Takeley face local rivals Stansted in an FA Cup preliminary round tie at Bishop’s Stortford on Sunday (2pm).

And they go into the tie on the back of a 4-1 win over Walthamstow in the Essex Senior League last weekend.

Stuart Zanone fired home from a Mitchell Das pass to open the scoring at Station Road, with the same pair combining to make it 2-0 after a good pass from Bryn Thorpe.

Captain Jason Todd, Kyan Gulliver and Mike Castle all impressed for the home side and Matt Gill denied Stow a reply after the break.

Zanone saw chances to complete his hat-trick go begging before Gill saw his long clearance find substitute Charlie Cole to fire past James Harkin for Takeley’s third goal.

The visitors did hit back with a James Peagram header, but Cole had the last word with his second strike to seal the points and make it three wins in a row for the early pacesetters.