ANOTHER monumental effort will be needed if Shortwood United are to pull-off yet another FA Cup giantkilling against Bath City tonight, writes James Young.
After drawing 2-2 at Twerton Park at the first time of asking on Saturday, Wood will be fancied to add another shock to their ever-growing list at Meadowbank tonight.
But joint boss Alex Sykes knows his squad will have to dig as deep as they ever have done to defeat the Romans, especially after coming so close to upset three days ago.
"We went 2-1 up with nine minutes to go and then they equalised with just three minutes left," Sykes said.
"We can take a lot of positives from the game as we took another Conference South side the distance, but it will take another monumental effort to beat them.
"The funny thing was that we were 1-0 up at half-time and I said to the boys in the dressing room that we weren't good enough.
"This is probably a bigger task than it was on Saturday because nobody expected us to have a chance then, they probably do now."
Sykes has watched his twitter feed with interest since Saturday's game and has been amused by some messages from the Bath players.
"I've seen a few of them say that our pitch isn't the best and it's a bit difficult to get to the ground and had a bit of a chuckle," Sykes said.
"While it's true that it's not the easiest place to get to, a lot of them will be quite happy when they get to the top of the hill as the pitch is superb.
"The expectation will still be on them to come and win the game, but hopefully there will be a big crowd there to roar us on and see us try to pull off an upset."
Wood have no fresh injury concerns but Sykes and joint boss John Evans will have to assess a number of bumps and bruises.
Bath head into the game under a different kind of pressure after boss Lee Howells was told his budget may be cut if his side don't progress.
There is a prize pot of £7,500 available for the winners of tonight's game and Howells will have to cut his squad if the Romans don't progress.
He said: "The players can feel the pressure. If we don't win we don't get the money and you've got to get rid of two or three players.
"How can you work like that? It's impossible."
A trip to Ryman League premier division club East Thurrock United in the fourth qualifying round is the reward for the winners of tonight's game.
