BRANTHAM Athletic manager Paul Skingley hopes his side can cause an upset tonight.

His Imps team welcome title-chasing Stanway Rovers to the Brantham Leisure Centre for a Thurlow Nunn League derby (kick-off 7.45pm).

Stanway are second in the premier division table and moved to within four points of leaders Norwich United by winning 1-0 at fellow high-fliers Felixstowe and Walton United on Tuesday night.

Skingley knows his young side face a tough task against relentless opposition.

However, he believes anything is possible and hopes his team can bounce back to winning ways following Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Mildenhall.

“Stanway’s form has been incredible,” said the Brantham boss.

“They’re on a hell of a run and, with the exception of Norwich, they’re the form team in the Thurlow Nunn League.

“They have ambitions of going up and lots of experience in their team.

“We’re a young side and still finding our way, but tough games like this are all part of the journey and we’ll be doing our very best to win.

“When we played them a few weeks ago, there wasn’t much between the sides.

“It would have been hard to tell which team was second and which was tenth.

“We know it’ll be very tough but we’ll try our hardest and give it our best shot.”

Skingley had few complaints after Tuesday’s defeat against Mildenhall.

Sean Gunn gave them an early lead but the visitors levelled in the second half before grabbing their winner.

“Tuesday night was a tough game and, overall, I can’t have too many complaints,” said the Imps boss.

“Mildenhall were a big, strong and well-organised side.

“They have a certain way of playing and although both of their goals were preventable, from our point of view, they deserved to win overall.”

Brantham won 2-0 at Thetford on Saturday. Gunn scored both first-half goals, with the second coming from the penalty spot.

“Saturday’s game wasn’t a great advert for the league,” admitted Skingley.

“We had a couple missing and a makeshift defence.

“We then suffered an early injury so had to change things around again.

“There was a lot of huffing and puffing but we did what we had to do and were happy to get the points.

“It wasn’t a great spectacle but it was good to come away with another victory.”