Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley expects loanee goalkeeper Alex Lynch to come into his team for their Essex Senior Cup fourth round tie at Tilbury tonight.

The Wycombe Wanderers keeper had been expected to start in Braintree’s Vanarama National League fixture against Torquay United last weekend due to a knee injury for regular shotstopper Will Norris.

Norris made a quicker than anticipated recovery, though, and was fit to take his place between the sticks so Lynch, who is on a month-long loan at the Iron from Wycombe, wasn’t required.

However, Cowley said he was planning to start him against the Dockers.

“We have Tilbury in the cup tonight and the thinking is that Alex will play in that game,” said the Iron boss.

“But we were delighted to get Will back for Saturday.

“You want continuity if you can have it, but we didn’t expect to have him available at all.

“Even on the Friday, we’d been told that he’d opened up his medial knee ligament, which is normally – even low-level grade one – a minimum of three weeks.

“But I thought he was excellent.

“He didn’t have many saves to make but the management of his area and his kicking was good.”

Tilbury will be a tough test for Braintree as they are on an impressive run of form that has seen them go unbeaten in all competitions since a FA Cup defeat by St Neots Town on September 22.

That sequence included a 3-0 win for the Ryman League division north side against National League South’s Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday and Cowley said he expected to take a strong line-up for the county cup tie.

He added: “We will move it about, but we will take a strong team.

“We have to because Tilbury are on a good run; they beat Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday.

“So they are 15 unbeaten and we know it will be no easy game.”