Southend United boss David Webb was more than happy to pull another home draw out of the FA Cup hat against non-league Kingstonian, following Blues' 2-1 victory over Canvey Island on Sunday.
The Shrimpers saw off the challenge of their Thames Estuary neighbours in front of a near full house at Roots Hall, as goals from winger Scott Forbes and forward Ben Abbey brought an end to the Gulls' cup heroics.
Canvey striker Wayne Vaughan pulled back a last minute goal for the Islanders, but it was not enough to deny Webb's side, who now face Conference League opposition at Roots Hall in the third round on Saturday, January 6.
"It's an unusual draw, but one you've got to be happy with," said Webb. "Everybody wants to pull out one of the big teams in the third round like Manchester United or Arsenal.
"But a home draw with Kingstonian gives us a great chance of going on to round four and meeting one of the big boys then."
However, Kingstonian, third from bottom in the Conference, will be no pushovers. They pulled off a major shock at Second Division Brentford in the first round of the cup and travelled well again on Saturday, beating Conference League promotion chasers Southport 2-1.
"Southport are a good side and Kingstonian have done very well to go up there and get a result, which underlines what a hard task we face," added Webb.
"But we've got at least a 50-50 chance of beating them. If we'd have been drawn against a Premiership side we'd only have had about a 10 per cent chance of winning.
"But this way it keeps the whole thing ticking along nicely and leaves us believing we can make the fourth round - it will keep the whole town of Southend buzzing.
"I'm sure we'll get another good crowd at Roots Hall again. You never know we may even get a few people from Canvey down here cheering us on!"
And Forbes, who grabbed the opening goal in yesterday's "battle of Essex", admitted he had enjoyed himself, despite the horrendous weather conditions, which turned the pitch into a sloppy mudbath.
"This was always going to be a tight game and the tempers flared a bit at times, but the lads have done well to win what was a massive derby match," said the wideman.
"I'm a local lad and I've been getting an earful about the game all week. I was just glad to have finally got it played.
The end is here - Canvey's Wayne Vaughan (left) can only look on as Blues celebrate their victory
Picture: LUAN MARSHALL
By Bernie Friend
Reporter's e-mail: bernie.friend@notes.newsquest.co.uk
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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