Stratford Town in the FA Cup: Captain vows the players will give everything on Sunday
SKIPPER Will Grocott vowed every one of Stratford Town’s players will give everything to ensure the biggest game in the club’s 80-year history produces a result to remember.
Grocott says it will be one of his proudest moments to lead out the Bards in their first-ever appearance in the FA Cup first round against Shrewsbury Town on Sunday in front of a televised sell-out, record 2,800 crowd at the Arden Garages Stadium.
“Sunday is a huge opportunity for the club and it’s so nice, not only for the players but for the whole community,” said the midfielder, who first joined in 2016 from Kettering Town. “Stratford has shown it can come together and the fact the tickets sold out in nine hours shows that.”
Sunday’s showdown on ITV4 will provide a £50,000 windfall for Stratford.
“It’s win, win for us, whatever happens on Sunday,” said midfield playmaker Grocott.
“You always dream of a cup run and I remember Marine getting to the third round and playing Tottenham a few years ago.
“It’s the FA Cup. Form goes out of the window - it’s a one-off. It’s 90 minutes, 11 v 11, even if they are full-time pros.
“We know Shrewsbury are going to be strong. They are a League One side playing a Southern Premier Central side and they will be expected to win. But we don’t fear anybody.
“They will be fitter and stronger but we will go out and give everything we can. We will have a game plan and we are going to leave everything out on the pitch.”
Grocott says Stratford will relish the chance to have a clear week to prepare for the tie of a lifetime. Tuesday night’s planned league match at Alvechurch was moved to next Saturday, 13th November when both sides initially had no fixture after being knocked out of the FA Trophy.
“It means we will have three good training sessions so that’s perfect,” said Grocott. “We’ve been playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for the past few weeks so it has been a case of just having a Thursday session to recover and prepare for the next game.”
