Tigers on Trophy trail in Chester

SIMON Clark is hoping that a big performance from his men, and a little luck, will help them record a shock FA Trophy win on Saturday.

Tigers travel to in-form Blue Square Bet North side Chester, who sit second in their table with games in hand over leaders Brackley.

Worksop boss Clark told the Guardian he’s under no illusions as to the size of the challenge that lies ahead for his Northern Premier League outfit, but he welcomes it as a chance to see how they react to a pressure cooker environment.

“It’s not a great draw because they’re absolutely flying, at a level above us, and in front of 2,500 people it will be a very hard task,” he said.

“I would love to get a positive result, to bring them back to Sandy Lane even, but it’s important whatever the result that my players put in a performance under pressure.”

“I need to see that they can do well in pressure games, and I’m sure they will.”

“With a bit of fortune, and us being right at it, they’ll take us a little lighter than a league game and we’ll get a result.”

Clark backed his opposite number Neil Young’s opinion that county cup games scheduled the week before an FA Trophy third qualifying round tie were unhelpful.

“Neil’s had a right rant in the press at the Cheshire FA, putting their county game three days before a tough game against us, similar to ourselves playing Frickley on Tuesday night,” he said.

“The timing is very, very poor. My priority is the Chester game and £4,000 is a lot of money to a football club.”

“But I treat Chester as seriously as I treat every game, they’re the same as Chorley, Frickley, everyone we play.”

“We’ll go there with a game plan that we’ll work on in training, and a plan B, and I’m sure he’ll be telling his players that we’re quite buoyant at the minute and coming to have a reasonable go at them.”

Ahead of arguably the biggest game of the season for Worksop Town, Clark came out in support of skipper Stuart Ludlam, who reacted angrily to his early withdrawal on Saturday after a difficult opening 23 minutes.

The manager said: “I made a tactical switch, it was done for the team and Stuart was on a yellow, defending on his wrong side.”

“He’s walked off and showed his frustration but that’s fine. I’ve had a chat with him, his pride was dented but he’s a good footballer and a very good leader.”

“He trains brilliantly, he’s played all four positions at the back this season and he has a big, big part to play at this club.”