2 days ago
7
With a chance of making history in the FA Cup awaiting, Wealdstone boss Sam Cox has enlisted the help of his local church pastor to try to inspire his players to claim a big scalp and reach the third round.
The Stones will visit League Two Grimsby Town in great form, having gone eight matches in all competitions without defeat, and sit ninth in the National League.
The Ruislip-based club have reached the third round just once in their history, when they were beaten 4-0 by QPR in the 1977-78 season.
Should they win at Blundell Park on Saturday, the opportunity to face one of the Premier League's elite clubs could become a reality.
And to get his players fired up for the match, Cox invited pastor Jerry Brown to deliver a rousing speech, where he spoke of the importance of embracing tasks that might feel mundane in order to reach their peak level of performance.
"If we can focus on the consistency and the endurance of resilience, I find that's where if we are focusing and we are delighting ourselves in the mundane, the mundane is where the power comes, that's where the strength comes alive," he said in a clip posted on the club's Instagram account.
"And with that strength, you can stand the test of time."
Wealdstone have had a strong first half of the season and sit four points off the play-off places after 21 matches.
Following a short spell as interim boss in April, former Stones player Cox was given the job full-time ahead of the season.
His side's cup campaign began in the fourth qualifying round with a 5-1 win over Whitstable Town in October, before a 1-0 win over Southend United in the first round proper last month.
They face a Grimsby side whose own Carabao Cup run can serve as inspiration, after the Mariners famously defeated Manchester United on penalties and followed it up with a win at Championship Sheffield Wednesday, before eventually losing to Brentford in the last 16.
Having never progressed beyond the FA Cup first round as a player, Cox is hopeful the Stones can go one better than last year's campaign and reach the third round to set up a big payday for the club.
"It would be unbelievable for us, you know, lowest budget in the National League. It would be monumental for us to get to round three, that's [would be] the biggest achievement and [would equal the] furthest that we've gone in history," Cox told BBC Radio London.
"So for us to equivalate to that would be unbelievable. The effects that it'd have on a club like us would be massive.
"Hopefully some of that would be put in the pot so we can support and strengthen the group. But certainly for the board and our club and the infrastructure, it would go a massively long way, and the prospect of potentially getting one of the bigger boys in round three is very exciting."
