CHIPPENHAM Town manager Gary Horgan hopes the lure of “a bigger carrot” will help the Bluebirds cause a significant upset in their FA Cup first-round clash with Lincoln City on Saturday.

The National League South outfit is set to welcome the League One Imps to the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off in just the club’s fourth-ever appearance in the main draw.

The prize for reaching round two is another potential plum tie and £41,000 – a significant amount of money to a semi-professional club like the Bluebirds.

While Lincoln would certainly welcome an added injection of cash, five-figure sums coming into non-league clubs are far less common – as are fixtures against pillars of English football.

Therefore, Horgan is hopeful this potential once-in-a-career opportunity will bring the best out of his players.

Horgan said: “Clearly, we don’t want to get beat and embarrassed. We want to give a good account of ourselves individually, as a group, the club, and the National League.

“We are excited, and we go into every game thinking we can win it, or we have a fighting chance. This game is no different.

“Clearly, they’re a League One team, but they’re used to playing on better pitches in better surroundings. Whether that plays a part, who knows?

“For our lads, it’s a one-off game with a real carrot at the end of it. I know they’ve got that same carrot, effectively, but undoubtedly for a non-league team it’s a bigger one.”

Since the draw was made on October 17, Horgan says he and his coaching staff have been working in the background to try and close up the 78 league places between the two clubs.

As ever in the world’s oldest cup competition, The Bluebirds boss knows the magic trio of ingredients will be required for his side to pull off a memorable giant-killing.

Horgan said: “The practical side of things, we started preparing on Tuesday night. But we’ve been preparing for the game for about three weeks, overall.

“We think we’ve got a gameplan to cause an upset, it’s just a case of whether we can execute it correctly on the day.

“Hopefully, the adrenaline runs high for the boys and we can maybe cause an upset. We’ll obviously need a bit of luck, we’ll need to be at our absolute best, and we’ll need them to have an off-day.

“It’s probably the stock answer for a manager in my position, but we are going to need all of those. And we’re also going to need the help and support from the 12th man – the fans – on the day.”

Chippenham would like supporters to note that tickets for Saturday's game will NOT be available to buy on the day. Tickets can be bought at the Bluebirds' Bar on Thursday, November 3 – 6pm to 8pm - and Friday, November 4 - 9am to 3pm. Visit www.chippenhamtown.com for more information.