Mick McGraa is looking to end an unwanted record as Vauxhall Motors boss when they travel to West Didsbury & Chorlton.
Since arriving at the Van Eupen Stadium, McGraa has yet to progress beyond the first round with Motors.
Defeats to Winsford United, Skelmdersdale United and Whitchurt Alport have left the Vauxhall boss frustrated in recent years since becoming eligible to compete.
Following their promotion to the Northern Premier Least West last season, it marks their first campaign back in the division following their expulsion from the Conference in 2014.
McGraa is looking to end his winless record in the FA Cup but is wary of the threat that the North West Counties side possess.
“The FA Cup is special, isn’t it? You get yourself ready as much as you can, I’ve never won a game in the FA Cup with Vauxhall so I need to change that,” he told Off The Park.
“They play a certain way at home and are effective. We played well against them last season, hopefully can carry that on this time, we’re a bit better than we were last season so I’m hoping we get through.
“We finished the league there last season and tey had 1,100 there, I’m expecting the same if not more, you’ve got to keep them quiet and if we get ahead early it will quiet them down. If they get in front, the West Dids fans are noisy so we’ll have to be conscious of that.
“We watched them last season, they made changes between Saturday and Wednesday so I don’t know if they had one eye on this game. If we’re on it, we can make it difficult for them.
“We’ve done okay in pre-season so I think we’re ready, if we can start well and the way we’ve started pre-season games, I think we can hurt them. Our fitness levels have been good and we look strong.”
Vauxhall face the difficult task of overcoming the well-followed West Didsbury side but McGraa is firmly focused on ending their miserable run of form in the competition.
He continued: “It’s more doing my head in to be honest, I’ve been there five years, we’ve had four FA Cup games.
“It’s not an excuse but I don’t think we’ve had any luck and last season it wasn’t a priority because we wanted to get out of the league, but this season we’re into a new league, hopefully we can win a few games.
“It’s a tough run, if we win we’re hosting Prescot Cables at home, it’s another difficult game and there’s no gimmicks in the FA Cup.”
