DEFENDER Danny Meadowcroft hopes 1874 Northwich can be this year’s FA Cup “surprise package” as their remarkable journey continues on Saturday, writes Matt Turner.

After their stunning victory over National League North side North Ferriby in the previous round, 1874 welcome Ossett Town to St Lukes Barton Stadium for a third qualifying round encounter.

Victory would put Paul Bowyer and Wayne Goodison’s side to within 90 minutes of a place in the first round proper, but this is already the furthest the club have been in the prestigious knockout competition.

Centre-half Meadowcroft believes his side have the capabilities to pull off another upset against Ossett, who ply their trade one league above them in the Northern Premier League’s First Division North.

“Chances like this don’t come around very often at our level,” he said.

“There is always one surprise package in the FA Cup but it’s rarely the same team twice.

“Hopefully we can be that team this year but we need to take our chance.

“We will give it our all and we’ve generally done well against higher-ranked teams.

“Confidence and arrogance are very close together. We need to play with confidence but avoid being arrogant as that is when mistakes will happen.

“We need to do what we do best and try and force Ossett into making mistakes.”

As well as the 1-0 win over North Ferriby on September 17, Meadowcroft’s side have also dispensed with Ossett’s league rivals Mossley in their cup run.

The club have earned more than £10,000 in prize money from the FA Cup so far and the 32-year-old says it will all count towards building a brighter future for the club.

He also says the players are enjoying being “talk of the town” in Northwich.

“We’ve made some money for the club which is great,” he said.

“Of course, there’s talk of us getting our own ground and things like this will help with that.

“There were 300 fans here on Saturday afternoon and only around 270 at Witton despite how well they’re doing.

“We’re talk of the town at the moment and we’re enjoying it. It’s great for us but it’s great for Northwich as a whole as well.”

No matter what Saturday’s result may be, memories of the victory over North Ferriby will be a high point of 1874’s season.

Meadowcroft, who has also enjoyed spells with Witton Albion, Northwich Victoria and Barnton, says the result will be one he looks back on fondly at the end of his career.

“It’s definitely up there for me, in terms of shocks I’ve been involved in,” he said.

“It meant a lot to the lads as we worked hard. We went into the game thinking ‘what if we could actually pull this off?’

“We played our own game and the relief at the end was there for all the see.

“We were all ecstatic and it’s certainly a game I’ll remember. Hopefully Saturday will be the same.”

Kick off at St Lukes Barton Stadium is at 3pm.