STEVE Wilkes has said that Chertsey Town are now favourites to reach the FA Vase final because they have home advantage for the second leg.

However he warned the Curfews that Northwich Victoria’s players won’t be fazed by the task in front of them on Saturday following a 1-1 draw at Wincham Park last weekend.

READ > Vics 1-1 Chertsey: first leg match report

“When you go away for the first game and come back unbeaten then you probably fancy finishing the job,” he told the Guardian.

“But with that comes the pressure of expectation.

“We’ll study a video of the match and work out where we can better.

“I’m sure they’ll say they weren’t at their best either and so both camps will be looking at what they can do differently next time.”

Chertsey are unbeaten at home in the Combined Counties League Premier Division this season, winning 12 of their 15 matches there to date.

The Surrey outfit has also eliminated three teams - AFC St Austell, Horndean and Flackwell Heath - at Alwyns Lane in the FA Vase.

However they did lose a League Challenge Cup tie there against Abbey Rangers in January.

Wilkes will ask his side to be more vigilant defensively after they were repeatedly beaten to second balls, particularly during the opening 45 minutes, in a first encounter on Sunday.

READ > Everything you need to know before Vics visit Chertsey

He added: “Their four attacking players showed good movement and they didn’t give us a moment’s peace.

“They have two guys out wide who switch sides and their number nine does well for his size.

“We learned a lot, but most importantly we didn’t panic after going a goal behind.

“Even if we’d have come in at the final whistle 1-0 down then there is at least 90 minutes to turn things around.

“The lads took that on board.”

READ > How Tuesday night's football unfolded

Vics went down 2-1 at Congleton Town in a North West Counties League fixture on Tuesday when Wilkes made 10 changes to the starting line-up.

Defender Kieron Kenny was the only player to feature that had started at Wincham Park little more than 48 hours earlier.

"I'm disappointed with the result because we went into the game five points behind them with two games in hand," said the Vics boss.

"Considering we made so many changes from the weekend, I was really pleased with how we played and I told the lads that afterwards."