Keith Curle insists his Northampton Town side will pay Notts County the "utmost respect" as he prepares to face his old club in the FA Cup second round.
The Magpies were drawn against the Cobblers in Monday's draw with the tie scheduled to take place on the weekend of November 30.
Non-league Notts are the underdogs going into the clash with Curle having led the Cobblers to ninth in League Two, and there is hope of a promotion challenge at Sixfields this season.
But Curle, who managed the Magpies from 2012-13, says the club's passage to the third round is far from guaranteed and is expecting Notts to be backed by considerable travelling support
"It's against one of my former teams and they're a football club that you've got to say are punching way below their weight in terms of their stature and their history.
"They're redeveloping themselves at the moment and putting foundations in place but it definitely won't be easy.
"They'll have a fantastic following and it's local enough for their supporters to come down in their numbers.
"They are a big club, have a very good history, a good stature and on the pitch they've got some good players who can be a threat.
"We will show them the utmost respect and we'll see it as another opportunity for ourselves to represent Northampton Town."
Notts made it through to the second round of the Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win at Ebbsfleet which continued a remarkable run for Neal Ardley's side who have lost just three of their last 19 games.
But while Cobblers skipper Charlie Goode accepts Northampton are expected to be favourites given one league separates the two teams, he is expecting a difficult examination.
"We'll go into the game as favourites being a league higher but it'll be a very tough game," he said.
"They were in the Football League for a long time before this season so we know it'll be tough, but at the minute we're just focusing on Crewe this weekend."
