Lowestoft Town boss Ady Gallagher has warned his side against any complacency ahead of their FA Trophy first qualifying round trip to Worthing.

Saturday’s opponents are yet to taste victory in the league this season, taking just three points from their 15 games so far.

On paper, Lowestoft should cruise through to the next round, but Gallagher knows that eventually the Sussex side will gain a victory – he just hopes it’s not against his Blues outfit.

“It’s a difficult game – we only just beat them at home earlier this season and they haven’t got anything to lose,” he said. “They have been improving in recent weeks.

“That win will come for them but we’ve got to make sure we’re not the ones it comes against.

“Look, it’s a good chance for us to progress in the competition but it will not be easy. It’s a long journey and we will be playing on an artificial pitch, which brings its own challenges. But we went there last year and played very well in getting a win. We can take a lot of heart from that.”

Lowestoft go into the game on the back of a 6-2 humbling at Merstham last weekend – a result that brought their four-game unbeaten streak to a grinding halt. However, Gallagher saw enough in their performance not to get too downhearted.

“I took some comfort with how the lads reacted – they didn’t just capitulate,” said Gallagher, whose side were 4-0 down within 35 minutes before staging a rally at the end of the first half to reduce the arrears. “We reacted well and we made a real game of it until they caught us on the counter-attack late in the second half.

“We’ve been in some decent form and we forgot some of the basics that led to that. When you’re up against top quality opposition they can put a game out of your reach like that.”

Shaun Bammant will be sidelined for several weeks and could require an operation on his Achilles whilst Andrew Fisk, Rossi Jarvis and Ollie Humphries remain long-term absentees.

Gallagher insisted he isn’t looking to make drastic changes after last weekend’s defeat.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in these young lads. Some of them have been thrust into more action than expected but they have certainly deserved their chance.”