Hashtag United on the FA Cup agenda for Soham Town Rangers while Ely City and Mildenhall Town also look for progress

Assistant manager Erkan Okay has urged his Soham Town Rangers players to focus on themselves when they head to Hashtag United in the Emirates FA Cup first qualifying round on Monday (7.45pm).

The Tags, who were only formed four years ago and did not join the non-league pyramid until 2018, have a significant online following.

They were founded by YouTube personality Spencer Owen and have serious aspirations of moving through the leagues over the coming years.

Yet, while a lot of the focus will be on their Step 5 opponents, Okay is keen for his players to not become distracted.

“We’ve not had them watched and you can only take so much from looking at highlights online and on social media,” he said.

“It is well documented how well supported they are and what they are hoping to achieve.

“They are going to be a very good side that we will need to take seriously. But we cannot get overwhelmed by any of the hype. If you lose focus, that is when mistakes happen and it will cost us.

“We’ve got a young group and it will be a different experience for them, but I’m sure we’ll cope fine.”

One major challenge for Okay and boss Robbie Mason will be team selection.

With Hashtag’s landlords Bowers & Pitsea playing on Tuesday evening, the tie has been moved forward by 24 hours.

And with Soham set to open up their league campaign at home to Maldon & Tiptree on Saturday (3pm), a juggling act may be required.

“The game being moved changes things in terms of how we manage the squad,” said Okay, who saw his side battle back from 2-1 down to beat St Neots Town 3-2 in the previous round last weekend. “We’ll have played on Saturday, it’s a 3G pitch down there and the lads will have been working – we need to take all of that into account.

“We want to get off to a good start in the league so we must prepare properly for that.

“We don’t want to start with a loss because that will also affect confidence for Monday night.”

Closer to home, neighbouring Ely City will play host to higher-league Biggleswade FC on Tuesday (7.45pm) after they defeated Eynesbury Rovers 3-1 at the weekend.

Joint manager Luke McAvoy said of his side’s upcoming opponents: “They knocked out Histon in the last round so we know they are going to be decent.

“There is no pressure on us. Everyone will be expecting them to win the game so it’s a free hit.

“But Eynesbury are a good side with good players and we dealt with them relatively comfortably in the end.

“We’re happy that it’s at home and go into it full of confidence. If we play like we have been we’ll have a good chance.”

As for Mildenhall, they will be on the road to Bedfordshire on the same night to take on fellow Step 5 opposition in Leighton Town.

“We’ll do as much homework as we can on them. From what we’ve heard so far, it seems like they are going to have a real push to win their league,” said Mildenhall boss Ricky Cornish.

“They’ll be a decent side – you have to be to go a couple of rounds in the FA Cup. But we’ve got through as well so we will have no fear.

“It’s a game against a side at our level, so it feels winnable. We’ll find out what we can and then take it from there.”