Chris Bolder anticipates a rip-roaring contest between North Ferriby and Northern League giants Seaham Red Star in the massive FA Vase third round ‘replay’.
Ferriby manager Bolder reckons both sides will come flying out of the blocks to try and seize the initiative in the behind closed door battle to book a last 32 home clash with West Auckland Town.
The match will be live streamed free of charge on Facebook and Bolder’s comments almost act as a salesman’s pitch to get people tuning in as he envisages a hum-dinger.
“I don’t think it will be a slow pre-season type game,” Bolder told Non League Yorkshire.
“I think both clubs will realise it is knock-out football and a one-off game where everything is riding on it to continue playing football this season.
“I think both sets of players will go full tilt at it and leave everything out on the field.
“I don’t expect it to be slow-burner. I think it will be a high intense game and I think there will be plenty of mistakes in the game because of the rustiness and lack of match practice for both teams.
“I do expect it to be all-guns blazing right from the off to be honest.
“I think the intensity will be there from the start and I think we may see mistakes towards the end of the game when players do start suffering fatigue.
“I think the last ten minutes will be key and you tend to see that in a lot of games regardless of the stage of the season. You tend to get mistakes towards half-time and towards the end of the game because of fatigue.
“I’m expecting there to be a lot of tired bodies and I’m expecting adrenaline to take over depending on the score-line.
“The lads are fully aware it is a one-off opportunity. You win, you play next week. You lose, the season is done and dusted. There’s an awful lot on the line.”
Ferriby have had more time to prepare than they did for their Vase second round tie against Lower Breck following the second lockdown in December.
Bolder’s men literally had three days between the lifting of restrictions on outdoor sport and the 2-1 victory.
On this occasion they have had less than two weeks and although Bolder is pleased with how fit his players were upon their return to the training field, he has warned that they are rusty.
“It (the gap between the last fixture and the end of the second lockdown) was a relatively short space of time last time and the body and mind could deal with it,” he said.
“This time it has been over three months. It is an awful long time not to play competitive football.
“Usually in pre-season or the start of the season it takes five or six games before people start getting into the groove so it is going to be challenging.
“We have been able to train on Tuesday and Thursday last week and we played a friendly against Garforth Town on Saturday.
“We trained on Tuesday and Thursday again this week so we’ll be in the exactly the same position as Seaham where we had two weeks to prepare for the game.
“The lads knew all along that there was a possibility of the FA Vase continuing so right throughout this recent lockdown they have kept themselves in good shape and we were pleasantly surprised how fit the lads were when they returned to training last week.
“It is a unique situation where previously in the off-season lads have plenty of time for rest and recovery and you work hard on fitness in pre-season.
“They’re in generally good shape, but what we saw against Garforth no matter what training you do you can’t replicate that match running and the movements you go through in a game so there was an awful lot of rustiness there.
“It will be tough to go straight back into a competitive game after one friendly, but Seaham are in the same situation as us. We have to crack on with it.”
The clash with Seaham is being replayed as Ferriby accidentally played Iwan Heeley who should have missed the tie due to suspension.
A “mis-communication” between Ferriby and the relevant authorities led to the error so the penalty shoot-out victory was wiped from the records and a replay ordered.
Bolder is delighted with the response from his men, but asked if they are fighting an injustice he said: “From their perspective, yes.
“A mis-communication has led to this situation we’re in.
“Our lads are looking it and saying we didn’t do anything wrong, but from Seaham’s perspective the lad shouldn’t have played. I can see it from their side.
“Our lads have just got to see it as one-off game or as a third round replay.
“The lads were fine about it. I spoke to our captain and his typical response was ‘fine we’ll have to beat them again’. That’s the kind of attitude you want to hear from the players.”
Spectators are barred from attending the tie due to the latest set of ever-changing rules.
The FA Vase tie has to be played behind closed doors and other clubs are playing friendlies without crowds – a situation that could alienate Non League spectators and lead to them to turn their back on the game for other activities.
Bolder agrees it is not a healthy predicament.
“I think Non League and spectators go hand in hand,” he said.
“People fall in love with the Non League game because the atmosphere and the real football.
“They can associate themselves with it.
“It is a strange time and we don’t want it to get to a point where it has been too long since people have been in grounds that they’ve found new interests.
“I don’t think it will happen because after the original lockdown we saw the interest straightaway.
“We were capped at 300 and we could have filled that ten times over.
“When we got capped at 150 we were selling out within hours.
“I think the majority of Non League clubs won’t lose fans and they’ll come flooding back.
“But you’re looking at pictures of parks and you can have hundreds of thousands in parks and it baffles you why you’re not allowed to control just 150 spectators watching a Non League event?”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. When we properly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
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Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.