Horncastle Town prepared to win ugly as they look to lift county cup

Mickey Stones’s side will face Brigg Town CIC in the final tonight, to be played at Skegness Town’s Vertigo Stadium.

The Wongers were beaten 1-0 by their opponents in the Lincs League on Saturday, but Horncastle are expecting to field a totally different side following the return of a number of key players.

“We’ll go with confidence. Brigg are a young side who play very attractive football,” said Stones, admitting that having a number of regulars unavailable at the weekend means both sides may well be going into the cup final not quite knowing what to expect.

“But sometimes we play better against teams like that.

“We don’t know whether they were at 100 per cent, but they fielded a strong side.”

Town beat Brigg 7-6 on penalties to lift the Challenge Cup two seasons ago following a 1-1 draw.

And last season Horncastle won the Supplementary Cup with a 1-0 victory against Grimsby Borough Reserves.

And as the Wongers go in search of a third trophy in as many campaigns, Stones would be happy for another tight success.

“In the big games when we’ve got the result it’s often been like that,” he said.

“It might not always be the best game for the fans but we’ve got good experience of cup finals.

“You look back to our 1-0 win at Skegness in the Challenge Cup semis two seasons ago and they were unbeaten before that, and that set the tone really.

“Then there was last year’s cup win.

“Sometimes we’ve had a go and been too open in games and been caught out. We want to avoid that.”

While the Wongers will have a strong squad to pick from, defender Steve Brown will be unavailable and youngster Josh Kisby, who made his debut at the weekend, is not eligible as he was registered with the first team after the cut-off point.

Town are now hoping midfielder Richard Jackson can shrug off a groin injury.

“He’s been our talisman, the most consistent player over the past three seasons,” Stones added.

“We’ll do everything we can to get him involved, but we’ve got a strong squad available.”

Kick off will be at 7.45pm.