Witham Town manager Mark Benterman knows his team can’t afford to be out-worked as they were in their FA Cup outing at FC Clacton on Saturday when they return to BetVictor Isthmian League division north action on Bank Holiday Monday.

Benterman was quick to give credit to Clacton for their display in a preliminary round tie at the Rush Green Bowl and the Witham boss was relieved that his side lived to fight another day after escaping with a 1-1 draw.

He was disappointed that his team was “out-worked” by the Seasiders and he said if that happened on their Bank Holiday trip to Maldon & Tiptree then they wouldn’t get a second chance.

Instead, Benterman wants his players to show the “same heart and desire” that they demonstrated in taking four points from their opening two Isthmian League division north games against Hullbridge Sports and Bury Town.

He said: “If we get out-worked like we did at Clacton then it will be eight, nine or ten going in against us.

“I said to the boys that it wouldn’t be easy, but we have to show the same heart and desire we did in our first two games against Hullbridge and Bury.

“It’s a tough turnaround and that’s hard on our boys as we don’t have the biggest squad.

“There will be a bit of rotation going on and we picked up a couple of injuries, but we head into the game three unbeaten.

“That’s a positive from the weekend as, despite being well below our best, we lived to fight another day.

“No-one will expect us to go to Maldon and win.

“In that respect it’s a free-hit for us so we can go there with confidence.

“If we go there and get something then great, but we have to as a minimum go there and wear the shirt with pride.

“We didn’t do ourselves justice on Saturday, but we have to on Monday.”

One player unlikely to travel to Maldon will be striker Jamie Guy, who aggravated a calf problem in the game at Clacton, so he is likely to be out.

George Bugg also came off on Saturday with a dead leg, but should be fine for the trip to Maldon, while Scott Kemp and Ashley Pibworth may also return after being unavailable at the weekend.

The FA Cup replay against FC Clacton is due to take place at the Simarco Stadium on September 3.