Halesowen Town boss Paul Smith is relishing locking horns with Maidenhead United again in the FA Trophy tonight despite admitting the Yeltz may have ‘missed a trick’ in the first meeting.
Smith’s Step 4 side had already knocked out National League North Gateshead and Bradford Park Avenue en route to hosting the top-flight Magpies.
And after twice bouncing back after going behind, they forced Tuesday night’s replay at York Road with a third-round clash at FC Halifax Town awaiting the victors.
MATCH DAY
? @BuildbaseUK FA Trophy replay
? Magpies v Yeltz
? 7.45pm
? £15 Adults, £10 Concessions, £5 U-16
? York Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1SF#TheYeltz #FATrophy #QueSeraSera pic.twitter.com/OxYhClEyAV— Halesowen Town FC (@halesowentownfc) January 21, 2020
Heavy rain put paid to the replay going ahead last week but as Smith prepares his side for this evening’s belated trip to Berkshire, he admits he can’t help but feel his side could have finished off the job at The Grove.
“I was disappointed if I’m honest, I think it’s a chance missed,” Smith, pictured, told The Non-League Paper on Sunday. “We did very well on the whole, but we switched off twice and gifted two goals, and that’s something we’re not used to doing.
“Take two moments of madness out of the performance and it would have been the perfect day – we should’ve won it.
“Against sides their level, they will punish you and they did. But we fought back twice and gave it everything and now we’ve got another shot at it on Tuesday to put that right.
“It’s a massive testament to the boys in the dressing room to be standing here and saying I’m disappointed with a draw against a side three levels above us – it shows how far we’ve come already.”
No fear
The Yeltz have come through no fewer than six rounds to get to this last 32 stage and Smith, for one, can’t wait for another chance to line-up against higher opposition again.
“They’ll be huge favourites again, especially being at home,” he added. “But we go into it with no fear and we’ll give it a real good go and hopefully have another story to tell after it. We’ll give it a good go, we never go into games without believing we can win.
“I firmly believe if we go down there and do what we’re good at, we’ll come away with a result. We’ve done our homework and based on the evidence of the first tie, I believe we can go down there and get a result.
“There’s a lot of people coming up to me saying ‘you’ve got nothing to lose’ but we’ve got a group of people here at this club who deserve more respect than that.”
Game On! | A cold start here at York Road but the pitch is in good shape and we look forward to welcoming Magpies and @halesowentownfc supporters later.
? #FATrophy
? Tue 21 January
? 7:45pm
? York Road
? £15/£10/£5
Reminder: York Road turnstiles ONLY open for this game. pic.twitter.com/jAXj8qXNwx
— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) January 21, 2020
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper on Sunday and Monday for the latest news from across Non-League over the last seven days, together with exclusive match reports and pictures from all of Saturday’s upcoming fixtures in the National League and BetVictor-sponsored Isthmian League, Southern League and Northern Premier League.
