All the pressure is on Blackpool, insists Brackley boss

The Seasiders face National League North opposition in the FA Cup for the second consecutive round as they welcome the Saints to Bloomfield Road.

Brackley, who sit eighth in their league, progressed through to the second round after winning their first round replay against League One side Gillingham.

After drawing the original tie 2-2, the Buckinghamshire outfit won the replay in front of the TV cameras 4-3 after extra time.

And Wilkin, who has been manager at Brackley since September 2015, is hoping his side can add their name to the hat for the third round draw.

He said: “Blackpool will be favourites to win it and I hope that adds more pressure on them because every team needs a good cup run.

“But we will take nothing for granted and will have to play at the same levels as we did in both games against Gillingham to get anything from it.”

Tomorrow’s game will only be the second time Brackley have reached this stage in their 126-year history, and also the first time they will have come up against the Seasiders.

Ironically, the last time they reached the second round was three years ago, when it was Gillingham who were once again defeated in the first round proper.

The Saints are currently the competition’s top scorers, having hit the back of the net 20 times already.

Their 6-0 win against Rugby Town in the Second Round Qualifying stage was their biggest ever win in the cup. They also beat Beaconsfield 5-0.

Wilkin added: “We’ve just got to concentrate on how we approach the game.

“We will approach it the same way as we did at Gillingham. It served us well there and there’s no reason to change that on Saturday.”

Saints, who are set to be backed by 250 supporters, will follow the same pre-match schedule as they did in the previous round and Wilkin hopes his players cane come up with the right answers.

He added: “We will travel up on Friday afternoon and have a bit of a quiz that night in the hotel. We had one at Gillingham so we’ll try it again.”

Brackley have been in great form since winning their replay against Gillingham, winning their league game against Harrogate Town as well as their FA Trophy replay against Mickleover Sports.