WINCHESTER City will have no choice but to “play football” when they take on the might of Concord Rangers on Canvey Island tomorrow.

City, making their first appearance in the FA Cup third qualifying round in over half a century, are expecting a David v Goliath tie – and not just because they sit three rungs below the Beachboys on the non-League ladder.

Physically they will be towered over by their Conference South opponents with co-boss Danny Robinson joking that City’s slightly built top scorer Warren Bentley “would only come up to one of their centre-halves’ kneecaps!”

“I went and watched Concord at Chelmsford on Monday. Wow, they’re huge!” he smiled.

“We’re not going to go round them and we’re not going to get over them, so we’re going have to play football.

“There’s not a lot of football played in the Conference South, it’s more pure size and brute strength.

“For me and Tim (Cole, co-boss) to be managers of Concord, we’d have to climb on each other’s shoulders!”

To say Robinson was impressed by the Beachboys would be an understatement, however.

Concord beat Chelmsford 1-0 thanks to a first-half Lewis Taaffe strike and didn’t stop working from the first whistle to the last.

Chelmsford didn’t help their own cause by alluding to Concord as a “small club”, prompting Beachboys manager Danny Cowley to comment afterwards: “We are a small club, but we have a big heart.”

Robinson would vouch for that, saying: “Concord didn’t have the luxury of resting 11 players like we did on Tuesday in the North Hants Senior Cup at Alresford.

“Two of their players went off injured, but even the subs were eight-foot tall and they were working hard and still pressing in the 90th minute.

“Their manager portrays them as Conference South underdogs, but they’re a quick, physical side and their players are a good age as well, all around 24 or 25. “They play like we’d like to play all the time, especially without the ball. Their work-rate’s phenomenal. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

While Concord have a distinct physical advantage, City have left no stone unturned preparation-wise.

Basingstoke Town, 3-2 league victors at Concord last Saturday, have provided a detailed dossier on the Beachboys and Robinson handed each player a homework pack at training last night.

“I told them to go home, study it and lights out by eight o’clock!” he laughed.

“The players have all got bits and pieces of information to go through. It’s not a club thing, it’s a personal thing from me.

“If they go into the game with eyes wide open, they’ll know what to expect.

“I don’t know if Concord have watched us, but if they came to Alresford they wouldn’t have seen our starting 11 and last Saturday they’d have seen an 8-0 win over Laverstock in the Vase.” One familiar Concord name is left-sided player Matt Fry who recently had a brief spell at Eastleigh.

Fry helped the Beachboys to promotion from the Ryman Premier two seasons ago and returned on loan last term.

Concord are currently shorn of first-choice goalkeeper Jamie Butler, who was injured against Wealdstone in the last round – the same week he had been called up by England C.

QPR ’keeper Aaron Lennox is a short-term replacement.

Winchester’s only injury worry is right-back Adam Tomasso. The former AFC Totton defender has been sidelined with a knee injury since the home FA Cup tie against Newport IoW.