Saffron Walden will go into Saturday s FA cup preliminary round match against Maldon in high spirits, despite suffering their first loss of the season in the Ridgeons League Premier Division on Tuesday night. Saffron Walden FC will play Maldon at their ho

Saffron Walden will go into Saturday's FA cup preliminary round match against Maldon in high spirits, despite suffering their first loss of the season in the Ridgeons League Premier Division on Tuesday night.

Saffron Walden FC will play Maldon at their home ground at Catons Lane at 3pm.

Assistant coach, John Butchart, said: "We're really looking forward to the game. There is a lot of prize money at stake and the lads are all up for the match."

Butchart believes it will be a real advantage playing in front of their home crowd: "We always get a few hundred people who come to watch us at home, which is great encouragement for the team."

Maldon play in the Ryman Division One North, two levels above Saffron Walden, so everybody is expecting a competitive game.

"They will be very tough opposition, but we know if we play well we can get a result from this game" said Butchart.

"I think it will come down to who wants it the most, but it should be exciting to watch.

"We have got a few key players out through injury, but we've got a big squad so it will give a chance for other players to come and show what they can do. It's a long season so you expect to pick up knocks along the way, but we've got the quality in the squad to not let it be a problem."

The Bloods lost their first league game of the season against Ely City on Tuesday.

First half goals from Ely's Mason and Johnson gave the Robins a 2-0 half-time lead.

Greg Strong scored Walden's goal after the break. The defeat puts Walden in 10th place in the table.

Butchart said: "We got caught in the cold with the first goal, they scored in the first 20 seconds, but it was very controversial.

"You can't win all your games, but you have to learn from your mistakes. We can take a lot of positive from the game because we had a lot of chances. The goal that we did score was a lovely chip over the keeper from Greg Strong.

"Ben Riches also had an excellent chance, one on one with the keeper, but he couldn't finish it."

The Bloods were held to a goalless draw on Saturday at home to Debenham.

With a reshuffled team, with new signing Ryan Cannon making his first start and Matt Clarke coming in to partner Ben Riches, the forward line looked the liveliest on the day.

Walden were straight into their passing game and Kingham's header was cleared off the line in the fifth minute and Riches saw a shot well saved by Ellis.

After 30 minutes, Canifer out-jumped the Walden defence to head onto the crossbar and then Gedny's wild shot sailed over the bar.

Walden dominated the second half and although Richers, Bell, Flack and Kingham came close, they couldn't make the breakthrough and the Bloods had to settle for a share of the spoils.