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Goal ace Brian Beresford last night to Gresley Rovers fans: “You can help us nearer to Wembley.”
On the eve of the biggest game in Rovers’ history – tomorrow’s FA Vase fifth round tie with Yorkshire club Emley – Beresford revealed that Gresley’s home advantage could be the crucial factor with the club just four games from those famous twin towers. But he observed: “Our supporters are tremendous but they can be a bit subdued at times when we’re playing at home. But we’re expecting our biggest gate of the season tomorrow and if the crowd can get behind us, I’m sure we can give them something to cheer about.”Beresford said he expected Emley, who are likely to bring up to 300 travelling fans to South Derbyshire, to give Rovers their hardest examination of the season.
“They’re a very experienced side in the Vase, having reached the semi-finals last season, and that experience will be valuable to them. But we reached the fourth round last season and the experience we had at Warrington should stand us in good stead.
“We’re expecting them to be a hard, physical side with some skilful players and they’ll fight all the way. But there’s no need for us to be overawed – we’ve got to go out and battle too. It’s very difficult to get the right kind of motivation when you’re playing against a lesser side, as we have in earlier rounds of the Vase. But tough games can bring the best out of us. When we played at Oldbury in the league cup quarter-final the whole team gave 101 per cent – that’s a quality we’re going to have to look for tomorrow.”
Beresford, who has hit two goals in each of his last four appearances for Rovers, was on the point of leaving the club after losing his place in the side but says he is now raring to go.
“You’ve go to be confident at the moment. You couldn’t really ask for more than eight goals in four games. But having said that, it’s a team game and the rest of the lads have to get the ball into the box for me to score. I know they’ll do that for me on Saturday. We’re all fired up and we want to get at them. We’re not far away from Wembley now and it would be smashing to get through – you can’t help but start thinking about it when you reach this stage. We’re the home team tomorrow so it’s in our hands.”
