Histon v Yeovil Town
The FA Cup Second Round
Bridge Road, Histon
04 December 2004, Kick-Off 1.30pm

Bartosz Tarachulski has pledged to uphold Yeovil Town's FA Cup traditions and shoot down little Histon in Saturday's Second Round tie.

The 29-year-old Polish striker scored twice on his debut in the competition last month, his second goal in the 90th minute earning a 3-3 draw at Darlington.

Yeovil won the replay 1-0 and now have to guard against being on the receiving end of the sort of upset they delivered regularly before achieving Football League status.

Over the years, the West Country club scored a record 20 'giant-killing' victories and reached the Third Round 13 times.

Tarachulski, who has played for Gornik, Polonia and Widzew Lodz and was once an Israeli Cup Final loser with Hapoel Beer Sheva, said: "I have been aware of The FA Cup for many years, as it is widely covered in Poland.

"It was particularly big news last year when Liverpool played at Yeovil with Jerzy Dudek in the side.

"I now know of Yeovil's rich history in the competition and how important it is for the supporters.

"So I was really pleased to score the equaliser at Darlington. You could say that I am now part of that history.

"We all want to beat Histon and maybe draw another Premiership side. I will be doing my best to make sure it happens."

Tarachulski joined Yeovil after impressing on a pre-season European tour and has scored eight goals to date in partnership with leading marksman Phil Jevons, who in 2001 netted an extra-time winner for Grimsby in a League Cup third round tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

They travel to Cambridgeshire to face a Southern League Premier side brimming with confidence after 13 successive League, Cup and FA Trophy victories which have brought them 48 goals.

Histon put out Shrewsbury 2-0 in the First Round with strikes by their leading scorer Ian Cambridge (left), a golf course greenkeeper, and former Ivory Coast Under-21 international Charles Libam, who works in a "McDonalds" and is a big pal of Arsenal's Kolo Toure.

They are managed by Steve Fallon, who made over 500 appearances for Cambridge United as a player, and coached by former Cambridge boss John Beck.

"Because Yeovil know all about giant-killing, there is no way they will underestimate us," said Fallon. "That could make our task more difficult.

"With a place in the Third Round beckoning, we have to be aware there will be a lot of nervous energy among our players. This will be the biggest game most of them have ever been in.

"It's our job to keep them relaxed. If we do that, they work as hard as they did against Shrewsbury and get the crowd behind them again, we must have a chance.

"It's been a great performance to get this far and we don't want it to end."

For 23-year-old Histon defender Louie Farrington, however, there is bitter disappointment.

Farrington has been ruled out of the tie - and probably for the rest of the season - after an operation to repair a damaged knee, sustained when he slid off the pitch during last Saturday's FA Trophy win over East Thurrock and hit a serrated metal fence post.