Rally cry from Stratford Town boss Paul Davis ahead of historic Shrewsbury Town FA Cup tie

The non-league Bards have reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history and welcome Steve Cotterill’s Shrewsbury Town for a televised tie.

Their Knights Lane home has been dressed up with scaffolding to accommodate cameras and extended to host more fans. The home allocation of around 2,500 tickets in the 2,800 capacity shifted in just a couple of hours. Tickets for the away allocation of 370 have been slower to sell this week.

“Thanks for supporting the football club and buying your tickets so quick, the computer system went into meltdown there was that much interest,” said Bards boss Davis.

“For me and the players it would be great if we could pack the ground out as early as possible. If people are in by the time the players come out for the warm up at quarter past two to get the atmosphere building that would be really special for us.”

Stratford, who beat higher-ranked Boston United in a thrilling replay to make the first round, are 12th in the step three Southern League Premier Central.

Davis added: “We think we’re ready. Hopefully all the players will know exactly what is required of them after last night. I’ve studied Shrewsbury long and hard this week and hope to put into action what I’ve looked at. If we carry out the game plan the same we did against Boston, then who knows?

“It is hard, we must thank Alvechurch for postponing the game on Tuesday night, the only thing we can do is train and keeps things as normal as we can.

“There’s some scaffolding outside the pitch for the cameras, a lot of work has gone on around the ground to hold extra supporters – I know there’s more to come before Sunday.”

“We’ll come in once more on Saturday to prepare for the final touches before the game.”