Steve Bateman targets Gosport Borough revenge
By Rob Stevens • Published 25 Sep 2012 16:33
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STEVE Bateman declared Slough Town can beat Gosport Borough when the clubs meet in the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy on Saturday.
Gosport comfortably beat the Rebels in the preliminary round of the Trophy last season thanks to goals from Adam Wilde, Nathan Kirby and James Taylor.
But Bateman insists his team have already showed the levels of performance needed to exact revenge on The Borough and advance into the competition's second qualifying round.
Recording the 3-0 loss at Privett Park 12 months ago, Bateman told the Observer: "We did not get past Gosport last year and I reminded the players about that when we were drawn against them.
"I do not mind getting beat but we didn't perform that day, we never showed that we are a good side."
The Rebels supremo continued: "We showed that we can compete - we have done it against Hungerford - and we've got the opportunity to prove that point against Gosport.
"They are on a reasonable run of form and it will be a tough game, but we are full of optimism.
"The expectation is that Gosport will progress because they are the higher level team but I know what I need to know about them - they are beatable.
"We have got to focus on getting back to the same level of performance that we did against Hungerford."
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