Basford United aim for FA Trophy progress

Steve Chettle’s men welcome their Southern League Premier (Central) opponents to Greenwich Avenue after they went top of the Northern Premier League with a superb 4-1 win over Scarborough Athletic on Tuesday night.

And whilst some may argue that a cup tie might be an unwelcome distraction from recent league results, manager Chettle sees it as just another game they will aim to win.

“Obviously, the league is our main priority and we have a quick turnaround from Saturday’s game when we host both Hyde United on Tuesday and then Atherton Collieries next weekend.

“But it is also nice to have a run in our cup competitions, as well as bringing in additional revenue to the football club and having the chance to challenge teams at a higher level.

“We go into every game trying to win, regardless of the competition it is in, and this one against Alvechurch is just the next one in our calendar where we will try and do just that.”

United will go into the game with no new injury concerns and will hope Matt Thornhill gets through their training session on Thursday and be available for selection on Saturday after the captain missed the last three fixtures with a slight groin injury.

And speaking on any possible future fitness or injury worries, Chettle alluded to the packed fixture schedule ahead of them and has re-iterated to his players that they should prepare for a congestion of games in the coming weeks and be readied if needed.

“I have said to the players that we have a very packed fixture schedule in the coming weeks and they should be ready when called upon,” he said.

“I have said it before and we said at the start of the season that this is really going to be a squad job. We have 22 members of the playing staff [three currently out on loan] and we recently called up two of the youth squad as reward for their performances.

“This is going to be a long season. We don’t know what is going to happen with it and, whilst it is still going on, everybody is fighting for their place to start and when they get in the side, they have to be ready and keep that shirt as well as they can.”

Tickets for the game are currently on sale and have been reduced following an incentive the Club have introduced for junior supporters and their families taking part in the Halloween celebrations and will be running a competition on the day for best dressed.

Basford have also thought up the scheme following the recent change in the Coronavirus tier status around Nottinghamshire which has fully restricted the visit of away support if travel in-and-out of the County is necessary.

Chairman Chris Munroe said: “Because of the pandemic, we feel the youngers have been the denied the chance to trick or treat this year and it is important to them that they take part in those sort of activities, so we will be putting on small prizes on for them.

“We would be delighted for any young children to dress up and make it a spooky day at Greenwich Avenue. As a result, we have reduced ticket prices, notably for families and their children, and the club will fund free admission to youngsters and their parents where a child is in a Halloween outfit.”

Tickets for the game can be purchased at Basford United’s Club Shop and you can visit: www.bufcclubshop.com for more information.

Alvechurch make their journey from Worcestershire languishing just three points of the relegation zone and have made an indifferent start to their campaign [W2, L4] and are without a win in their last three outings.

They were dumped out of the FA Cup recently by Ilkeston Town after impressively coming through on penalties in the previous round against Kidderminster Harriers.