Skegness back on Wembley trail in FA Vase
Skegness Town will continue their FA Vase adventure this weekend when they travel to take on Rugby Borough in the second round (proper).
The Lilywhites will be looking to equal their previous best progress of round three with victory at the weekend, but will come up against a side currently fourth in the UCL Premier South – the parallel league to Skegness’s Premier North.
And manager Chris Rawlinson is hopeful his Skegness side can produce the goods but acknowledges it will be a tough task.
He said: “Rugby are doing really well in the UCL Premier South and have already beaten Boston in the League Cup and beat AFC Mansfield on Sunday too where I went to watch them.
"I’d say they’re similar in style and how they play to how Melton are, with a few tweaks, so it’s going to be a tough game, especially at their place on the 3G as it makes a big difference for the teams who play on it week in, week out.
"But it’s the FA Vase so let’s go and have a go. To get to the third round would be a great achievement for the club and there’s no reason we can’t, but it will be a tough game as Rugby have a lot of strengths and a lot of quality.
"But if we work hard, be together and play to our strengths which I’m sure we will, there’s no reason we can’t get a memorable result.”
Skegness go into the game off the back of a victory in another cup competition last weekend, having beaten Melton Town 3-2 in the UCL League Cup on Saturday.
Rawlinson said: “It was a really pleasing performance. We were missing a few from the previous week, including George Hobbins who has moved to Stamford – although we may get him back on occasions – and Tom and Charlie Ward who were cup-tied.
"So I was made up with the lads who came in and who have been waiting patiently for their chance in the last few weeks.
"We changed shape from when we’d played Melton earlier in the season and stifled them a bit, and we were 3-0 up at half-time.
“They pulled a goal back after making lots of changes but we then missed lots of chances to kill the game and Melton then got a set piece goal to make it a bit nervy, but I was pleased with how we held out.”