Meet the ninth tier 'village team' hoping to cause major FA Cup shock against Chesterfield - and why the manager does not want a draw!

Just a few yards away from him, Anstey Nomads boss Tony Blanchard will also have got his fingers crossed because he could miss any replay due to the fact he is going on his jollies!

The ninth tier side, who are the lowest ranked team still left in the competition, host the Spireites in the fourth qualifying round in front of the BBC cameras this Saturday lunchtime.

But if the Leicestershire ‘village team’, who play four divisions below Town in the United Counties League Premier Division North, pull off a shock and earn a draw, then Blanchard and his assistant could miss a potential replay because they are going to Spain.

Asked to rate his team’s chances of causing an upset, Blanchard told the DT: “Me? Zero.

"People keep sending me the odds but I think they should be much higher.

"The phone, radio and the tele has gone berserk anyway so I can only imagine what it would be like if we won.

"To see people queuing out the door outside our club house last night to get tickets put a bit of a lump in my throat. That is when it hit home because nobody ever comes here!

"I am leaving at 3am to go to Luton Airport on Sunday for my half-term break so whatever happens there won’t be a manager on Tuesday!

"I need a holiday, I never have one because the season starts even earlier now. The FA Cup was the first week of August and we have got pre-season, my coaches were all on holiday so I did not get one – I was fuming. I think I had three days in Bournemouth and that was it – and I like my holidays. The assistant manager is coming with me as well so we have got a right headache if we draw! Luckily none of the players are coming with us.”

Blanchard himself has ‘no real footballing pedigree’, he admits, apart from playing at a similar level to Anstey and Sunday League with his mates.

He started coaching Anstey’s at under-six level and then played for the men’s team before becoming manager.

He is a teacher and social worker by trade and owns a special educational needs school – based at the football club.

When not choosing formations and tactics, you will find him helping out with pretty much every other job at the club – including pulling pints.

He said: “I am manager, committee member, co-chairman, blooming everything. I run the bar, that is how grassroots we are really.

"Even this season I have been brushing the floor of the function room after a game to get it ready. You don’t see Cooky doing that!”

Ever since the draw was made everybody at Anstey has been working ‘flat out’ to make sure everything is in order for the game and all safety aspects are passed.

There will be a sell-out unsegregated crowd of 1,500 at the Callingtons Community Complex, including just 250 Blues fans, a stark contrast from Chesterfield’s last FA Cup tie in January when they took 6,000 to then European champions Chelsea in the third round.

Blanchard said that the club was on its knees about six years ago, but it now has more than 50 junior teams, and this clash against Chesterfield is their reward.

"The changing rooms were falling down, the doors were about to be shut five or six years ago, so this just makes all the hard work worthwhile,” he said.

"I went out in the village in my tracksuit the other night when we won – we did not even have tracksuits a few years ago – Saturday I wore it with pride and everybody was coming up to me saying they saw me on BT Sport

"I am excited for the lads and the village. We are probably the only village team to get this far. Five or six teams in the past from our level have got this far before but they were towns.

"We are on BBC Breakfast on Friday, ITV have rang me and the Daily Mirror is coming to training tonight so it is non-stop.

"It is the old cliche of treat it like just another game – but it is not.

“The lads are not used to being filmed but hopefully they won’t freeze. They are all talking about having their hair cut and different bits and I don’t blame them.”

Blanchard’s players ‘sacked’ training off last Tuesday night and jumped in a mini bus to go watch the Spireites lose 3-2 at home to Dagenham and Redbridge

Most of Anstey’s players earn £20-£30 a week, with some pocketing slightly more.

Blanchard said: "We played Ilkeston and Chris O’Grady came on, we asked about taking him on loan, they said he was on £800. I said my sub has just come on on £20!”

In the squad there are P.E teachers, sports coaches, students, factory workers and builders.

“Not many bright ones, to be fair,” Blanchard joked.

Within the pack they do have a few with Mansfield Town connections - and they would love nothing more than to get one over Chesterfield.

Former Stags goalkeeper Conrad Logan, 36, is also Anstey’s director of football, and they also have ex-Mansfield youngsters Lewis Gibbens and Ben Bayliss in their ranks.

Since the draw there have been talks about a possible venue change to allow for more fans to attend, but that will now not be happening.

Blanchard laughed: "When we came to Chesterfield, Conrad was winding the Derbyshire Police liaison officer up saying we could play it at Mansfield and the Derbyshire bloke went ‘are you having a laugh?’ Conrad said we would end up wth three or four thousand supporting us then!

"Apart from Conrad, this is the biggest game they will have played in and the biggest they will potentially play in.

"There is Conrad, Michael Reeve who says he is early 30s but that is debatable – he has been around for years! The next oldest is probably 24, 25. I would say the average age is probably 22, 23. Other than that, they are just young lads who have played grassroots football really."

Anstey will train on Tuesday night, but they might have to give Thursday night’s session a miss because they have not got a facility available.

“They have played about seven FA Cup games and seven league games so they are fit at this level but they are not professional where they are doing it every day,” Blanchard added.

"I know non-league teams have beaten Premier League teams but this is equivalent really, isn’t it?"

Let’s just hope it’s not a draw!