THEY may be underdogs, but Barnton are relishing the prospect of starting the season with an FA Cup tie against 1874 Northwich, writes Matt Turner.

The Villagers, who will be rivals for Ian Street’s side in the North West Counties League’s top flight this term, travel to Barton Stadium for an extra preliminary round tie tomorrow, Saturday, kick off 3pm.

“It doesn’t get much bigger for us at our level,” said manager Steve Lloyd.

“A lot of our guys haven’t played in the competition before, so it’s a nice element to the game for them.

“Whoever we were drawn against, I’m sure we wouldn’t have been favourites.

“They’ve assembled an impressive squad and are a great club, but we’ll go there looking to enjoy ourselves.”

Lloyd replaced Danny Meadowcroft in the dugout at Townfield at the end of last season, when Barnton secured promotion to the Premier Division after winning the play-offs.

And the former Rudheath Social manager has had to build a side from scratch after almost all of last season’s group moved on.

However he’s happy with his new recruits.

“I’ve signed 26 lads,” he said.

“We think it’s a balanced squad of players we hand-picked because we knew they could come in and do a job.

“They’re guys we’ve worked with before, so they’re already familiar with what we require.

“They’ve bought into that, and we’re excited to get going with a historic occasion for our club.”