Chasetown boss Scott Dundas believes Market Drayton Town are doubly dangerous ahead of their Buildbase FA Trophy preliminary round meeting despite sacking their manager in mid-week.
Martyn Davies was relieved of his duties by the Gingerbread Men following Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Alvechurch, ending his 18-year association with the club.
Davies led Drayton to an 11th-placed finish last season in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division 1 South table, their best ever, and the club’s decision has been the talk of the town all week.
That supposedly leaves Chasetown in a perfect position to take advantage on Saturday but Dundas is wary following their 3-0 loss to the Shropshire side earlier this season.
“I know Martyn quite well and I speak regularly with him so like everyone I was shocked. I know they did not have a great start to the season but he has definitely turned it around in the last few games,” he said.
“It is a bad thing for us I think, we are not sure which side will turn up or how they will play.
“They might bring different players in so it could be a trickier one than we thought because we are heading into the unknown.
“Normally Drayton are very committed. They never give up or stop working, similar to ourselves, so it will be a good game. It will be interesting to see how they do but we won’t be taking it lightly.”
Chasetown are not in fine form either following a heavy 4-0 defeat to Stocksbridge Park Steels on Tuesday.
“It sounds crazy looking at the result but the lads did play well, we just made four bad mistakes at the back,” Dundas added.
“We were disappointed with the result but the performance was good.
“We had both centre-halves stuck on the motorway so we had to play two midfielders at the back and that is never a good sign.
“If we play like that again then hopefully we will be alright.”
Did you know?
Former Premier League player and France international Pascal Chimbonda enjoyed a spell at Market Drayton in 2013 in a bid to maintain fitness following his release from Doncaster Rovers.
FA Trophy history?
Market Drayton’s best result in the competition is the first round qualifying in 2010-11. In the same year, Chasetown put together their best performance – reaching the fourth round proper.
The Prize?
The winners of preliminary round will progress into first round qualifying, netting £3,000 in prize money.
