Alcester Town up for Cadbury Athletic test in Birmingham FA Saturday Vase
MANAGER Matt Seeley stressed Alcester Town are going to need the right mentality if they are to get past unbeaten Cadbury Athletic in the Birmingham Vase this weekend.
The Romans head to The Hayes on Saturday (2pm kick-off) in an all Midland League Division Two clash knowing there’s a quarter-final place on the line.
The Chocolate Men are currently leading the way in the league without a single defeat from 16 games and are also on an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Seeley’s men drew 1-1 with the in-form side earlier in the season, but the Romans boss knows it’s going to be difficult to secure a place in the last eight of the Birmingham Vase.
“It’s always hard to tell what you’re going to come up against because teams are changing constantly in this league,” he told the Herald.
“Are we going to come up against the side we drew with earlier in the season or are we going to face a Cadbury side with a number of new faces?
“You don’t really know until the day, so it’s hard to know what we can expect on Saturday.
“We know it’s going to be tough, though. We’ve got a couple injured and a few suspended, but we know on our day we can get a result.
“At the moment it’s down to our mentality. We’ve been so inconsistent all season and if we turn up and be competitive we might stand a chance.
“If we don’t turn up, then Cadbury are going to do what they’ve done to most teams this season and will run away with things.”
The Romans go into the Birmingham Vase tie on the back of Saturday’s resounding 5-1 victory over Boldmere Sports & Social Falcons in the league.
Seeley’s side raced into a 3-0 half-time lead at the Stratford Road Ground courtesy of goals from Guy Clark, Reece Hewitt and Owen Ward.
A Ward penalty made it 4-0 before Hewitt bagged his second of the game to put the hosts into an unassailable 5-0 lead.
The only disappointment was the Romans failed to keep a clean sheet, as a clearance from Dominic Edwards hit the back of Drew Ricketts and bounced kindly into the path of Shane Smith who made no mistake in bagging a consolation for the visitors.
“Boldmere played really well in the first 15 minutes, but in the end we were just too strong for them,” said Seeley.
“We were clinical, solid at the back and did the basics right. It turned into a comfortable win for us.
“It was disappointing to not keep a clean sheet as that’s what I had asked for, but we were so far in front at the time it did not make much of a difference.”
