WITTON Albion manager Carl Macauley has insisted that an FA Cup victory against Spennymoor Town is one that demonstrated his side’s potential.

Their 2-1 win last Saturday against opponents from a higher level secured for the Northwich club a place in the third qualifying round.

“That’s the best we’ve played this season,” said Macauley.

“Man for man, we were better than them.

“We created more chances to score, and stayed solid in defence to limit them.

“It’s a big scalp, we know that, and we’ve set a high standard now.”

He told the Guardian that a breather this week is timely – an encounter with Farsley Celtic on Tuesday was postponed because their rivals had to play a county cup game instead – with a daunting schedule to come.

Witton travel to North Ferriby United for a Northern Premier League fixture on Saturday before heading to the north east again on Tuesday to take on Scarborough.

They then resume their FA Cup campaign the following weekend.

“We’re having to be careful,” said Macauley.

“That means giving players a rest when they need one, and it definitely helps us not to have a game again until Saturday because these lads gave everything again [against Spennymoor].

“They’re learning too from every game what we expect of them and as a management team you can sit back and enjoy a display like that one.

“The reality is we’ve played well in pretty much every game, save for when we were second-best at Stafford, and I feel we should have more points on the board.”

He will wait on an assessment of Will Jones’ knee injury – the front man was forced to leave the field before half-time last weekend – before selecting who starts at North Ferriby.

Anthony Gardner has recovered from a knock to his ankle, and came through 90 minutes against Spennymoor.

Witton should also be boosted by being able to call on both Will Booth and Shane Williams for the first time after they finally received clearance from the Welsh FA to be registered.