James Baxendale confident Worksop Town can match Chester in FA Cup

The former Walsall midfielder has been excellent since he arrived from Pontefract Collieries, alongside a large majority of the squad, who followed manager Craig Parry to Worksop.

“They are a good side, but so are we – I think we are a good match for them,” said Baxendale.

“We are sure that we are going to give it a go and we will go toe-to-toe with them.

“I believe in us and I think we are a match for anyone and if we turn up as we can do, then it is for them to come and beat us at our place.

“It is an FA Cup game, you never know how far you can get and at a club like this, you want to get into those first rounds and there isn’t any reason why we can’t because if we can beat Chester, then we have every chance in doing that.”

Baxendale has been named as the vice-captain this season, leading the side in Worksop’s opening four games in the absence of club captain Gavin Allott.

Worksop have had a perfect beginning to the campaign, beating Anstey Nomads and Westfields FC in the FA Cup, with league wins against Loughborough Dynamo and Wisbech Town putting Worksop are at the top of the table.

Baxendale continued: “I think, the first game, we had waited five months for a game of football, and we were itching for it and when it came, we were all up for it.

“Seb [Malkowski] helped us in that game; when you have someone like Seb in between the sticks, then you will always feel confident and there were a couple of times where people were one-on-one and you fancy Seb to save it rather than fancying the striker to finish it.

“We have a good fanbase; playing in front of these lot every week is going to be good and hopefully we can give them all something to cheer about.

“I think the first few games have shown what we’re all about and the core group of the lads have been together for quite some time, so hopefully there is a lot more to come from us.”

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