Beating West Ham would be biggest win in our history says Gannon
STOCKPORT County manager Jim Gannon insists his squad must enjoy the occasion when they face West Ham United in the FA Cup third round tonight.
The Hatters will welcome their Premier League opponents to Edgeley Park for a first meeting since their League Cup fourth round replay in 1996.
And Gannon, who has now racked up more than 500 games as manager across three spells at the club, admits some of his side will be nervous going into the game.
“They’ll be worried about West Ham, naturally,” said the County boss.
“But I think we’re fortunate to have had the opportunity to play against Rochdale (November 7) and they all stood up that day and played the game really well.
“All I want from them in this particular game is just to go play the game but enjoy the occasion as well.
“If they play as well as they can then I’m sure they’ll enjoy it a lot more.”
Their opponents have made a good start to their latest Premier League campaign, with the Hammers sat 10th, losing just one of their last six games.
Manager David Moyes revealed in his pre-match press conference that a squad of first-team players will travel to Edgeley Park, something that Gannon says his side will be fully prepared for.
“I don’t know if they’ll be ‘weak’ when I look at their bench,” he added.
“If you look back to last year when they played in the FA Cup, it was very much the first-team squad, if there were any changes, it was lads off of the (usual) bench.
“They’re going to be a very strong side and they’ve always got the fall back of being able to bring on five more.
“We expect a very strong side, it’s not because it’s Stockport County, it’s because they want to win this game and they want to be in the hat for the next round.”
And with the odds against them, the County boss believes that a positive result would surpass the efforts of that previous meeting 24 years ago.
“I think it would be a much greater achievement for this group to beat West Ham,” he said.
“You’ve got to remember we were a League One side, assembled with some players that were very good at that level and some from the Championship.
“So if our players were able to achieve success against them I would have to say that they would go down in our folklore because it would be one of our greatest achievements.
“It would outshine any win in our history, whether it be the 1996-97 team or before that. I don’t think Stockport have beaten somebody so far up the tree as this. It would be brilliant for our players.
“We know these games can have wonderful outcomes, but we want to make sure that we don’t come off saddened by the way that we’ve played.
“Whatever the result, I’ll be proud of them.”
Moyes is confident his players will be able to manage a potentially tricky tie.
However, the former United boss knows they cannot allow their standards to drop.
He said: “Over many many years, they have been a very, very good league team, as many teams around that part of Manchester have been.
“I used to always go and watch games there, I have played there at different times in my career, so I know about them. I have watched quite a lot of Conference games. I watched quite a lot of Fylde last year when I was not in work, so I have got an idea.
“We have watched a lot of them, we have had most games watched since the draw, so we have got a good idea of what we are up against.
“It’s never easy - none of the games are ever easy - and we know we need to play very well to get through.”