Nantwich Town are just one of the many non-league sides looking to pull off a heroic upset in the Emirates FA Cup this weekend but they have something that perhaps other teams don’t – a striker that knows just how to get into the mind of a professional player.
The Dabbers, from the Northern Premier League, face a daunting trip to Broadhall Way to take on Stevenage, currently 11th in League Two, in the first round proper but frontman Steve Jones is one Nantwich man that won’t be overawed.
The 41-year-old former Crewe Alexandra and Burnley man, who is also first team coach at Nantwich and took on MK Dons in the first round proper in the 2011-12 season, was capped 29 times by Northern Ireland and scored in a friendly against Scotland in 2003.
He also played in a televised Emirates FA Cup fourth round tie in 2008 and here, he explains why Nantwich – 2006 FA Vase winners and 2016 FA Trophy semi-finalists – may just have a chance of getting the better of Stevenage.
“I know from previous experiences that full-time teams will just turn up and think it’s won, so I’m hoping that will be the case.
When I was at Crewe, we were in the Championship and we played Telford at home (in 2004), who were in the Conference.
They came and beat us 1-0. I remember turning up and thinking: ‘yeah, we’ll beat these guys quite comfortably’.
They scored after a few minutes and that was it. They shut up shop and all credit to them.
I know that a few of the Stevenage players will think that it’ll be easy because they’ll be fitter lads than us but we’re hoping that adrenaline will get us through and help us cause an upset.
When I was at Burnley, we played Arsenal live on the BBC. They had the likes of [Robin] van Persie playing, and [Nicklas] Bendnter and [Bacary] Sagna.
They beat us 2-0 but it was a close game and it was a fantastic occasion.
It’s such a prestigious cup competition. All the lads are buzzing.
We have got a really young team – three of the back four are 17 or 18 but they’ve bought into what we wanted them to and they’re all looking forward to it.
I’m sure, as soon as that whistle goes, they’ll be concentrating 100 per cent.
We work on a lot of set-plays. They’re an important part of football now but we’re actually a good footballing team as well. We get the ball down and play, and that’s our ethos.
I’m 41 now and I’ve worked my way down to Nantwich, and I’m enjoying it. They’re a great set of a lads and they’re a well-run club.
It’s hard to adjust to after 16-odd years of playing full-time to training for a couple of hours on a Tuesday or a Thursday night at first but it’s something you get used to.
At training on Tuesday, we had all of the newspapers down and the BBC cameras were there videoing our session, and all the young lads felt dead proud of themselves – they were really buzzing.
There’s a good hype around the place at the moment and hopefully we can have as many fans as possible down there to cheer us on.”
