Graham Westley has promised that his Stevenage side will “sweat blood” in order to beat Everton in The FA Cup this weekend.
The Boro boss already has a few big FA Cup scalps to his name after leading the League One club to memorable victories over Newcastle United and Reading in the past.
And with home advantage at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday, Westley has been working hard with his squad all week on their preparations for the game and Roberto Martinez’s side.
Stevenage v Everton
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Fourth Round Proper
5.30pm, Saturday 25 January
Lamex Stadium
Winners receive £90,000
Live on BT Sport
“We don’t expect victory to come easily," said Westley, whose side lost against Everton in the League Cup earlier this season and currently sit bottom of League One.
"But nobody in football or associated with The FA Cup would want us to go into the game with the mentality of doing anything but win the game.
“We’re under no illusions of the importance of the game and we will sweat blood to win it.
“We’ve been making a lot of changes to the squad this season, a lot of which were necessary.
“It might have given us short-term pain but the long term gain is about to come out and nothing would surprise me at the weekend.”
One aspect of the game which Westley believes his side can really take advantage of is the playing surface at Broadhall Way.
With plenty of rain in Hertfordshire over the last few weeks, the surface has taken something of a hit and with Everton more used to the pristine pitches of the Premier League, Westley reckons it can only work in the hosts' favour.
He added: “Roberto was talking about the difficulties at West Brom and the surface there on Monday, but at Stevenage...
Westley led Stevenage to victory at Doncaster in the Third Round.
“Our very best chance of winning this tie is at the weekend, it’s a difficult surface out there, it’s not easy and there’s more bad weather forecast, but the pitch will be playable.
“The bonus for us is that we know the surface, we know the pitch and we’re geared for playing on it.”
Having led Wigan Athletic to FA Cup success last season before his summer move to Goodison Park, Martinez will be keen to take the Toffees through and maintain progress in what has been a successful first season in charge for him.
But Westley laughed off claims that it will be a full strength Everton team who lines-up on Saturday, saying Martinez will be “in a psychiatrist’s hospital” before starting the likes of Romelu Lukaku in the tie.
“I’m sure they will modify their playing resources as they’ve got a big game on Tuesday against Liverpool, so we’ll see a ‘squad team’,” he said.
“I don’t see that as a sign of disrespect, because they have the sort of resources where they can expect to come and put on a show.
Watch Stevenage's 3-2 victory over Doncaster
“They have so much quality within their squad, so any team is going to be one of very high quality and one that’s going to be difficult to beat.
“The only thing we can do is focus on ourselves and get ourselves right. When we beat Newcastle and knocked Reading out at their place, we weren’t too fussed about them.
“If you worry too much about what the opposition is going to do, you forget to play your own game.
“He’s [Martinez] a man that I know and I have a lot of regard for, but none of that means that I believe I’m a lesser human being than him or a lesser manager than him.
“He’s got great resources at his disposal, but I’ve got some fantastic men around me that will be wearing our shirts at the weekend and our hunger level will be absolute.”
