Boss Dan Scorer has tipped Kennington’s weekend opponents to push for the play-offs.

Ton will aim to get their Southern Counties East Premier Division season going at the second attempt at Punjab United this Saturday after they marked a milestone match for Scorer at the helm with an FA Cup success over Glebe last weekend.

Chipie Sian’s side are the defending Kent Senior Trophy champions but, despite failing to win their first two fixtures this term at home to Bearsted and at Horley Town, they’ll harbour ambitions of finishing in the upper echelons of the table.

Scorer said: “They’re very much an underdog I think this year.

“They’re probably my favourites to sneak in the play-offs.

“They’ve recruited well again. The side they had at the back-end of the year was very impressive.

“But we have our own ideas on what we want to achieve on Saturday.

“They’ve not had the strongest of starts, they drew on the opening day after leading and got knocked out of the FA Cup on Saturday.

“So they will be just as desperate as us to get three points on the board.”

While Punjab went out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle, an 80th-minute Ryan Philpott penalty at Glebe ensured Kennington progressed to the Preliminary Round.

Having seen his troops respond after their opening-day 5-1 league loss at Corinthian, Scorer said: “It was a really different performance to the one we offered on the opening day.

“We probably - strangely - didn’t see as much of the ball as we did against Corinthian. But we did the other side of the game a lot better and defended superbly well.

“It was scrappy but an end-to-end game. It came down to two penalties, we scored ours and they had one - but missed.

“They’ve got good attacking players. Unfortunately for them, we just defended brilliantly on the day.

“But it was a good overall performance.”

Striker Philpott was back in more familiar territory against Glebe and, despite missing other opportunities, held his nerve from the spot.

“He worked tirelessly for the whole game,” Scorer noted.

“It was good to have him back through the middle - he played slightly deeper the previous weekend, just because of who was unavailable.

“I think he would have been disappointed with the chances he missed.

“There were two or three I felt comfortable taking the penalty and, once it was him, I certainly wasn’t going to stop him.”

The cup tie was 32-year-old Scorer’s 300th competitive game in charge.

“It really put an extra shine on the day, being such a huge milestone for myself,” said the manager who has already spoken to staff at Welling Town, who were beaten by Kennington’s next FA Cup opponents Cobham.

“But also, we have an opportunity. It’s only the fourth time we’ve been in the FA Cup.

“We did quite well to get to the First Qualifying Round a couple of years ago.

“This year’s a chance to write our own bit of history.”

Ton earned £1,125 for beating Glebe.