Glasshoughton Welfare manager Mick Norbury is confident his side can win at Vauxhall Motors in the FA Vase
Mick Norbury is confident of revitalised Glasshoughton Welfare winning at Vauxhall Motors in the FA Vase tomorrow.
Glasshoughton, who lost for the first time in the Toolstation NCEL Division One this season in midweek, enter at the first qualifying round stage.
Their opponents are the former Conference North side, who are currently playing in the West Cheshire League after asking to be relegated a number of leagues two seasons ago.
Whilst admitting that he does not know what to expect from Vauxhall, Norbury has faith in his players to guide the Castleford-based club through into the next round.
“It is a step into the unknown because we don’t know what Vauxhall are like,” Norbury said.
“However we have a side that can go down and beat Vauxhall though.
“We have players that can win us the game. Nobody gave us a chance against Runcorn Linnets (in the FA Cup), but we were winning the game with five minutes to go.
“We’ll go to Vauxhall with a game-plan and in the worst case, we’ll not lose the game and bring them back to Glasshoughton.”
Go back a few months and Glasshoughton were struggling to beat anyone.
Welfare were relegated from the Premier Division after a terrible campaign and even new chairman Jon Miles admitted that his club needed an influx of volunteers.
That has happened and Norbury, who was appointed in June, has been able to transform Glasshoughton’s fortunes on-the-pitch.
Norbury believes the corner has been turned and he is hopeful that Glasshoughton can have a positive season.
“The lads have seen the predictions that we were going to be in the bottom half and I think that has spurred us on,” he said.
“We drew with Hemsworth and a lot of people are tipping them to go up.
“The thing with us is that we have a lot of lads that work away so they can only do Saturdays.
“We have been having to swap and change the side. We haven’t had a settled side.
“I think we have done alright though. The sides that have played us have seen that we work hard and try and play football.
“I think mid-table, maybe top half is a realistic aim for us. I think we have stopped the slide from last season.
“I don’t think we will finish in the bottom half of the league. Maybe the play-offs is a bit too much for us, but with two or three quality additions you never know.”
Norbury is without suspended trio Iain Blackburn, Danny Snaith and Matt Stables.
Have you read about Non League Yorkshire’s charity poker tournament? Read about it here.