A demand for success has put pressure on Spennymoor Town ahead of their FA Vase fixture with Causeway United, according to manager Jason Ainsley.
The County Durham side, who currently sit fourth in the Northern League Division One, have experienced a huge increase in publicity since winning the Vase last year. However, the supporters’ expectations have also grown and now nothing but success is good enough.
"The beauty of selling the club is that we’ve been to Wembley before, but now when the new players come in they see that a bad result is like the whole world collapsing," Ainsley said.
Spennymoor Town v Causeway United
The FA Carlsberg Vase
Fourth Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 18 January
The Brewery Field
Winners receive £2,000
"Since winning the Vase Spennymoor’s attendance has increased and expectations are through the roof and there’s so much pressure to replicate last year, because we had a mad season.
"These days if we draw a game there are five pages on the forum going on about why we didn’t win. But if you look at Causeway, they’ve got nothing to lose, they’re playing the holders of The Vase, the pressure is off them."
However Spennymoor can take comfort from the fact that they are playing at home, and have managed to hold on to most of the squad who made last year’s trip to Wembley so memorable.
"Only three players from the Vase-winning side have moved on," he pointed out. "The nucleus of the team which won it last year are still here, which is a lot of experience who’ve been there and handled the pressure.
"With the squad we’ve got, I would class them all as first-team players. On Saturday we’ll be missing a few key players through injury, so hopefully the lads who come in will make a significant difference with their experience.
"It bodes well for the season, because when you’re challenging on all fronts, come March, April, May that’s when you need your squad to the maximum."
