Top fans book seats as team aims for final

THE back seats of the players' coach will be reserved for Willand Rovers' "loyal supporters" if the club can seal a place at the FA Vase final at Wembley.

Since kicking off their best ever cup run with a 5-2 win over Newquay in October, the Silver Street side scored eleven more against Longwell Green, Welton Rovers and Causeway United to seal a place in the last 16 of the competition.

Although manager Clive Jones says he expects a fully-fit squad for the fifth round tie on Saturday, he said his players must defy the odds to beat an on-form Barwell side, which has won 20 of its last 22 fixtures.

Jones says his players can take comfort from their own fine form and says they will pull out all the stops to create sporting history for the village by overcoming the Midland Alliance side.

"If somebody had asked me who I wanted to draw, I would not have said Barwell," admitted Jones, who has been at the Rovers' helm for 13 years.

"It will be a massive ask because they haven't lost all season. Everybody is available so I will try and get them all in the best possible form for the game.

"We will train as normal today and I won't be changing the approach. If I start asking them to do things they are not used to, it won't help them. I just want them to be able give it their best shot.

Since narrowly losing to Street, Ilfracombe and Barnstaple Town in the early stages of the Toolstation Western Football League, the Mid Devon side has made steady progress and currently sit in seventh position — with two games in hand and nine points behind league leaders Bideford.

The gaffer says the game's high-profile status will not stop everybody involved with the club from enjoying the occasion.

He added: "All my rival managers have phoned to wish us luck because we are the last Toolstation team in the tournament."

"All clubs in our league like to play Willand because we bring a good crowd on a Saturday and at away games we stay on after the match — we are a friendly, upbeat side, but we play good football. We have some loyal supporters who take the same coach as the players to away matches," he said.

"They sit on the back row, have a beer and cheer us on when we play — if it wasn't for people like that there would not be any Willand Rovers."