PAUL Moore gave an indication of Witton Albion’s confidence when he said Boston United must perform at their best to win tonight’s FA Trophy rerun.

The teams meet at Wincham Park for a rearranged third qualifying round encounter after a first attempt was abandoned at the interval last week.

Rob Hopley’s early goal had put his side on a course to the next stage.

A postponement followed last Tuesday too.

“Boston know we’re capable of beating them,” said Moore.

“In the 45 minutes we have played, they came up against a Witton Albion team that proved we can match them.

“If they’re going to go through, then they’ll have to be in pretty good nick.”

The Pilgrims are anything but.

They parted company with manager Dennis Greene shortly after the aborted first meeting with Witton, leaving Martyn Bunce in temporary charge.

They trailed 3-2 at relegation-threatened Stalybridge Celtic on Saturday before Nat Brown rescued a point with a late leveller.

However the teams remain separated by two divisions; Boston are 15th in National League North after drawing at the weekend.

Albion will also be weakened by the enforced absence through injury of captain Anthony Gardner (ankle).

Paul Williams (knee) and Steven Tames (ankle) are ruled out too, the latter after leaving the field on a stretcher during the closing stages of a 5-0 win against Romulus on Saturday.

He went straight to hospital afterwards, and was diagnosed with a sprain that will keep him out for the next few weeks.

“We’ll talk about how that will affect what we do,” said Moore.

“It shows the character of the lads we do have that they’ve stepped up, sometimes playing in an unfamiliar position.

“We know the squad is small, but we know too it’s mentally strong.”

He told the Guardian that a potential first-round meeting with Chester would keep Witton focused.

Should they progress, then they will play in the competition proper for the first time in a decade.

“It would be lovely to play Chester here,” added Moore.

“But there’s a job to do before we can enjoy that.

“Whoever we play, we want to perform. If we do that, the result will follow.”

Should tonight’s game end in a draw, then a replay will follow at York Street on Saturday.

The victor would then host Chester in midweek.

If the contest is called off, then the teams will convene again in Northwich this weekend.