Shildon manager Gary Forrest says that his players must display their usual FA Cup commitment if they are to reach the first round proper by beating Norton United in Stoke on Trent on Saturday.

The Railwaymen, the lowest ranked club still left in the competition, must produce the fifth giantkilling of a superb run against their EvoStik First Division South opponents to clinch a first round place for the first time since 2003 – the last time a Northern League club participated in the competition proper.

“We have done well to get where we are in the competition, and we must go to Norton today with the same sort of commitment and attitude that has served us so well in the run,” said Forrest. “Without those qualities, then we’ll get beat. We showed what we’re capable of by beating the other teams, especially those away from home.

“Mental attitudes will be really important in the game. The winners will be the team that can adapt to the conditions and the different pressures during the game, that listens to instructions and tactics, and defends well. The players can’t go off doing their own thing.”

The Railwaymen make the three hour journey down to the Potteries on Friday afternoon, and have stayed overnight in a hotel.

“We want to prepare properly for the game, just as we have done for our Vase matches in the past. In contrast to what happened for the Stourbridge game when we had to rush to the ground, then we’ll be there about an hour before the start. All our preparations went out of the window for the Stourbridge game, and to be honest, I don’t know exactly what got us through. Everything was exactly opposite to what we wanted. But I think after what happened before the start, when the players were only allowed a few minutes to warm up, got them fired up for the game.”

Forrest admits that he doesn’t know much at all about their opponents, who are playing at this stage for the first time in their history. Shildon have been here five times previously since the war.

“I know that they have a lad from Spennymoor up front, but that’s all I know about their players. I know they’re midtable in their league, and prior to their defeat in the FA Trophy at Chasetown last Saturday, they’d won six or seven games off the belt.

“We’re not a full time professional outfit. It’s not as if we have time in training sessions to work on anything to do with the game. We’ll be concentrating on the basic stuff, such as defending and attacking at setpieces. They are the sort of situations that win and lose matches.

“When we’ve watched opposing teams in the past and tinkered a little bit with our team, after about an hour or so we decided that we’ve wasted our time, and that we should go back to what we normally do.

“I hope they watched us last Saturday at Bishop Auckland, we were dreadful. I don’t think they would have learned much from that game! We played very well at Stourbridge on the Tuesday, then the following Saturday were dreadful.”

Forrest’s main worry is concerning striker Billy Greulich-Smith, who scored the spectacular winner against Stalybridge two rounds ago, and he will probably have a fitness test this morning. Defender Darren Craddock and midfielder Danny Moore are definitely out because of suspension.