Bath City’s FA Cup heroics could either help or hinder Chelmsford City when they face them in the Blue Square South this Saturday (kick-off 3.15pm).
Clarets Head Coach Glenn Pennyfather aims to spoil the party at Twerton Park to make it five matches unbeaten for his team as they push themselves up the table.
Chelmsford’s opponents hit the headlines last week with a First Round Proper upset away at Coca-Cola Football League Two side Grimsby Town, meaning they’re now just 90 minutes away from a potential dream tie against a Premier League side in round three, and Pennyfather thinks this could either steal their focus away from domestic league action or serve to spur them on to achieve a great deal more all round.
“Their manager will tell them that this is the game that really counts,” he explained, “although the FA Cup will obviously be in the backs of their minds. The players could take their current situation two ways. Either they will be mindful that they don’t want to take a knock or they might be so full of confidence that they’re firing, which I think will be the case. It would be better to play a team after a cup defeat than before a big match as they would be deflated with a pin in their balloon, which isn’t the case now.”
Pennyfather received some encouraging news from the treatment room this week as striker Antonio Murray, who has been out for a fortnight, will be given a fitness test pre-match to evaluate his condition to face the Romans. Central defender Ben Martin is also able to feature, although his lack of match action is likely to see him assume a place on the bench. Simon Glover will serve the third of a three-game suspension while attackers Anthony Cook and Rob Edmans are around a week away from consideration.
The match will kick-off slightly later than usual to avoid a Rugby match occurring elsewhere in the City that day.
Pennyfather continued: “Our run has been good but it could have been better and, looking back at those four dropped points, we could have seen us sitting a lot higher. But, as much as we’re not getting carried away, we’re definitely not downbeat as we’ve had a tough run of games against teams around us. If we’d have lost them then they would have started to run away from us, but we’ve been brilliant.”
