BRAINTREE Town midfielder Matt Paine admits his team-mates relish playing former Football League clubs ahead of their clash with Torquay on Saturday.
The former Thurrock man thinks his side can cause an upset when the Gulls visit the Miles Smith Stadium for the first time this believes victory over Bristol Rovers earlier in the season proved that.
"We always seem to play that little bit better against ex Football League clubs, the bigger clubs," said Paine.
"I think it's Torquay's first visit to us and it was the same for Bristol Rovers so I think they're going to be shocked by the facilities that they're not used to.
"We haven't had the best home form this season but when Bristol Rovers came down earlier in the season the boys stepped up their performance a little bit and we matched them.
"As has been proven in previous seasons, like when we played Wrexham for example we've showed we can beat those teams so there's no reason we can't conquer Torquay on Saturday."
Torquay were playing in stadiums such as Plymouth Argyle's Home Park and Portsmouth's Fratton Park in League Two and Paine believes they will find it difficult coming to a smaller ground like Braintree's.
"They're coming back from their nice Football League days to turning up to maybe a cold, wet and windy Saturday with small changing rooms, in a small nettle sack of a ground and it's not a lavish big stadium, so I think that it could be a shock to them and hopefully it will work in our favour.
"We don't get a huge number of fans but the fans that do come through the turnstiles to support us, they do give us that vocal support.
"Hopefully on Saturday they can make themselves heard and encourage the boys to do well and hopefully get the result."
Meanwhile, Braintree will travel to Gosport Borough in the FA trophy second round after they beat Basingstoke Town 2-1 in extra-time on Tuesday.
The fixture will be played on Saturday January 10.
