But it's not Blackpool against City in The Vase.
AFC Blackpool v Maine Road
The FA Vase, sponsored by Carlsberg
First Round Qualifying
3pm, Saturday 4 September
Mechanics Ground, AFC Blackpool
Winning clubs receive £800
Click here for fixtures
AFC Blackpool host Maine Road in The FA Vase First Round Qualifying on Saturday hoping to reverse their fortunes after an alarming start to the new season in which they have lost all five of their fixtures.
With Blackpool’s Mechanics playing in tangerine and Maine Road wearing the sky blue colours of Manchester City, the clash at Jepson Way could appear like a heavyweight battle between two of the most established clubs in English football.
“It’s Blackpool versus Man City, minus Robinho, Carlos Tevez and Gary Taylor-Fletcher,” quipped AFC Blackpool club secretary William Singleton.
“We have not been playing badly despite losing and some of the results have been close. We have just lost the goal-scoring touch.”
Maine Road are a division above Blackpool in the North West Counties League but Singleton is backing his men to relax and start enjoying their football again this weekend.
“It’s going to be a closer game than people realise and I think if we lose, it will be by one goal, probably 2-1 or 1-0 but we certainly won’t make it easy for them,” he said. “They are a good young side but anything can happen in The Vase and it could be a banana skin for them.”
Singleton himself manages the youth team, and he is proud of the progress the club has made in recent years. “We have a good structure at the club and we usually get two or three players a season who move up from youth level into the first team squad,” he explained.
“It’s all part of making the best out of our resources, the ground is now Northern Premier League standard and looking fantastic, when it used to be little more than a shed. It’s a local club and we are all friends. Even if we carry on losing, we would never sack the manager because you can’t sack your mate!”
