Fight and desire: the qualities giving Chichester City a fine start to the season

And after the 3-2 win at Cheshunt – which involved City fighting back from 1-0 and 2-1 down – the manager is now eyeing another FA Cup shock.

Goals from Ben Pashley and – in the final ten minutes – Emmett Dunn and top scorer Jimmy Wild clinched City’s third league win in six games and put them 10th in the table.

Attention turns to the FA Cup on Saturday, when National South high flyers Slough Town visit Oaklands Park in the second qualifying round.

Rutherford said: “We’re playing with fight and desire. We’re on a steep learning curve but we’re getting on with it and giving it our all.

"We’ve said to the players, we don’t want to be going into January with a low points tally – the more we can get on the board early, the better.

"We are giving ourselves a chance."

Rutherford admitted City were second best in the first half at Cheshunt, which ended with them 1-0, but said they deserved reward for their second half showing.

"They put us under a lot of pressure but we dealt with it reasonably well. They scored a freak goal but did deserve to be leading, but we played very well in the second half.”

Saturday’s Cup tie should draw another large crowd to Oaklands Park as City try to evoke memories of their 2019 to the second round proper of the competition, when they lost at Tranmere live on BT Sport.

"When the draw was made Slough were top of National South so it was the hardest tie we could have had,” Rutherford.

“They’ve lost a couple of games since but will obviously be a very good side if they’re operating at that level.

"We’ve got nothing to lose and would love to go further.”

As reported last week, City have allowed defender Connor Cody to join Whitehawk and have sent Jamie Horncastle and Josh Clack on loan to AFC Portchester.

Rutherford said he remained happy with the size and strength of the Oaklands Park squad, and said he was keen for those not currently in his team to get game-time at a good level elsewhere.

City’s next league game is not until Saturday week, away to Wingate and Finchley.