SAME AGAIN, THANKS
Courtesy of www.thisiswindsor.com.
DENNIS Greene hopes his Windsor & Eton side can repeat their FA Trophy heroics of last season, starting off with a win tomorrow against Dr Martens East side Chatham Town at Stag Meadow (3pm).
The Royalists made it to the quarter-finals last time before an agonising exit on penalties in a reply with Aylesbury United.
Cousins...A Former FA Trophy Winner
Earlier they had conquered teams from each of the Southern, Isthmian and Northern Premier Divisions when they overcame Welling United, Hitchin Town and Vauxhall Motors – the latter had caused a stir in the FA Cup only three months earlier when they knocked out QPR.
Even so they have to go right back to the start with the preliminary round, although their co-inhabitants Slough Town get a bye.
And if it’s FA Trophy pedigree you need then the veteran Royalists have it in droves. Greene, Jason Cousins, Dave Carroll and Keith Scott were all part of the Wycombe Wanderers side which won the FA trophy twice (in 1991 and 1993).
Cousins scored after just three minutes in the latter Wembley encounter and listed it as one of the highlights of his career.
“We have all won it and it holds a special place in our heart,” said Greene. “There’s a lot to live up to from last season but we’re better now.
“Stamford are struggling at the moment and if we can get past them we will face the winners of the Enfield/Epsom & Ewell tie at home.
“Both of those sides are at the same level as us so with home advantage too we would have a great chance of getting past them as well.
“The target is to get to the third round at least because then you can draw a Conference side. It’s a good chance to bring in some money.
“I would guess we made about £10,000 from last year’s run which went a long way to paying for the developments on the ground last season.”
Even if Windsor could repeat their heroics the manager does not anticipate that his pool of money for players will swell accordingly.
“We are stretched to the limit at the moment and the chairman was very generous in letting me have the funds to sign Keith Scott,” Greene continued.
“Because of that it is only fair that if we do get some extra money it is ploughed back into the club.”
Even though Chatham are hovering just above the relegation zone in their division at present the Royalists are expecting a tough encounter.
The Dr Martens League is traditionally seen as a more physical set-up than the Ryman, something Greene can relate to from his Chelmsford City days when it was the Beazer Homes Premier League.“The teams close you down quicker so I expect we’ll get less time on the ball. I’m not worried about this at all though because there is a physical presence in our team too,” he added.
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