FAIRFORD Town manager Gareth Davies hopes that his side have discovered their gritty streak as they prepare to lock horns with Chipping Sodbury Town in the FA Vase tomorrow.

Fairford have been in free-scoring form so far this season – their +21 goal difference in the Hellenic League Division One West alone is testament to that – but on Tuesday, they were forced to pull up their socks and haul themselves to a 2-1 Floodlit Cup victory at Abingdon United.

Davies believes that the Abingdon challenge was the perfect way to prepare his troops for a meeting with the Sods, who won the Toolstation League First Division last term.

The Fairford boss reckons that his team will be in for a testing physical battle on Saturday and has his fingers crossed that those in red will be ready to dig deep in the Vase.

“Their manager, Gary Powell, used to be the manager of Tytherington Rocks and I think they’re going to be full of big, physical and strong lads – it’ll be a battle,” said Davies.

“The lads have been a joy to watch early on this season but we need to realise that we’re not always going to have things our own way and that’s why I think Tuesday came at the right time for us.

“We were a goal down and we had to fight back, and do what we had to do, to get the win – hopefully, that opened our eyes a little bit.

“We’ve had a good start but we’ve said to the lads that they’re not going to win 5-0 every week and we’ve got to be prepared to mix it when we have to.

“Fingers crossed, we’re ready to do that on Saturday. It’ll be a tough game for us on Saturday but hopefully we’re ready for it.”

Nathan Blackford is Fairford’s only injury doubt ahead of their first qualifying round tie against the Sods, with the midfielder rated at 50-50 to feature at Cinder Lane.

Last season, Davies’ men reached the first round proper of the competition, beating Ardley United and Badshot Lea in the early rounds.

Elsewhere, Shrivenham are also in action in the opening stage of this year’s Vase, with Michael McNally’s side rolling out the red carpet for Abbey Rangers.

Like Fairford’s opposition, the Surrey side won promotion last season, moving up into the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League.

Rangers have won two of their opening six league games ahead of their visit to Barrington Park.

Shrivenham reached the second qualifying round of the 2015-16 Vase, crashing out with a heavy 6-1 defeat at Wokingham & Emmbrook while Rangers fared better as they progressed all the way to the second round proper.