'Let me experience an FA Cup run' says Worksop Town's James Baxendale

Baxendale has made over 100 appearances in the Football League and has recently moved into a player-coach role with the club.

And the 28-year-old stressed about wanting to make memories in the cup this season as the Tigers prepared to welcome Bottesford Town in Saturday’s Preliminary Round tie (3pm).

The visitors won 1-0 with a 90th minute goal to knock out Eastwood CFC in the Extra Preliminary Round two weeks ago.

Baxendale said: “Taking it back to previous managers and a gaffer that I had a few years ago said, ‘you only have a 14 or 15-year career, that’s only 15 opportunities to have a cup run’ and then every time that is over I am thinking in my head that it is one less year that I will have in the FA Cup.

“You see every year that one non-league side that does well, and you see the banter they have on Twitter and the hype they have around it and the press it brings to the club.

“I want that, and I want to have a cup run where you are looking back on it thinking that it was a great thing in my career because it is completely different to the league and it is a free hit for us, non-league teams.

“I want it to be the one year in my career where we have a good run at it, and you look back fondly on it and every year I think that.

“The hurt we are feeling right now is going to be that grit in our teeth that is going to drive us in the league and the cups and get a bit of a buzz around the place.”

Baxendale added: “We had a great one last year with the Chester game, which still hurts me to this day because of the performance we put in and I have no doubt that we were the better team on the day.“We should have won that game and that could have been us playing against Spurs.“With some of the lads we have in here, I don’t see why we cannot have a decent run and have a good go at it and hopefully this defeat we have had today will spur us on.”