Askey: ‘Good time to meet Forest Green in cup’
MACCLESFIELD Town manager John Askey says it may be an opportune time for his side to face Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup.
The two teams will meet in the first round proper of the competition after being paired together in last week’s draw, with the match taking place at The New Lawn.
Forest Green earned promotion to League Two for this season, but have found things tough so far, currently sitting second from bottom, and Askey thinks it may be the right time to face them.
“They seem to have lost a few players from last season. Obviously they’ve struggled and because of that their confidence won’t be the highest it’s ever been. It could be a good time for us to play them,” he told the club’s official website.
“On paper, it isn’t a great tie, or a real money spinner, and it’s a difficult tie. But, what it does do, is allow us to do is concentrate on the league and we’ll deal with the cup tie when it comes around.
“The performance at Stourbridge got us through and it’s good to be in the hat. Hopefully, now we’ll keep the run going and keep confidence high.”
Winger Elliot Durrell agrees with his manager’s view, and he hopes the team can come out on top during next week’s game and book their place in the next round.
“I think we could have hoped for a side below us at home or we could have hoped for a glamorous Blackburn away but that is the beauty of the FA Cup, you play who you get drawn and it’s just another game,” he said.
They are struggling in the Football League this season but I know from my experience of playing against them that they are a good team so it is down to us to go to their territory and put on a good performance and get a result.”
“I think there will be a lot of teams that are thankful for avoiding us but they are obviously going to be looking at it as a winnable tie as well, but we are looking at it like that too. We will go into the tie confident and be looking to progress to the next round.”
The FA Cup first round match takes place on Saturday 4 November, with tickets information available on the Macclesfield Town website.