FA Cup excitement is on the backburner as Tonbridge bid to preserve their unbeaten record in National League South.

Angels came from a goal down to beat Walton & Hersham 2-1 at Longmead in the third qualifying round last weekend.

Liam Vincent levelled from the penalty spot and substitute Noel Leighton’s first Angels goal completed the turnaround.

Victory sets up a trip to Isthmian Premier Cray Wanderers on October 12, with the winners advancing to the first round proper.

Tonbridge would love to get through but there’s league action to take care of first with Jay Saunders’ third-placed side off to a Slough Town outfit who sit seventh.

That’s the priority before turning attention to the FA Cup, although Saunders is happy with the draw after avoiding National League big boys like Southend and Yeovil.

“You want a lower-ranked team, ideally at home, and while it’s away, it’s a new ground with good facilities,” said Saunders.

“It won’t be easy, and we’ll go there fully prepared, but when you look at some of the other draws, it’s what you’d like to get a team in the league below.

“It’s something we can look forward to and hopefully we can get over the last hurdle and into the first round proper.

“But, as I keep saying to everyone, we’ve got a league game first and that’s the most important thing.

“Slough’s a tough place to go. We had an unbelievable result there last year, winning 5-2, and then they went a year without losing at home before Hemel beat them a few weeks ago.

“It’s a tough pitch, a small pitch and they’re having a really good season. Again, we’ll prepare as well as we can and hopefully carry on our good form and stay unbeaten. That’s the plan.

“If someone said you’d be sitting here in October unbeaten in the league and still in the FA Cup, you’d snap their hand off.

“It’s a great achievement and full credit to the boys.

“We’ve literally been taking it game by game.

“We don’t speak about anything else and, knowing the boys, they won’t speak about the FA Cup or anything like that.

“They’ll want to concentrate on the next game, which is Slough, and we’re looking forward to that.

“Winning’s a habit and losing’s a habit.

“It breeds confidence when you win games but the boys know they’ve got to be on it every week because the squad’s really competitive at the moment.”

It’s the strongest squad Saunders, in his third season in charge, has put together at Tonbridge.

That showed on Saturday with the quality of players on the bench, while they still have Jamie Fielding and Joe Tyrie to come back from injury.

It’s healthy competition, with players taking Saunders’ decisions on the chin.

“If you look at the bench on Saturday, we had Mo Dabre, Ryan Hanson, Taylor Maloney, Tariq Hinds and Noel Leighton,” said the manager.

“Sometimes last year we only had three subs but now I can look at the bench and there’s players who will have a big impact.

“It keeps the boys on their toes because they know if they’re not doing it, others will get chances.

“The boys have been brilliant. I’ve made them aware and they understand that I’ll pick a team I think is right for each game.

“It’s nothing personal, I just want to win games.

“It’s nice having those options and what’s pleased me is the response of players when they’ve come on.

“There’s no sulking when anyone’s left out, they’re coming on and making an impact.”

With Fielding and Tyrie sidelined, Saunders brought Ethan Sutcliffe back to Longmead on a month’s loan from AFC Wimbledon.

The centre-back, who impressed on loan last season, went straight into the starting XI for the Walton & Hersham game.

“Wimbledon have been good with us,” said Saunders.

“I felt for Ethan a little bit because it was his first game in about three months, which is why they were keen to get him out on loan.

“He had a good spell here last year, he was keen to come back and he fitted in well alongside Nazir Bakrin and Ronny Nelson in the back three, even though he’d never met them before.”