Chris Hilton won’t be parking the Stocksbridge Park Steels bus in the six-yard boxes at Ilkeston
Stocksbridge Park Steels won’t be ‘parking the bus’ in the big FA Trophy second qualifying round tie at Ilkeston FC tomorrow, according to Chris Hilton.
Stocksbridge have already pulled off shock wins in the previous two rounds with victories at Clitheroe and Northwich Victoria, but the latest tie is their hardest yet.
The Steels face a mammoth task against the Evo Stik Premier Division outfit, who currently eighth in their respective Division.
But, Hilton insists that he won’t order the coach driver to park up in the six-yard boxes and is adamant that his side are going to Ilkeston to win rather than attempt to force a replay.
“We’ll see if we can name the bus as our 12th man,” quipped Hilton.
“No seriously we’ll go there with a game-plan based on how they set up and how we want to set up which is what we did at Northwich.
“We went to Northwich and we didn’t park the bus there. They were a good team who forced us into areas, but we kept working hard and got the result.
“We’ll go to Ilkeston to get a result and not just camp in our half and hopefully sneak a draw.
“It isn’t the best draw. It would have been a month ago when they were struggling, but not now when they have just won the team of the month award.
“It will be hard and challenging, but that is the test.”
Stocksbridge are in the right frame of mind having extended their unbeaten run to six games with the comeback victory at Harrogate Railway in the Integro Doodson League Cup on Monday night.
That was two days after the Steels won for the first time in the Evo Stik Division One South since mid-September.
Hilton added: “We’re undefeated in six, but we finally managed to get over the line in league.
“We made it look easy, but it wasn’t. We deserved the score-line and it is something we have been threatening to do in a few games.
“We need to kick on in the league and I think we’re getting the mentality back. We need to get a few wins together now.”