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We can't wait to test ourselves in the cup

Last Saturday’s 4-2 away defeat at Fylde was one to forget, but one to learn from too. We didn’t start off best, didn’t press the opposition or keep the ball like we know we can. Their sending off helped us just before half time and coming straight after we’d scored; it should have given us a boost for the second half.

Their third goal killed us though and the fourth just rubbed salt into the wound. We were defensively poor all over the pitch and made Fylde’s job easier. There were harsh words spoken after the game and we discussed what went wrong. We’ll build on that and look to put right in training. Tuesday and Thursday night’s sessions were hard ones, I can tell you.

We have a great chance to put things right this Saturday with a big game in the FA Cup against Hereford United. Everyone is excited about us taking on a club who were a professional league team last season. We relish coming up against sides that are higher in the league than us as we have more opportunity to play football. We’ll be well up for it at Gigg Lane on Saturday; no doubt about it.

Any game in the FA Cup is always a big game. It’s still the competition you remember as a kid and I know that some of our supporters will remember Hereford’s glory days in the FA Cup in the early 70s when Ronnie Radford scored that famous goal against Newcastle United and Motty went crackers describing it on the telly. Of course, I’m too young to remember all that but I’m sure the manager Margy recalls it well!

Hereford will be looking to progress in the competition too and will fancy their chances as they are up against a side two divisions below them. Two years ago though we came up against Barrow, who were also two leagues above us, and we beat them to make the first round proper, which is the prize on offer again to the winner of Saturday’s game.

The lads can’t wait to test themselves against players from a higher level and we’ll be looking to raise our game like we have in the past. With a large, partisan crowd behind us we’ll go into the game with our confidence high - after all, it’s the FA Cup and anything can happen.



First Posted ~ 11:21 Sat 20 Oct 2012
News ID ~ 4514
Last Updated ~ 02:08 Tue 16 Feb 2021