CONCORD Rangers are “desperate” to defend their Essex Senior Cup title when they welcome Grays Athletic tonight.

Jody Brown’s Ryman Premier League side visit the Aspect Arena in the fourth round of the competition this evening, and Beach Boys manager Danny Cowley says replicating last term’s win over Braintree Town in the final would be a remarkable achievement.

“It is a competition we want to do well in,” said Cowley. “Obviously we are the defending champions and we want that to be the case come the end of the season.

“We know our chances of winning a cup are slim, but we upset the odds to win it last year and there is no reason we can’t do it again this year.

“We are in the middle of a very difficult run of games and after we went out of the FA Cup to Mansfield Town (losing 1-0 in last week’s first round replay) there was a real sense that we could have done something special that day. But it wasn’t to be and we had to pick ourselves up fast ahead of the FA Trophy match.”

And that is exactly what Concord did.

Cowley, inset, watched his side dismantle the Conference South leaders Boreham Wood 4-0 on Saturday to set up a first round tie with Conference Premier leaders Barnet at the Aspect Arena.

And he said the triumph was one of his proudest moments.

“To see the players go out there after a major disappointment and put in a performance like that was unbelievable. To lose Jordan (Chiedozie – to Cambridge United) and Cheye (Alexander – to Bishop’s Stortford) were blows but we picked ourselves up and deserved to win.

“Things don’t get any easier though do they?” he laughed. “We had the toughest opponent in the last round as Boreham Wood are top of our league and Barnet are top of the Conference but that is how we like it.”

The Beach Boys lost 3-0 to the Bees in last season’s FA Cup and will be hoping to exact some revenge when they come to town next Saturday.