GARY MIDDLETON insists his Ashington side go into Saturday's FA Cup clash with Guiseley full of confidence - and has called on fans to turn out in force to back the Colliers.

The Woodhorn Lane outfit overcame Vauxhall Motors after a replay in the second qualifying round, and face another Blue Square Bet North club at the next stage.

Middleton and his coaching staff of Neil Winskill and Richie Bond have done their homework on the west Yorkshire-based side.

And having already beaten the Motors – from three levels above the Northern League – the Ashington manager has high hopes of further progress in the competition.

“It was a fantastic achievement beating Vauxhall Motors and it’ll be another tough tie against Guiseley,” he said.

“They’re all tough at this stage but the good thing is that we’re at home, you can’t ask for anything more than that, and we’re all looking forward to it.

“Like always, we’ll treat the game as professionally as ever, and do our homework.

“I’ve spoken to Darren Edmondson at Workington and Neil Aspin at AFC Halifax, as well as (Blyth Spartans boss) Steve Cuggy, about Guiseley.

“We’ll be giving this our best shot because after this stage the Conference Premier clubs come into the competition.

“It’d be great for the club to test ourselves against professional, full-time opposition but we have to try and get past Guiseley first.

“We are confident though. We’re on an eight-match unbeaten run at the moment, so why shouldn’t we be?

“I should have a full squad to choose from, and I know the lads are really up for it.

“Once again, it’d be great if we can get a good crowd in for the game, and have a really good following behind us.

“We had that in the last round, and 50 or so supporters came down for the replay and really made a difference. Hearing them among a crowd of about 250 really helped the lads.

“We know what we’re up against, it’ll be a tough, tough game but we’ve shown in the last two rounds that we’re capable of getting a result.”