Diss Town boss Richard Daniels admits the Tangerines will be up against it tonight when they travel to his former club Gorleston.

Daniels left Emerald Park late last year and guided relegation-threatened Diss to safety while Stewart Larter helped the Greens pick up a fine third-placed finish in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division.

The Emerald Park outfit have carried on where they left off by winning their opening two league matches and progressing in the FA Cup at the weekend. And Daniels, whose men have lost two out of three so far this term, believes Larter and his men deserve all the plaudits they are getting.

He said: 'Stu deserves all the credit he gets for what he's done since I left. They've got a good squad, he's kept it together, and they've got a good team spirit. But that takes three years to build.

'Personally, I know how good Gorleston are. Without putting any pressure on them they are deservedly one of the favourites for the title. They play great football and going forward they've got goals written all over them.

'They're a brilliant club, run by brilliant people, and they deserve to be where they are. But favourites can be beaten. We know we can get something from the game if we play to the best of our ability and work hard, very hard.'

Daniels' Diss drew 1-1 at home to Mildenhall Town on the opening day before losing 4-0 at CRC last week and 1-0 away to rivals Thetford Town in the extra-preliminary round of the FA Cup on Friday.

The Tangerines will however, be boosted by the return of Rhys Darg tonight and former Gorleston frontman Ali McKenna.

'Gorleston know Ali is a threat to them when he's on song,' said Daniels.

'Rhys, from what I've seen pre-season, once he's fully match fit he could be the most influential player in the division. The new lads are still settling into their surroundings and have got to get used to playing with each other. We've got 16 new players.

'But we're quietly confident we won't be anywhere near where we were last season.'

Elsewhere, Kirkley & Pakefield travel to Brightlingsea Regent for an FA Cup extra-preliminary round replay after they drew 2-2 on Saturday.