HIGHWORTH Town chief John Fisher has warned his players to give their full respect to New College tomorrow or risk being on the end of a shock in the Wiltshire Senior Cup.

The Worthians, who progressed through to the first round of the FA Vase last weekend, switch their attention to the first round of the county cup as they welcome College’s Hellenic League Division One West youngsters to the Elms.

Manager Fisher is in no doubt that Highworth, who have made an encouraging start to their Premier Division campaign, will be the overriding favourites to progress to the next round but plans to stress to his players that they must approach this weekend’s tie with a professional attitude.

“Obviously, we’re the favourites. There’s no point saying that we’re not and they’re not going to be as good as the side we beat last weekend (Hartley Wintney),” said Fisher.

“But I know that Howeller (Ian Howell, College academy director) and Teaser (Mark Teasdale, manager) will have them fired up. There’s going to be a shock somewhere in the cup and hopefully it’s not us.

“It’s all down to how our players are mentally. If they go out there thinking ‘oh, we’re playing so and so’, then they could get shocked.

“Me and Kev (Moloney, assistant) will be making sure we tell them that they’ve got to treat it like any other game.”

Fisher gave his players the chance to recharge their batteries this week by not calling them in for training and believes that the Highworth squad have more than earned their brief respite.

“A lot of these lads are playing on Saturdays, then on Sundays and then coming in for training. We let them have the week off,” said Fisher.

“They aren’t going to get any fitter than they are. In training, we only really do a bit of five-a-side or work on set-pieces.

“The league like to try and put a load of games on Tuesdays before Christmas is case you have a bad winter. After next week, we’ve got games on Tuesdays right through until December.”

Elsewhere in the Senior Cup, Wootton Bassett Town make the trip to Malmesbury Victoria whilst Purton are also away to Wiltshire League opposition, with Justin Miller’s men taking on Marlborough Town.