Charlton FA Cup tie excites Mansfield Town boss Flitcroft

Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft is excited by the challenge of drawing Charlton Athletic at home in the FA Cup round one draw next month.
Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft salutes the crowd after his sides 1-0 win at Morecambe: Picture by Steve Flynn/AHPIX.com, Football: Skybet League 2  match Morecambe -V- Mansfield Town at Globe Arena, Morecambe, Lancashire, England on copyright picture Howard Roe 07973 739229Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft salutes the crowd after his sides 1-0 win at Morecambe: Picture by Steve Flynn/AHPIX.com, Football: Skybet League 2  match Morecambe -V- Mansfield Town at Globe Arena, Morecambe, Lancashire, England on copyright picture Howard Roe 07973 739229
Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft salutes the crowd after his sides 1-0 win at Morecambe: Picture by Steve Flynn/AHPIX.com, Football: Skybet League 2 match Morecambe -V- Mansfield Town at Globe Arena, Morecambe, Lancashire, England on copyright picture Howard Roe 07973 739229

And he believes his side showed enough in the four pre-season friendlies against Championship opposition - winning three and drawing one - that they can cause problems for a side sat in 11th place in League One.

“I think the FA Cup is one of the best cup competitions that’s out there,” said Flitcroft.

“It is a competition with tradition. I have a footballing family and a footballing background and I know what it means to every club.

“Every club has an opportunity and a chance.

“Teams (non-League) have that opportunity in this round, having got into round one. You can pull out one of them and that’s a difficult tie.

“But we’ve got Charlton and it’s a home tie, which is fantastic for us.

“There are other games you can get that are miles away on difficult surfaces. We have one of the best surfaces in football and it’s going to be a fantastic game of football.”

Mansfield impressed against Championship opponents in pre-season and Flitcroft believes that experience will hold them in good stead for the tie, due to be played on the weekend of 10th/11th November.

“I look back to pre-season and the Championship teams we played,” he said.

“They probably gave us more opportunity to set traps and win the ball off them, so when we get to it and have a look at that tie, we can look back to our work in the summer.

“There was a lot of good work in pre-season that we might have to go back to for the different style of football Charlton will play compared to most League Two clubs.

“They are riding high in League One and they have an ambitious manager (Lee Bowyer) who was a fantastic, aggressive player. So I am sure his style will be imprinted all over the team.”

He added: “You have got to be stimulated – it’s the FA Cup – and I’ve got a group of players that are running for each other and giving everything for the shirt.

“They will want to play in that game and will be expressing that in the lead-up to that game.”