Salisbury City hoping for FA Trophy payday.
Salisbury City v Tamworth
The FA Carlsberg Trophy
Fourth Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 20 February 2010
The Raymond McEnhill Stadium, Salisbury City FC
Winning clubs will receive £8,000 from The FA prize fund
Full list of Fourth Round ties Salisbury City are looking to put their recent financial difficulties behind them with a weekend win over Tamworth in The FA Carlsberg Trophy Fourth Round.
The Whites have suffered a ten-point penalty in the league this season after going into administration, but boss Tommy Widdrington, a double Wembley winner himself in 1998 with Grimsby Town, is hoping a cup run will boost Salisbury's fortunes.
"Anything we can accrue from The FA Trophy will help improve the club's financial situation," said Widdrington. "We're not completely dependent on the income, but the benefits of a trip to Wembley are massive."
It's a busy time for Salisbury at the moment, having been taken to a replay by Cambridge United in the previous round of The Trophy, and Widdrington accepts a draw against Tamworth on Saturday would not be the ideal result.
"Both sides will be looking to win at the first attempt," he said. "Given the cold snap we've had this winter, and all the rearranged league games, it's important not to get a fixture backlog."
The FA Trophy game against Tamworth sees the sides meet for the second time in five days, after their Conference Premier fixture on Tuesday, which Salisbury won 1-0. "It's a strange scenario, a quirk of the fixture list that we're playing Tamworth twice in a week," Widdrington admitted.
"We'll be giving them plenty of respect. They've been on a good run, and like ourselves they've only lost something like one in the last eleven games, so it'll be a tight match."
Meanwhile Widdrington is trying to keep supporters' ambitions in perspective. "We'll take every game as it comes," he said. "People can't help talking about Salisbury being only two ties away from Wembley, but there's a lot of football still to be played."
