Town take on the Saddlers in the FA Cup first round
Steven Pressley’s Town side begin their FA Cup journey with a trip to Sky Bet League One leaders Walsall on Saturday afternoon.The Scotsman wants his team to head to the Banks’s Stadium with no fear as they look to progress to the second round for the first time since 2012.
Dean Smith’s Saddlers outfit have started the league campaign in fine form, and are level on points with Burton Albion at the summit.
Pressley said: “I’m not a manager that believes that going out of these competitions allows you to concentrate on the bread and butter which is vital to us at the moment.
“I believe these types of competitions and the competition we’re involved in on Tuesday creates and excitement and an energy around your football club.
“I’m a manager that believes whichever competition you enter you do so to try and win. That will be the case on Saturday.
“There’ll be no going there and resting players with an eye on other competitions. We’re going there to try and win this game.”
Pressley was full of praise for Saturday’s opponents, and appreciates the task is going to be a difficult one in the West Midlands.
“When you look at the teams available I think Walsall just now would be the top graded team because they sit top of our league.
“I’ve watched a lot of their footage this week and their manager and his staff deserve great credit for what they’ve done.
“They’re a club who have shown great continuity over a period and have stuck with their manage through some difficult times.
“He’s stuck with certain players through periods of time and has developed them over the course of the last three or four years.
“It’s a great story at Walsall. They deserve enormous credit for the work that they’re doing as they’re doing a terrific job.
“They’ve got great stability and have worked on a plan because along the way they’ve hit some really troubled times but have come through them.”