JOSH Wardle is about to take part in the biggest football match of his life.

But you wouldn’t know it.

At 21, he could be forgiven for thinking there will be another chance to play in the FA Cup first round.

Except that’s not it.

Indeed his current club, Witton Albion, are proof of that.

They haven’t reached that stage of the competition in more than two decades.

He wasn’t even born when they last did.

“I used to get really nervous,” he told the Guardian.

“That was when I was younger, and I’m calmer now.

“Maybe I've gone too far the other way because Paul Moore [Witton’s goalkeeper coach] keeps bashing my ear to say I’m too relaxed!”

It’s a good thing he won’t be daunted.

He’s even had the benefit of a rehearsal or two during a run to the fourth qualifying round that has included victories against two higher-ranked foes in the form of Spennymoor Town and FC United of Manchester.

A summer recruit from Skelmersdale United, whose manager chose him as their player of the year last season, he has settled quickly in new surroundings.

Wardle said: “It’s a bit ridiculous when I think about it.

“Each round I’m saying to myself: ‘this is the biggest game I’ve played in’.

“But it’s lifted everybody here, not just me.”

And, of course, he doesn’t want the sequence to stop just yet.

A measure of the belief manager Carl Macauley has instilled in him, and the rest of the team, is their response to being paired with one of the highest-ranked opponents possible.

Indeed, Solihull Moors travel to Northwich buoyed by beating Ebbsfleet last weekend to cement their hold on fifth place in the National League.

Meanwhile their manager, Tim Flowers, is a former England international goalkeeper.

Wardle is happy to warn them that Witton will be hard to beat.

As a defender, he's perhaps wired to think that way.

But at the start of a season when Macauley introduced a handful of new recruits to a dressing room from which leaders like Anthony Brown and Paul Williams had departed, an FA Cup run has been more timely than usual.

“The wins have given us confidence,” said Wardle.

“But more than that they’ve brought us together as a group.

“After the win at FC United, the lads who have been here longer were singing songs in the dressing room that the fans do.

“Even as a new guy, it makes you feel part of something.”

A string of impressive performances at the heart of Witton’s back-line are more so when you consider he hasn’t previously played in the Northern Premier League’s top-flight.

Not only that, he is one of three new pieces – goalkeeper Greg Hall and full-back James Yates are the others – in a reconfigured defence.

Even River Humphreys, his partner in the middle, only made a dozen starts in the Premier Division after arriving part-way through last season.

And yet together they have kept six clean-sheets while just two rivals – Warrington and Gainsborough – have conceded fewer goals than Witton.

“I love playing next to River,” said Wardle.

“He’s probably the most psyched up man I’ve ever met, but for a young defender it’s brilliant to learn from a guy like that.

“He’s constantly communicating to me what’s happening around us, and that’s a big help because you can’t lose concentration even for a second against some of the guys we’re up against every week.”

Solihull striker Danny Wright, a veteran of more than 300 games in the National League and a title-winner with Cheltenham in 2016, fits exactly that description.

The front man will be a formidable opponent, but Wardle isn’t worried.

“I can’t wait,” he added.

"It's good for me to test myself against guys like that to see where I'm at.

"I'm having the most fun I've ever had playing football at the moment, and I don't want it to stop."