Jay Saunders’ love affair with the FA Cup is back on - after a two-year absence.

The Tonbridge Angels boss will find out on Monday night who his team will face in the first round after booking their place alongside clubs from League 1 and 2 by winning at Cray Wanderers on Saturday.

It’s the first time former Maidstone boss Saunders has led Tonbridge to the first round since his arrival at Longmead in 2022.

“I’ve hated the last two years,” admitted Saunders. “There’s nothing worse than being out of the FA Cup, watching that Monday night draw and seeing teams come out.

“I’m delighted for my staff, too. Tom Parkinson was saying he’s had one run in the FA Cup, getting to the first round once in his career. I was fortunate as a player and a manager so it’s a great occasion to the club.

“It puts the club on the map and that’s what you want. You want people to see what we’re about.

“Off the pitch the club are working so hard to improve matchday experience, we’re part of that as we’ve got to produce on the pitch.

“I don’t think we were at our best but sometimes you’ve just got to get through and we’ve done that.

“The people behind the scenes are great people, it’s a great club to work for. It’s lovely to repay them with this. We’re trying to build each year and improve, we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.

“We haven’t won anything but there’s a bit of pressure off you if you like because there’s that expectancy to get to the first round.”

It’s only the second time Tonbridge have reached the first round of the FA Cup since 1972.

Even then they had to play Bradford City without supporters in the ground four years ago due to Covid restrictions.

“I was made well aware of that record,” said Saunders, on Tonbridge’s FA Cup history. “The last two years we’ve had terrible injuries and they’ve killed us a bit.

“People have been saying it would be great to have a cup run and you only have to look down the road at what Maidstone did last year and I think everyone at Tonbridge thought ‘why can’t that be us?’ so I’m delighted.

“People will look at it and say Tonbridge should win at Cray but it was a one-off game and anything can happen. We’ve played three teams from lower levels and sometimes that’s hard as you’re expected to win.”

Saunders, who guided Maidstone to a famous first-round replay win over Stevenage in 2014 and won at League 2 Cheltenham three years later, wants Tonbridge to land a Football League side.

There’s no replays in the FA Cup from the first round onwards this season, although it means Angels will collect a bigger pot of prize money just for getting this far.

“Hopefully we get a good draw,” said Saunders. “If you get a home game against a League side then you’ve got a decent chance of being on TV.

Read more: Saunders on FA Cup win

Read more: Cray Wanderers 0-1 Tonbridge Angels match report

“For everyone associated with the club, if you can get on TV then it puts the club in the shop window. For me, a home draw would be ideal but I’d love to get a League side, for us that would be great.

“I look back on my time at Maidstone when we took Stevenage to a replay, the pitch invasion afterwards and everything. Not having replays takes a little bit of the romance away from the FA Cup for me.

“It’s great as you get a bigger pot of cash but I was brought up on the replays and I would love to still see them. I understand why they’ve done it.”