Whites ace guarding against upset
9:00am Saturday 8th January 2011 in Sport By Marc Iles
SAM Ricketts remembers only too well the nervous feeling of being a non league player looking to make his name in the FA Cup.
As a young defender playing for Telford just five short years ago, the Wales international began his meteoric rise up the football pyramid by helping the Shropshire club reach the fourth round of the competition before being beaten by eventual finalists Millwall.
And it’s for that reason that Ricketts, more than anyone else in the Wanderers squad, will be taking York City’s challenge very seriously indeed when they come to the Reebok this afternoon looking to cause an upset.
“It wasn’t that long ago that I was playing in the Conference, so I know exactly how much these games mean to the players and the fans at these clubs,” he said. “It’s something they will have been looking forward to for quite a long time.
“When I was at Telford we came in at the fourth qualifying round and made it to the third round and beat Crewe away when they were in the Championship, then in the fourth round we got beat by Millwall in the year they got to the final.
“For a non league side, we had a really good run that year.”
The FA Cup’s history is littered with players who had been previously unknown to the majority of the footballing world, only to see their fortunes change with a star turn in front of the TV cameras.
How would Kevin Davies’s career path have changed had Chesterfield not negotiated their way through to the semi finals in 1997, or would Owen Coyle have been so revered by Wanderers fans had it not been for his double against Gretna in 1993?
With the BBC following the Minstermen extensively this afternoon, even travelling in on the team’s coach on the way to Lancashire, Ricketts is under no illusion that the potential for a shock is certainly there.
“York come here and they are expected to lose, so there is no pressure and they should be able to express themselves,” he said. “The effort and endeavour will be 100 per cent, they will try and Minstermen extensively this afternoon, even travelling in on the team’s coach on the way to Lancashire, Ricketts is under no illusion that the potential for a shock is certainly there.
“York come here and they are expected to lose, so there is no pressure and they should be able to express themselves,” he said.
“The effort and endeavour will be 100 per cent, they will try andenjoy a day out and try to cause an upset.
“I know there are good players at that level, and it is definitely not something you can take lightly.
“There have been a lot of players who have come out of the Conference, a few have ended up in the Premier League but a lot have ended up in the Football League.
“This is a big chance for someone. There will be clubs watching the non league sides because there are players there who they know can play at the higher levels.”
If Wanderers are to dodge the banana skin, then Ricketts reckons the only course of action is to treat the game like any other Premier League outing.
“It’s a game in which we’ve got to apply ourselves and make sure we reach the standards we’ve set this season,” he said. “We need to show the added quality we should have, because I don’t think it will be a matter of match fitness.
“Physically it’s hard at this time of year, but then it is for all the other teams as well.
“We have got a few injuries but I know the lads would rather be playing games in midweek than training, so there won’t be any complaining from us.”
York have also sold out their allocation of just under 5,000 tickets for the Reebok clash, meaning their travelling support will be virtually double that which turns out regularly for a game in the Conference at Bootham Crescent.
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