MARCH Town United boss Brett Whaley has admitted Saturday’s FA Cup derby with Wisbech Town is the Hares biggest match since the 70s.

March are expecting their biggest attendance in decades as they host fierce rivals Wisbech Town in the competition’s preliminary round.

And Whaley believes his side is full of enough characters to be able to deal with a bumper crowd.

He said: “Gerry Roe (March’s vice-chairman) said it’s the biggest game since when March had a decent FA Cup run in the 70s.

“It’s simply the biggest game here for years and years and the biggest game we’ll have for years to come. March and Wisbech is a massive derby and the fact it’s the FA Cup makes it even bigger too.

“The reality is there’s no expectation on us. We’ve got characters to cope with the attendance and if they can do that then there’s no pressure on us - it all switches back to Wisbech.”

March dumped another Ridgeons Premier Division side out of the competition - Kirkley & Pakefield - in the extra preliminary round.

And Hares’ fans expectations of another cup upset remain high thanks to March’s 3-2 pre-season win over Wisbech in July.

Whaley said: “We can draw a bit of confidence from the friendly win but ironically had we have been turned over five or six nil that night they might have come here on Saturday with an attitude of we’ll easily turn March over again.

“All our win has done has made sure they’ll be on their metal. They know we weren’t an easy touch that day and we’ll give it as good as we’ve got. We’ve probably given them a kick up the backside that they probably didn’t need in preparing for the game.

“Much as I know there’s a potential replay, realistically if the lads leave anything on the pitch at the weekend then they shouldn’t be playing at this level.

“It’s as big a game as the players will take part in because nobody at the end of the season will be talking about what happened in the next round. They’ll just be talking about who won the game between March and Wisbech.”