Lancaster City turn attentions to FA Cup clash with Droylsden

Lancaster City turn their attentions to FA Cup action after seeing their unbeaten start to the new season come to an end.
Gavin Clark has captained Lancaster City in the absence of Ricky Mercer. Picture: Tony NorthGavin Clark has captained Lancaster City in the absence of Ricky Mercer. Picture: Tony North
Gavin Clark has captained Lancaster City in the absence of Ricky Mercer. Picture: Tony North

The Dolly Blues went down 2-1 at Ashton United on Tuesday night in the Evo-Stik Premier Division and will look to bounce back when Droylsden visit Giant Axe on Saturday.

The second qualifying round tie sees Phil Brown’s side host a side second in the First Division North.

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“We’ll go into the game as favourites and rightly so,” the Blues boss said.

“We’re at home and we’re in a higher division.

“But Droylsden’s form shows they’re a good side.

“They’re scoring lots of goals and conceding a few too so it should make for an entertaining game.

“They’ve won through a couple of rounds and have some decent players so will come here confident.

“We’ll be on the front foot though.”

For non-league clubs the FA Cup offers several incentives.

There is the glamour of a potential first round tie against a Football League club but perhaps more importantly there are the financial rewards on offer.

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“We won £3,000 in the last round and there’s £4,500 if we win on Saturday,” said Brown.

“We’re not a money-mad club but it can help us do bigger and better things and the revenue can be important for a large part of the season.

“It’s a massive game financially.

“But for myself and the players it’s another game of football.

“Yes, there’s the carrot of keeping the dream of reaching the first round alive but we’ve just got to take each game as it comes.”

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Brown is hoping to have captain Ricky Mercer back after a groin problem while Scott Harries could also return after having stitches to an eye injury.

“It gives me a bit of difficult situation,” said the City manager.

“We made four changes on Tuesday night and the lads who came in proved what a good squad we’ve got.

“It was a smooth transition. They carried on some of the good work from Saturday.

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“It’s difficult for me to pick a 16 and even harder to pick an 11.

“One of the big plus points of the season has been that when I’ve made changes the attitude of the players and their performance levels have been first class and that will stand us in good stead going forwards.”

Despite the defeat to Ashton, City having beaten Shaw Lane 2-0 at Giant Axe the previous Saturday, Brown was largely pleased with what he saw.

“There were more positives than negatives,” he said.

“The biggest negative is obviously it was our first defeat of the season which is hard to take.

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“Our performance was generally good but there’s a fine line between winning and losing.

“Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and over the course of the 90 minutes I thought we were the better team.

“There were errors at both ends of the pitch and we just didn’t get that bit of luck you need.

“There’s certainly no doom and gloom though.”