BRAINTREE Town midfielder Matt Paine hopes his side won't be on the end of a giant-killing in the FA Trophy second round when they visit last year's runners-up, Gosport Borough.
Paine has good memories of playing for Conference Premier Braintree against the south coast side but wants to make sure his team will not be complacent against the Conference South side.
"They'll be the underdogs but we want to be the ones writing the headlines to progress not for a giant-killing," said Paine.
"We went to Gosport three seasons ago in the Trophy in the first round and we scraped through with a 1-0 win but they're doing well in the Conference South so it will be a tough tie.
"It's going to be tough but I think we're quite confident we can beat Gosport and nail our status as the league above.
"We'll hope to qualify to get through to third round of course, we'll do our research on them and give it our best in the second round.
The 26-year-old also hopes his side can use the FA Trophy to their benefit and cement their reputation as a Conference Premier side.
"It's another distraction from the league, which will be good for us, so we're fully able to win the second-round tie to get through to the third round," he said.
"When you look at other clubs, if you have a good performance in the Trophy it can build up the confidence and hopefully we can climb up the league.
"We've still got half of the season to go and with all the players back fit I don't think we'll have much of a problem to maintain our league status.
"We're looking at both competitions as it is.
"The FA Trophy is a good opportunity to get to Wembley if possible, and it's only five more games to win, but the main picture is to consolidate ourselves in the Conference Premier this year."
