Horsham boss John Maggs would love nothing better than to add to Crawley's woes tonight.

Maggs is plotting an upset in the Sussex Senior Cup semi-final against his former club at Gladwish Stadium, Worthing (7.30).

Maggs still holds Crawley close to his heart after spending more than 37 years at the club.

He holds the Reds' appearance record after playing 652 games in goal between 1963 and 1979. He also had spells as coach and manager and oversaw the move to the Broadfield Stadium as chief executive.

Maggs sympathises with those involved in Crawley's recent on and off the field problems.

But he insists there will be no room for sentiment once the game gets under way.

He said: "With my connections there, I would absolutely love to beat them. I still take an interest in what is going on there and I know they are having their problems at the moment.

"You could say it is a good time to play them. They had an encouraging win at the weekend but, let's face it, morale cannot be too high. In contrast, we are full of confidence so it should be a very good game.

"All the pressure will be on them to win and hopefully that will help us. We have to remember that they lost to Boreham Wood in a cup game earlier this season and we can be encouraged by that.

"We will try to get at them and stop them from playing and hopefully we will cause another upset.

"I know there are plenty of people at Crawley who would love us to get stuffed because of my association with the club but that just gives it a bit more spice which is good for the tie."

Maggs will be one of six former Reds trying to help Horsham to a shock result.

Assistant manager Tommy Warrilow, winger Nigel Brake, midfielder Mark Hawthorne and top scorer Jamie Taylor all had spells with the Conference outfit.

But the player with perhaps the biggest desire to get one over his old employers will be defender Ian Payne.

Payne made more than 200 appearances for Reds over seven years and literally gave them a helping hand in winning the Dr Martens premier division title in 2004.

He deputised in goal during a crucial clash against rivals Weymouth and saved a penalty from Steve Claridge in a 1-0 win.

Maggs believes the Crawley connections will ensure his side are not overawed.

He said: "We have plenty of players who are desperate to turn them over. People like Mark Hawthorne and Ian Payne have been looking forward to this game for weeks.

"There is no way those players are going curl back into their shells. We are going to be really up for it and give it a go.

"We have some quality players here, some of which I'm sure Crawley would probably like to have, and there is no reason why we can't get a result."

Maggs won the Senior Cup twice as a manager with Crawley but is hoping to end 30 years of hurt for the Hornets.

Horsham's last success came in 1976, while holders Reds have lifted the trophy in two of the last three seasons.

Maggs said: "It is a great competition to win. I go to all the finals anyway and it is a fantastic day for everyone.

"It's at the end of the season, it's on a Bank Holiday and there are always plenty of people watching.

"It would be brilliant for the club to have that to look forward to so we will be going all out to try and get there."

Crawley are expected to play a full-strength side. Only striker Gavin Gordon is unavailable after suffering a hamstring injury in Saturday's 2-0 win over Scarborough.