Thatcham Town v AFC Totton
The FA Carlsberg Trophy
Second Round Qualifying
Saturday 1 November 2008
Winning clubs will receive £3,000 from The FA
Thatcham Town are looking for double revenge this weekend as they prepare to take on AFC Totton in the Second Round Qualifying of The FA Trophy.
Totton subjected Thatcham to their biggest league defeat earier this season when they thumped the Berkshire outfit 5-0.
And they rubbed salt in the wounds by knocking their Southern League Division One South and West rivals out of The FA Cup as well.
But Thatcham club secretary Steve Berry is hoping for a different story this weekend in The Trophy.
"We are definitely looking for revenge," he admitted. "We didn't deserve to lose The FA Cup match, as a few decisions didn't go our way, and in the league game we had our goalkeeper sent off after 15 minutes.
"But we have learnt to not give them too much respect early on like we did in the last games. Jamel Johnson is the man of the moment for us at the moment with his speed and dribbling."
Thatcham progressed to this stage of The Trophy thanks to a last-gasp Ashley Vine header in a dramatic 5-4 home win over Slough Town in the previous round.
However, the team are struggling for league form near the bottom of the table, while Totton have started strongly with six wins in their opening eight matches.
"In the league, we've had a few draws and only suffered narrow defeats - apart from the one against Totton when our goalkeeper was sent off," explained Berry.
"But league form goes out of the window in cup games and we seem to upset the odds in this competition."