Player-boss Porter believes team spirit the key to AFC Hackleton success

Player-boss Dan Porter is hoping AFC Hackleton's superb team spirit and club unity can help carry them to victory in the FA Sunday Cup semi-final at Sixfields this Sunday (ko 2pm).

The Nene Sunday League top flight leaders take on Tamworth side Troopers FC at the home of the Cobblers, with the prize at stake a place in the final of the most prestigious Sunday football competition in the country.

The FA Sunday Cup has been in existence since 1964, and this season saw a record 124 clubs enter, with Hackleton being one of a batch of clubs to take part for the very first time.

And it's fair to say they have made a pretty impressive impact!

Just two teams from Northampton have ever won the Sunday Cup, Nexday in 1988 and Duke of York in 2003, and Hackleton are in with a great chance of becoming the third.

And if they are to do it, Porter believes the close-knit nature of his squad will be key.

Many clubs involved in the FA Sunday Cup make use of 'ringers' to progress, players from higher levels who don't normally play for the club, but are brought in to boost the quality for one-off games.

But that is not the way Porter or Hackleton, who were formed in 2010, go about their business.

"The best thing about Hackleton is that I have not brought in any ringers," said Porter, who has been involved with the club since its inception.

"The squad that plays for me on a Sunday in the Nene League, is the same sqaud that plays in the nationals.

"Right at the very start, when we won in the first and second rounds, people were saying 'it's going to get harder, you are going to need to bring lads in'.

"But do you know what? We haven't done that, we have stuck with the same group of lads we have had for the past couple of years, and that helps.

"We have come up against other teams who have brought in more experienced lads, better quality players, but they just haven't played well as a team.

"I think that is our biggest strength, that we play week in, week out with each other."

Hackleton are set to be backed by 600-plus supporters at Sixfields, and Porter believes one of the reasons for that is that players and spectators of other local clubs can really relate to the villagers' team.

"I also think that's why we have so many people coming to watch us, because they have seen us play at the recs," said Porter, who plays his football for UCL side Bugbrooke on Saturdays.

"It is the same lads they are in the bar in the White Hart in Hackleton after the game drinking, so they have got to know them.

"If those players were sat on the bench or in the stands, and there just a load of people on the pitch they don't know, then it's not a good look."

Those who do turn out can hopefully expect to see an attacking performance from Hackleton, who have been free-scoring all season.

And Porter says his team will go out with the intent of getting at Trooper on Sunday, but believes the players can also be flexible if required.

"We like to play attacking football, and don't really change the way we try to play, and that has probably stemmed from last season," said Porter, who led his team to the treble in the NSL last term.

"We play aggressive, attacking football, and we have a lot of pace in the team so we can try and hit teams on the counter as well if we have to give them a bit more respect.

"So we have a couple of ways of playing, and we have loads of goals in us, which is fantastic."

Player-boss Porter is set to line up against Trooper, with sideline duties taken on by his assistants Joe Clarke and Lloyd Glennon, and will be keeping his fingers crossed that his players get through their Saturday matches at various levels across non-League without injury.

Hackleton have no suspension issues, with Porter stating they are set to be 'near enough full strength'.

The players are going to be well backed in what us virtually a home game at Sixfields, but they won't have the honour of changing in the home dressing rooms.

"We were actually drawn as the away team," said Porter. "So we are in the away dressing room, unfortunately.

"So the game it is going to have that home feeling, but we are in the away changing rooms, so that will be a bit weird.

"But we are looking forward to the day."