JOHN Fisher has a not-so-secret method for making sure he gets a good night’s sleep before Highworth Town’s huge FA Vase semi-final with North Shields, a few pints.

The Worthians boss is preparing for the biggest game in his club’s history as they face the prospect of the first game of a two-legged tie, with a place in a Wembley final as the prize.

Fisher has guided his side through nine fixtures, including two replays and a penalty shoot-out to get Highworth into the last four.

Now with the pressure mounting and a bumper crowd of nearly 1,200 expected at The Elms to watch the big game you might have thought the man in the dugout would be expecting a rough night’s sleep on Friday, apparently not.

“No I won’t be struggling,” Fisher told the Advertiser. “I always go out on a Friday night with my wife and my brother and have a few pints so that helps me sleep, you know just a few pints to go to bed on.

“The players are bound to be a bit nervous. It’s such a big tie, no one believes it when you first start out. You all say is ‘it’s a chance to get Wembley’, but most managers at the beginning of the season who say it don’t think they’re going to get that far.

“For 90 per cent of the players this is the best chance you’re ever going to have to get to Wembley. It’s a one-off, you’re not going to get this very often in your career.

“It’s massive, quite truthfully. I’ve done this for 25 years and I’ve never known anything like it. It makes me near enough physically sick over it. It’s within touching distance now.”

With the second leg scheduled for the following Saturday Fisher’s thoughts have turned to managing the result over two matches. He believes it is imperative his side are still in the tie after Saturday’s game.

“All I want is to make sure that at 4.45pm on Saturday we’re still in the tie,” he added.

“I’d take a draw now, I’d take a win, who wouldn’t? But at the end of the game we need to be chasing something that’s not unrealistic. If you’re chasing big scores you’re in trouble. I’m sure their manager would say the same.

“I’ve got to stress to the lads that if something goes wrong and they score it’s not the be all and end all and we’ve got to get two goals to win the game and go through.

“We don’t need to take silly risks. If we have to go to North Shields 1-0 down that isn’t such a bad thing. What you mustn’t do is something silly to get back into the game, because it’s a two-legged tie.

“You just need to be in it for a one-match shoot-out in the second leg.”