Takeley go into their second meeting in a week with Hullbridge Sports in high spirits after a thumping 5-1 home win over Eton Manor on Tuesday night in the Essex Senior Cup.

Saturday saw Takeley lose 2-1 away to Sports in the Essex Senior League and due to rearranged fixtures the two sides will meet again this weekend.

Boss Duncan Easley told the Broadcast: “There was not a lot in the sides on Saturday and we gave them a couple of goals.”

However, his side got over Saturday’s loss by hitting five past Manor.

They were 2-0 up at the break after a Greig Taylor brace, the second from the penalty spot.

Emmanuel Ibhadou pulled one back for Manor after 67 minutes.

However, the Station Road side restored their two-goal cushion through James May.

The final five minutes of the clash saw some gloss added to the scoreline as substitute Fabio Reffel and then Kyle Murray got on the scoresheet.

Easley is hoping this will buoy his troops going into Saturday’s league encounter with Hullbridge at the Station Road Stadium.

He said: “It was nice to get the win and it could have been by more.

“It was a morale boosting victory.

“We always go into to any game to win it, I have used the cup games to look at a few players from the reserves.”

Of his first season in charge at the club, the former Royston Town assistant boss, said: “It’s been a bit difficult, we started from scratch having to assess all the players when we came in, it wasn’t like I was starting with 12 or so lads that we had worked with before.

“We’ve lost four lads who started pre-season with us and have gone on to higher placed clubs which hasn’t helped.”

However, he is nearing where he wants to be with the squad, adding: “I always said I wanted a settled squad of 18-20 and we’re getting towards that now.”