An eye-catching return to Cambridgeshire is the next Emirates FA Cup fixture for Holbeach United after a comprehensive 4-0 replay win at Ely City on Tuesday night.
They paved the way for a preliminary round tie at Wisbech Town on Saturday, August 29, with a demolition job in the cathedral city.
The tie at the Fenland Stadium will be a first return for Josh Ford, whose 18 league goals fired The Fenmen to a sustained but ultimately unsuccessful challenge for the league title.
Ford and Gary King each grabbed a pair of goals on Tuesday as the Tigers went some way to putting right the team’s abject display in the original match at Carter’s Park on Saturday, when a Jonny Clay header salvaged a replay in a laboured 1-1 draw.
Assistant manager Tom Roberts saw plenty to like in Tuesday’s performance.
“Our attitude and application was spot on,” he said. “We put right some of the wrongs from Saturday. We maybe didn’t appreciate what Ely would be like at ours, but it was a different story on Tuesday.”
Ford put the Tigers ahead with a power header from Andrew Tidswell’s free kick early on.
Then midfielder Ollie Pinner – who was sent off for violent conduct in the first match – set up King for his first of the night.
A King header made it 3-0 in the second half, again Tidswell supplying the ammunition from a dead-ball situation.
And Ford’s late strike across the keeper from sub Tom Gosling’s cross made it a more than satisfactory’s night work.
It was arguably the first time this season that the Tigers had properly clicked.
Roberts said: “Particularly in the first half, we did very well.
“We played some very good football and overall we scored goals and kept a clean sheet.
“There’s a lot more to come from us. Everyone’s getting used to each other and we’ll try and keep improving.”
The Tigers now have back-to-back home fixtures to try and bolster their ChromaSport UCL Premier Division position.
Northampton Spencer are the visitors on Saturday (3pm) ahead of Harrowby United on Wednesday (7.45pm).
Yet Roberts is not looking beyond the weekend.
“Spencer are newly promoted and are going to be keen to make an impression,” he said.
“They’re going to be hard to break down, but it’s up to us to be positive.
“It’s time for us to put on a good showing for the home fans.
“There was a good following at Ely and they will have seen some good things.
“Now we have to do that at Carter’s Park too.”
Further good news for the Tigers is midfielder Matt Warfield and striker Tommy Treacher being expected to resume training next week after injury.
Tigers: Drury, Worthington, Ward, Clay, Pinner (Maddigan), Stevens, Clitheroe, Tidswell, Ford, King (Gosling), Cartwright. Sub not used: Roberts
