featuring for the U21s, coincidentally on one occasion in a squad which featured Fowler.

The draw for the fifth round will take place live on ITV1 on Sunday afternoon ahead of the Liverpool-Norwich City fourth-round tie and on the FA’s social media channels. Town or Maidstone will be ball number nine.

Fifth round ties will be played during the week commencing Monday 26th February.

Saturday’s referee is Premier League official Anthony Taylor, who has shown 126 yellow cards and four red in 27 games so far this season.

Cheshire-based official Taylor’s most recent Town match was the 1-1 play-off semi-final first leg draw with Norwich at Portman Road in May 2015 in which he yellow-carded Paul Anderson and two Canaries.

Prior to that, his last Blues game was the 1-0 home victory over Derby in October 2009 which ended Roy Keane’s Blues’ winless league start to that season at the 15th attempt.

Squad from: Hladky, Walton, Slicker, Clarke, Davis, Humphreys, Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Travis, Luongo, Taylor, Ball, Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Hutchinson, Sarmiento, Jackson, Buabo.

Photo: TWTD

backwaywhen added 19:47 - Jan 26 No stone left unturned …..excuse the pun .
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pensionerblue added 20:10 - Jan 26 Remember the FA cup match against Lincoln who at that time were a non league team in 2017.The game ended in a 2-2 draw and I recall that the Lincoln following occupied the whole of the Cobbold stand giving vociferous backing to their team throughout the match outdoing our own support. Tomorrow is another day and we are a much better team than we were in 2017. Our fans also have a big part to play and let’s hear it for the Super Blues.

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bobble added 02:50 - Jan 27 hope maidstone beat us 1-0....
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oldblue added 09:26 - Jan 27 You said Morsy can play yet not in the squad you named ..?
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 09:56 - Jan 27 We're on tv. Their supporters are a little bit cocky (some of them, anyway). Let's go and smash 'em! (Not literally!) COYB!
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