Tadcaster Albion believe they can cause FA Cup upset when they host Chester FC in front of live TV cameras

The Brewers, who play their football in the NCEL Premier Division, host sixth-tier Chester FC on Saturday afternoon in the competition’s second qualifying round.

The three-tier gap between the sides and the fact that the Seals were a Football League club for the best part of 80 years in their previous life has attracted live television cameras to Ings Lane, with the fixture to be broadcast on the BBC’s IPlayer, Red Button service and online on the BBC Sport website.

And although the odds may well be stacked against them, former Harrogate Railway boss O’Connell has been typically bullish about Albion’s chances of pulling off what would be, in relative terms, a giant-killing.

The Irishman is under no illusions as to the gulf in class between his own players and those who will run out for Chester, regardless of the strength of the starting XI they opt to field.

But he has a game-plan in mind which he fully believes in and, while no manager worth their salt would admit defeat before a ball has been kicked - underdog or not – there is a conviction about what O’Connell says.

"There is no point in us going into this game expecting to lose or just worrying about damage limitation or anything like that,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"As I’ve said already this week, there is absolutely no pressure on us whatsoever, whereas it is the polar opposite for Chester. If I was their manager, I really would not be looking forward to this game.

"They could find themselves on the end of an upset and although they won their last game with a last-minute goal, they don’t exactly come into this fixture in the greatest of form.

"So, we are looking forward to it and of course we believe we can cause an upset. The way I look at it, it’s 11 versus 11 and this is the FA Cup. You see upsets all the time in this competition.

"We are not naive. In the cold light of day, you look at their team and they obviously have a lot more quality on paper than we do. We know that they are a National League North side with talented individuals, but what is important is that we stick to our own game-plan and if we carry it out then we know that we have a chance of getting a result.”

On precisely what it is that Tadcaster need to do to have a chance of dumping the Seals out of the cup, O’Connell added: "It’s not how we want to play and it’s certainly not how we usually train, but on Saturday we’re gonna have to do everything we can to make life as uncomfortable as possible for Chester.

"We know that if we come out and try to play expansive football against them then we can't expect to come out on top. It's a fact that they have more quality than we do, so we’ve got to use every trick in the book to try and make things difficult for them.

"We have to try and disrupt them, stop them from playing how they want to play, doing whatever it takes slow slowing things down and breaking up play to stop them getting into a rhythm.

"The key thing will be staying in the game long enough to give ourselves a chance. We have to do that, we have to defend our box extremely well, keep our shape, stay compact and, I would expect, put bodies on the line.

"If we can do that side of things, then I know that we do have enough in our side to cause them problems on the counter-attack. You always get a couple of chances in any game of football, so if we want to get a result on Saturday then it's crucial that we are clinical when those opportunities do come around."

Tadcaster set up their tie with Chester by beating Northern League outfit Heaton Stannington 2-1 in the first qualifying round, having previously overcome West Allotment Celtic and Redcar Athletic.

Their run to date has earned them in the region of £7,000, with another £3.5k up grabs at the weekend – plus TV money from the BBC.

"The financial side of this is massive for a club like us,” continued O’Connell, who was on the books of Celtic and Nottingham Forest as a youngster before going on to enjoy a successful career as a jockey.

"We don’t have big investors, we live month-to-month, with all of our income coming from gate receipts and sponsorship.

"So this additional revenue, which we hadn’t budgeted for, makes a huge difference. The extra cash in the coffers gives us a bit of a security blanket until Christmas.

“It enables us to be able to invest in the infrastructure of the club, in getting that right and giving ourselves a platform to build from.

"And, if we manage to win on Saturday then we will also be able to reward the players as well.”

As for the additional exposure that the television cameras will bring, O’Connell explained: “For me, it is just another game of football, but for the club and the local community, it’s brilliant. I don’t believe that Tadcaster Albion have ever played in front of TV cameras before.

"It’s a really great thing for the people who put so much work in behind the scenes, the people who have kept this club going through some really difficult times in recent years.

"This type of occasion is a reward for their hard work and their dedication, however I’ll just be telling the lads to forget about the cameras and just to try and treat this like any other match.”

Kick-off at Ings Lane on Saturday afternoon is at 12.30pm.