Shildon striker Billy Greulich-Smith is confident that he will win his race to be fit for Saturday’s big FA Cup tie at Norton United.

The former Hartlepool player picked up an achilles injury in their thrilling win at Stourbridge in the last round, and that forced him to miss the derby defeat at Bishop Auckland in the league last Saturday.

“I’ve been having treatment all week, and I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll be fit,” he said. “There’s been quite a bit of bruising and that went at the start of this week, and since Monday it’s been a case of trying to get the swelling down. I’m confident that I’ll make the game.

“The game got a little bit physical at Stourbridge, and they tried to stop a few of us from playing. Unfortunately, I picked up a knock and had to go off, but the lads did superb to go through to the next round. It was a great win, although we didn’t get back until 3 in the morning.

“It was a fantastic night, every single player did amazing considering that we’d been on the bus for six hours beforehand. Maybe it was because we didn’t get to the ground until 25 minutes before kick off and we didn’t have time to think about the game. We deserved to win on the night.”

Along with Willand Rovers, Shildon are the lowest step five club left in the competition, and now they’re up against a step four club, Norton United from the EvoStik First Division South. At least they’ve managed to miss some of the Conference Premier clubs who have been exempt to this stage.

“We can’t underestimate Norton just because they’re at a lower level than three of the teams we’ve beaten so far. They’ve battled just as hard as we have to get to this stage.

“They’re playing at a higher level than us, but having said that, we’ve got players in our team who have played at that same level, even higher.”

Greulich-Smith believes that he’s in the mood to fire Shildon through, just like he did against Stalybridge two rounds ago at Dean Street. “I feel as if I’m in good form at the moment, I’ve scored quite a few goals this season.

“Just like the rest of the lads, I’m really looking forward to the game and that we’ve got a really good chance. We’ve been given this giantkillers tag, and really it shows the strength of the league that we’re playing in. We’ve had some tough games in the FA Cup, but some of our league games are just as tough, if not more so. I think we’ve got a good chance of going through as long as we approach the game properly.

“I’d be absolutely gutted to miss the game because of injury, but I believe that I’ll be fit.”