SPORT No stone unturned CITY’SVASEDOSSIER COULD BE PRICELESS

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Manager Ben Smith is leaving nothing to chance as Canterbury City bid to reach the last eight of the FA Vase on Saturday.

City host Leicester Nirvana at Salters Lane in the fifth round of the competition and Smith is hoping his meticulous approach will pay dividends.

He has been provided with a 12-page dossier on the Future Lions United Counties League club and believes the clue to how to beat the Midlanders could lie within that document.

Smith, whose side are in the last 16 for the first time, said: “I think it’s a real 50/50 tie even though we’re at home so the more we know about them the better.

“I’ve had reports from their last two games compiled by Langton Football Services.

“We’ve also got videos of every set piece they’ve had in those games but the idea is not to bombard the players with information, more to make them aware of certain bits and pieces which could be useful.

“We know our strengths and it’s case of seeing if there are any weaknesses in them that we might be able to take advantage of.

“We owe it to the players to give them the best possible chance of getting through but whatever the report says, at the end of the day we still need to turn up and make sure we play to our potential because if we don’t it won’t matter.”

City, who are 10th in the Southern Counties East League, were originally due to face Coventry United but they were expelled after fielding a suspended player in their 3-2 win over Nirvana in the fourth round.

Smith says facing Nirvana is as good a draw as City could have hoped for at this stage of the competiton, but he’s not complacent

He added: “Both clubs probably feel it’s a winnable tie and if you’re Nirvana and you’ve been reinstated after losing in the last round you’re probably thinking ‘it’s our year.’

“We’re confident because if we perform how we know we can there aren’t many teams at this level who can compete with us.”