Cup challengers go west

Thatcham face probably the hardest challenge when they take on Blue Square North side Gloucester City at Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground on Saturday, while Hungerford Town head to the Valleys to tackle Welsh club Merthyr Town.
Hungerford will be without goalkeeper Paul Strudley, who is celebrating his 30th birthday in Scotland, leaving manager Bobby Wilkinson to consider throwing in at the deep end untried youngster Lawrence Griffiths, or opt to bring in an on-loan goalkeeper for the tie.
“We shall work with Lawrence in training and I’ll be confident in him if our back four is solid and the team turns up,” said Wilkinson, who also has injury doubts concerning defender Matt Day and winger Alan O’Brien.
Thatcham have the task of pulling off a ‘giant-killing’ against Gloucester, but that would be nothing new to manager Neville Roach who led Combined Counties League Hartley Wintney to the Third Qualifying Round last season.
“The pressure is on them,” he said. “ We can go up there and enjoy the day.
“We’ve got a game plan and we’ll go there and give it a go with no pressure on us whatsoever. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the boys.
“The players and the club are buzzing about it,” he added, “and we can go there with absolutely nothing to lose.”
New signing Jon Beames will continue in goal but another recent arrival, midfielder Joe Harris, is cup-tied having appeared in an earlier round for Whitchurch United.