Ford says cup tie is just what is needed

The Puritans entertain Thatcham Town in Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup tie and it would be a shock if they did not book their place in the third qualifying round draw at the first attempt.

Having seen off Evo-Stik Southern League rivals Tiverton Town in the previous round, United have every chance to make it through on Saturday. But they go into Saturday’s tie against the UHLSport Hellenic League side on the back of successive home premier division defeats, against Frome Town and Redditch United.

But Ford feels the cup tie is just what the team needs after disappointment in the league.

He said: “The FA Cup game will come at just the right time for the players, they can get away from the two league defeats and focus on the opportunity to get through to the next round. It’s a very important game to the club for many reasons but, more importantly for the players, it’s a chance to get back to doing what we’re trying to do.

“We’ve got ourselves into a two-game losing run but we’ve got a great opportunity on Saturday to end that. We’ll be expected to win and I would obviously preferred to have gone into the game on the back of a couple of decent performances, irrespective of the results.

“Now we have to show a bit of determination but we’ve had a blip like this before and bounced back, so we need to do that again quickly.”