NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: Fearless St Ives Town seeking more FA Cup glory in historic clash
St Ives Town boss Ricky Marheineke. - Credit: Archant
Manager Ricky Marheineke reckons St Ives Town’s historic FA Cup clash will be an occasion to remember - regardless of the result.
Manager Ricky Marheineke reckons St Ives Town’s historic FA Cup clash will be an occasion to remember - regardless of the result.
Saints have reached the third qualifying round of the famous competition for the first time in their 131-year history and travel to former Football League club York City this Saturday, 3pm.
And while Marheineke is targeting a giantkilling success against their National League North hosts, he has also ordered his players to savour every second of the experience at Bootham Crescent in a fixture expected to attract an attendance of around 2,000 people.
Marheineke told the Hunts Post: “It’s a massive occasion for everyone involved with St Ives Town Football Club - the chairman and directors, the staff, the players and of course the fans - and it’s going to be a day that we’ll all remember.
“This group of players have already created a piece of club history by getting to this stage of the competition and we’re all determined to do our best to keep the run going.
“It’s clearly going to be a massive ask to win the game, but we’ll go there with no pressure on us and I know for a fact that my young and fearless team are looking to cause a huge cup upset.
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“At the start of every season we look to have good runs in the FA competitions to not only generate some money to give back to the club, but also to try to be lucky enough to earn the sort of ties against big clubs to give the fans a day out that they won’t forget.
“The players deserve a lot of credit for doing that and we will be as prepared as we can be to give ourselves the best chance of getting a positive result.
“The buzz around the club is great with everyone looking forward to the game and Saturday can’t come quickly enough!”
Saints are expected to be cheered on by an army of around 200 travelling fans at York.
In addition to putting on a show for their supporters, the prospect of winning £15,000 in prize money is another major source of motivation for Saints.
It’s a figure which could double the club’s income in this competition after they already banked £6,000 for their first qualifying round success against lower-level Saffron Walden Town and then earned £9,000 when seeing off fellow Step 3 side Grantham Town in the second qualifying round.
Saints needed a replay to progress in both of those rounds.
