TIME NOW TO GRAB YOUR BIG CHANCE!
GUISELEY CAMBRIDGE UTD V
MARCUS BIGNOT once got the better of Paul Gascoigne to win a cup tie – now he’s hoping to mastermind another upset to last in the memory.
The former full-back was part of the Bristol Rovers side which famously toppled Gazza’s Everton over two legs in the 2000 Worthington Cup.
These days, as manager of National League North Guiseley, the 44-year-old is still in the business of upsetting the odds and Cambridge United are next on his hit list!
The U’s are two-time quarterfinalists in the FA Cup and go into the tie at Nethermoor Park full of confidence having won their last three games in League Two.
Guiseley, though, are no strangers to overcoming the odds themselves having edged past another thenLeague Two side Accrington Stanley on penalties at this stage of the competition last season to reach the second round proper for the first time in their history. Now Bignot is hoping history can repeat itself in front of the BBC cameras this afternoon with a result to restore the Lions’ roar following relegation from the top-flight last season.
“For clubs like ours who have had to cut our cloth accordingly, a good FA Cup run, with the financial implications it delivers, is a blessing,” Bignot, the former Solihull Moors, Grimsby Town and Chester boss told
“It’s fair to say Cambridge United at home will hardly catch the imagination of the football world but it will if we win and we’ve given ourselves that opportunity by getting to the first round.
“Since the draw, they’ve won their last three league games, I blame the BBC for that, but they will have to come here and match us for endeavour, desire, mentality and workrate if they are to get past us.
“Anything is possible, it’s all on the day, and hopefully we can get a big vocal crowd here, in front of the TV cameras on a Remembrance Sunday and really make it an occasion to remember.”
Despite his heroics in the League Cup at the turn of the Millennium, Bignot’s FA Cup record is strangely quite modest as a player or a manager.
But the former Queens Park Rangers and Crewe Alexandra defender says the opportunity is out there for someone to shine on the biggest stage.
“For managers and players, the cup comes with a prestige and on Sunday this young squad of players will have the platform and opportunity to put themselves in the shop window,” Bignot added.
“Players have aspirations to play in the Football League and someone’s story will be told in the FA Cup this year, there will be a hero. One game can completely change the direction of a player’s or manager’s career.”