5 years ago, If you'd have told club volunteer Brody Pattison that Harrogate Town would be playing Portsmouth at Fratton Park he would've laughed at you, but this weekend The Sulpherites make the 440 mile round trip looking too create even more history.
"The buzz around the club is great but the players are very focused. We can't wait for the game and it's another massive bit of history. I went to my first game 10 years ago and too be playing Portsmouth now is incredible."
Town have been on an extraordinary rise since turning full time in 2017 and following 2 promotions in 3 years find themselves in the Football League for the first time in the clubs 102 year history. Brody however believes the club can continue too rise the English football pyramid, "The club is very special and I can only see us improving on and off the pitch for the foreseeable future."
Harrogate currently sit 7th in League two whilst there hosts are on an impressive 6 game win streak in League One, however Brody believes an upset could be on the cards, "I think we are going to surprise a lot of people and cause an upset, my score prediction is 1-0 to Harrogate. It would be great to create another piece of history."
Meanwhile Town manager Simon Weaver is putting all the pressure on Pompey "There's not as much pressure on us as Portsmouth, no way." he told BBC Radio York.
He went on to bemoan the amount of defensive injuries his side currently have but isn't using that as an excuse, "the players will definitely dig in and they're gonna have too if we want to get a result."
"There's a lot at stake tomorrow, financially, it's a big game for the club and if we can get through this anything is possible in the next round."
"It should be two good teams going at it and we can't save any energy, we've just got too go all out and try and get the result."
Town met Portsmouth at The EnviroVent Stadium in this competition in 2019, with the visitors running out 2-1 winners. This time around Harrogate will be gunning for revenge.
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