BASILDON United manager Aaron Bloxham believes his side will be able to put aside what happened in the FA Vase on Saturday and focus on downing Canvey Island in the Essex Senior Cup tonight.

The Bees were minutes away from progressing in the Vase at Gorleston, leading 1-0 as the clock ticked into injury-time, before a home spectator collapsed and consequently died of a cardiac arrest.

The match was abandoned with the FA still deciding whether the match will be replayed or Basildon awarded the victory.

But Bloxham says his players must only focus on a tough-task against Canvey, as they bid to progress into the quarter-finals.

“No-one wants to see what happened on Saturday and it was terrible,” said Bloxham. “We wanted to use a positive result as a boost heading into tonight but we must forget about it for now.

“It is slightly hard to prepare but we have to remain focused as we know it will be a tough game.

“This is a fantastic game for the club and is a big local derby. We have nothing to lose and we often step it up in this kind of situation. We beat Great Wakering in the last round although this will be a big leap from that game. We need a bit of luck and who knows.”

The Essex Senior League side have only lost twice in the last 10 matches while Canvey have won that many times in the same period.

Although Bloxham believes the visitors will be using the clash as a chance to restore some much-needed confidence.

“Canvey have picked up a few points recently but their run of form suggests it’s a good time to play them,” he said. “But they will want to use this as a confidence boost. We just have to keep our cool and take our chances.

“I will make changes from Saturday as we have done that throughout and I believe in this group. We need to defend well and dig deep.

“But I believe we can win, of course.”

Former Gulls pair John-Joe Slater and George Whitby could feature for Basildon.

Canvey were beaten 3-1 by Kingstonian in the Ryman Premier League on Saturday and currently sit in the relegation places.

Ryan Blackman and Mitchell Gilbey could return from illness.