Special and stressful. That’s Gavin Macpherson’s take in the build-up to Town’s biggest FA Cup fixture for two years when we visit Slough in the fourth qualifying round on Saturday.

Already without the suspended Mickey Parcell, Gavin is sweating on “at least three more” as we attempt to reach the Holy Grail of the first round proper for the first time in our history.

Fresh from our sobering defeat at Chesham, when whatever could go wrong did go wrong, Gavin is fully aware of what’s at stake and the need to bounce back.

“It’s been pretty stressful to be honest in terms of personnel but I also realise how special the game is. We are hanging in the balance with a few but I know full well about the narrative of the game.”

“The people at this club deserve to be in the first round in terms of exposure and its unique status. We are in a position to affect that on the field.”

Gavin achieved the same goal twice when he was manager at Met Police. “I remember the huge flurry of activity in the week leading up to it, national press as well as local. You can’t buy that publicity. Financially too it can be a game changer.”

If there is a replay it will be on Tuesday but the focus is getting the job done first time round. “We know from when we played Slough in the league how difficult it is there, coupled with our own problems within the camp over the last couple of weeks.

“I know how much this means to the people at the this club, especially after what happened two years ago at Cray and the huge disappointment at the same stage. Obviously a replay is better than going out but ideally we’d like to get it done.”

AW

(for those unable to attend, there will be commentary on the game via a link on this website as per).