FA CUP: Team Bury’s youngsters will be ‘Up for the Cup’ tomorrow.

Members of the team, who are all students at West Suffolk College, got their hands on the trophy when the FA Cup visited Bury St Edmunds earlier this week ahead of Team Bury’s historic first-ever FA Cup tie, at home to Ampthill Town.

Team Bury, who joined the Ridgeons League last season, qualified for this season’s FA Cup after finishing ninth in their first season in Division One.

Ross Wilding, who took over as manager shortly before the start of the season after joint bosses Neil Reader and Dean Greygoose stepped down, said: “For most of the lads it will be the first time they have played in the competition.

“A lot of the squad were there and got to lift the FA Cup and have their pictures taken with the trophy, and I think it brought home to them that they will be playing in the same competition as the big boys.

“After lifting the cup their minds could start to wander, so I will be trying to keep them focused on the task in hand.”

Wilding, who last season was manager of Bury Town’s Under-18 side that reached the Third Round Proper of the FA Youth Cup before losing 5-2 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, will have several of those boys in his squad tomorrow against their Molten Spartan South Midlands League Division One opponents.

He saw Ampthill lose 5-3 at Kings Langley on Tuesday night and said: “They are a big, physical side and quite direct in their play at times. The pitch was not very good and there were lot of defensive mistakes which contributed to the final scoreline.

“We know we will have a decent pitch to play on at Ram Meadow and hopefully the crowd will be pushing 100. We had 70 watch us last weekend in the league, but hopefully the publicity surrounding the match may attract a few more fans through the gate.”

Team Bury made a winning start to their Ridgeons League season last Saturday, defeating Downham Town 1-0, but Wilding said it was too early to talk about the possibility of winning promotion this season.

“I think it is a bit early at the moment. Some of our young lads have not played in the Ridgeons League before, but hopefully the more experienced lads will step up and take the lead. We have had a good start to the season, but have yet to play at the level I have seen from these lads before.”