Gosport boss Molyneaux hoping his side’s FA Trophy ‘free hit’ will help them ‘play with freedom’

Rory Williams, left, and Mike Carter have higher division experience

He feels his team have nothing to lose as they take on their National League South hosts at Twerton Park.

Borough have already beaten Farnborough, 3-1 and Melksham Town 4-2 in the earlier rounds - both at Privett Park.

Molyneaux is under no illusions as to the difficulty of beating a team playing one level above them.

He had Bath City watched in their 2-1 defeat against the Hawks last weekend - a game which home boss Paul Doswell said his side were fortunate to win.

From that he will have learned that Bath are a young, fast outfit capable of playing an excellent passing game.

One thing in Borough’s favour, however, is the experience they have in their team.

The likes of Rory Williams, Ryan Woodford, Mike Carter, George Barker, Theo Lewis, Chris Flood and Matt Paterson have all played at Conference South level or higher.

Molyneaux believes it is a situation that can bring the best out of those players as Gosport bid to reach Monday’s draw alongside the National League top flight clubs.

'We have not been the underdogs many times this season,' said Molyneaux, who played for Borough against Cambridge United in their 4-0 FA Trophy final loss at Wembley five years ago.

'It will be nice being the ones going out there without any pressure for once.

'No-one expects us to win so that gives us a licence to play with a bit of freedom.

'It is a free hit for us.

'We know that Bath are a very good side and that it is a tough place to go.

'At Wimborne we showed a lot of character to come away with a win, including an ability to keep going right to the end.

'Ryan Woodford popped up in the 95th minute with the winning goal.

'If we are to get a result at Bath then we will need all that character and more.

'There is likely to be a big crowd and a good atmosphere.

'We must look to feed off this.'

Bath - whose four-match running win in National League South was ended at Westleigh Park last weekend - are bolstered by the return of Dan Bowry and Sam Pearson from international duties.

Bowery was with Barbuda and Antigua whilst Pearson was representing Wales Under-17s.