MILDENHALL Town manager Ricky Cornish says Tuesday’s Turners Hyundai Suffolk Premier Cup tie is a ‘free hit’ for his side.

The Hall entertain Leiston, who play two leagues higher, in the quarter-finals of this season’s competition at the newly-named Riverside Stadium, kick-off 7.45pm.

Mildenhall Town dropped to third in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division following their 1-0 loss on Saturday at Gorleston, who are now back on top of the table.

It was the second week in a row that Mildenhall have lost to a late minute winner, just as they did the previous Saturday at home to Norwich United.

However, Cornish (pictured above) remains upbeat about his side either winning the league or finishing runners-up to go into the end-of-season play-off for promotion.

He said: “Absolutely we can still win it – we have six games left so there are still 18 points still to play for. We have a nice break coming up after we play Leiston on Tuesday which will allow us to get some of our injured players back.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s last-eight tie against their Pitching In Southern League Premier Central visitors, Cornish said: “We will go into the game without any fear. They are two leagues above us so it is a free hit for us as the ball will be in their court.

“They are a good side, but we have beaten Royston in the FA Cup and we won at AFC Sudbury in the last round of the Premier Cup, so it won’t be a foregone conclusion.

“The pitch is in great condition and we are looking forward to it.”

Injuries have hit Mildenhall hard in recent weeks and Cornish will be without several first-team regulars.

He said: “We are not blessed with a massive squad so I will pick some of our younger players.

“It will give us the opportunity to get some more minutes into the legs of our under-18s and see how they cope at this level.”

Felixstowe & Walton United will start as favourites to progress to the final four when they welcome lower-league Kirkley & Pakefield to the Goldstar Ground in Tuesday’s other quarter-final tie.

The Seasiders have suffered back-to-back home defeats to AFC Sudbury and Aveley in the past week to dampen their chances of reaching the Pitching In Isthmian North Play-offs.

However, they will be confident of knocking-out their Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division visitors, who have won their last three league games in a row and currently occupy 11th place in the table.

Needham Market, who won 2-0 at Woodbridge Town, and Stowmarket Town, 3-0 winners away to Lakenheath, have already booked their places in the last four of this season’s competition.

The semi-final draw will be broadcast on BBC Radio Suffolk’s Non-League Hour on Thursday and also simultaneously via the Suffolk FA Twitter feed.

Midweek Fixtures

Kick-offs 7.45pm unless stated:

Tuesday

Turners Hyundai Suffolk Premier Cup Quarter-Finals: Felixstowe & Walton Utd v Kirkley & Pakefield, Mildenhall Town v Leiston.