Chasetown - the final words

Charlie Blakemore, the Chasetown manager, is hopeful of a giant killing act on Sunday that will go down in the history of football. he said, “This is the FA Cup and its history is full of those amazing stories about giant-killings. Realistically, we’ve only got the slimmest of slim chances, but there would be no point turning up if we wrote ourselves off. Oldham are so far above us in the league pyramid they are almost out of sight, but it’s all about a one-off game. We may as well give it our best shot. And if things don’t work out for us, at least we’ll have had a great day. Some non-league teams would go out and kick the opposition in a game like this, but that’s definitely not our style. Although we can mix it up if necessary, my philosophy has always been to play good football. Oldham have obviously got much better players, so we need everything to work in our favour if there’s to be any chance of a shock. The main thing, though, is for a club like Chasetown to have an occasion like this. It’s just unbelievable.”

“It’s hard to describe the impact this match is going to have on Chasetown Football Club. We’re a tiny, tiny club, and our cup run is a little dream which will change things forever. The financial aspect is massive, especially as it’s on live television, but it doesn’t get much bigger than playing a team who were in the Premiership a few years ago. The carrot of playing Oldham at home was a huge incentive before our replay against Blyth. All the lads are dead excited. The whole place has been buzzing ever since and, as I stand here talking, there are 15 or 20 people working on the ground. I’ve seen nothing like it in all my time here. They are erecting fences, doing up the dug-outs, putting up temporary stands and painting everything in sight. The ground is very nice for our level of football because it’s picturesque and the pitch is good, but we had to take steps to keep the game here. There was a danger of being switched to Walsall, which nobody in this part of the world wanted to happen. Now we are staying at home and counting down to the day itself. To give you an idea of how big this is for Chasetown, it’s the equivalent of Oldham playing Chelsea in the final, or maybe even bigger. We’ll do everything we can to make sure the OIdham fans and players have a lovely day at our ground. And then, at about 1pm, it’s my job to make it horrible!”

Athletic veteran David Eyres said of Sunday's possible giant killing game, “I’m sure a lot of people around the country will be hoping for an upset. You can guarantee at least one league club will end up getting embarrassed this weekend, so we’ve got to make sure it isn’t us. Chasetown can play without pressure because everyone expects us to beat them, and rightly so. If we don’t treat them with maximum respect, just like we treat every team in our own league, we could give ourselves a problem. They must be decent to have reached this stage and I’m sure, under the right circumstances, they would be capable of turning over a league side. We should be okay if we perform to the right standards, but there won’t be any hiding place.”

Athletic squad (from): Day, Scott, Forbes, D Hall, Branston, Owen, Tierney, Warne, Hughes, Wellens, Eyres, Porter, Liddell, Beckett, C Hall, Edwards, Killen, J Taylor, Butcher, Cronin, T Smith.