Burton Albion boss Nigel Clough takes his side to Watford in The Emirates FA Cup
Nigel Clough is hoping Burton Albion can spring an Emirates FA Cup shock at Watford - and help his team build momentum in the League.
The Brewers head south to face the Premier League outfit on Saturday and their boss believes his team are more than capable of causing an upset.
After losing five of the last seven games, Albion find themselves just outside the bottom three of the Championship.
But Watford have endured a similar slump and with a mounting injury list for Walter Mazzarri’s side, Clough feels the timing of the third round tie could work in their favour.
"There's no pressure on this Saturday, we feel Watford won't want the game because of their injuries,” said the former Derby County and Sheffield United boss.
“We had someone there [Stoke v Watford] last night, but we aren't sure what we are going to face in terms of line-ups.
"We have nothing to lose, the League form goes out of the window. We will have a go, if we can't win it we will take a replay.
"At Sheffield United, we went really well and it made our League form even better. We went on a run from February after a replay at Fulham, until pretty much the end of the season."
Clough is in his second spell at the Pirelli Stadium, having originally started his managerial career with the Brewers when they were a non-League club.
He spent 11 years in charge, taking them to the verge of promotion to the Football League before he moved to Derby.
And he recalls the days when Burton would face a number of ties just to reach the first round proper, let alone entering The Cup at the third round stage.
"Many years ago we had third, fourth round qualifiers and our aim was to get into the first round,” he recalled.
"We'd love a Cup run, we always believed that the League and Cup can go hand-in-hand. We feel the supporters would love one, if we can get a glamorous tie in the next round home or away.
“The draw has not been particularly kind to us but we believe we can get something from it. They have a few injuries like ourselves, it's an opportunity for whoever we put out there.
"One of the great things is to see lower league ties do well in the cup. Some clubs getting to this stage means so much to them."
