MITCH Tippins has rallied his Yate Town team-mates on to FA Cup glory this weekend and told them: “We can do it”.

It will be a meeting of old team-mates when the Bluebells tackle Toolstation Western League Premier Division outfit Cadbury Heath at Springfield in the preliminary round on Saturday.

And the pressure will be on Yate as they are favourites to beat the home side despite a draw and a defeat from their first two Evo-Stik Southern League West games of the season this week.

Tippins, who re-joined the Bluebells this season from rivals Mangotsfield United, said it was vital that Yate get on the Cup bandwagon this weekend with victory at Cadbury Heath, who beat Longwell Green convincingly by 4-1 in their extra preliminary round clash on August 5.

The midfield maestro said: “Hopefully, they won’t be as strong as us but they won’t be weak. They have Sacha (Tong) and a couple of Yate players down there. They have just signed Jack Camm from us so they are going to want to beat us.

“You cannot underestimate the FA Cup. It is always tough even when you play the lower teams.

“An FA Cup run helps the club, gets the players buzzing and everyone wants to make the first round at this level.

“It is a big thing. We can do it. We have to believe in ourselves, trust each other and we might be able to go on a run.”

Yate drew 2-2 at Kidlington in Oxfordshire in their opening league clash of the season last Saturday and went down to a 1-0 defeat at home to Bideford on Tuesday evening at Lodge Road.

But Tippins said the Yate squad are in much better shape than they were at this time last season.

He added: “We are a very compact team.

“We get on well and a lot of us are mates out of football.

“Now, as a team, we are strong. During the away trip last Saturday, everyone helped each other and on the way back, we had a laugh so I feel we are a very strong team this year.”

Manager Paul Britton said the club are ‘delighted to have Mitch back’. He added: “We were disappointed that he left last season and we would have preferred him to stay. But he has gone, it didn’t really work out for him for one reason or another and we are delighted to have him back along with the others.”

As for the Cup tie, Britton said: “It is a little tricky encounter with Cadbury Heath. We know quite a bit about them. They are a terrific football club locally, they have a lot of people there who I am familiar with.

“But we are taking nothing for granted. It is an FA Cup game, we are the scalp, if you like, so we have to make sure we go about our business in the right manner or you come unstuck in these games.”

Yate’s next league game is Wimborne away on Saturday week.