CHIPPENHAM Town Football Club chairman Neil Blackmore is hoping some of the FA Cup’s famous magic rubs off on local people this weekend.

‘The Bluebirds’ are preparing to host an FA Cup first-round tie against Lincoln City – a League One side which sits 78 places and three divisions above the National League South club in the English football pyramid.

Saturday’s game – which kicks off at 3pm at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium – will be just the fourth time in Chippenham’s history that the town’s football club has made it past the qualifying stage of the world’s oldest cup competition.

In the three previous expeditions, the Bluebirds faced non-league outfits Leyton in 1951 and Worcester City in 2004 before hosting League Two Northampton Town in 2019.

With the chance of a potential “giant-killing” on the cards for Chippenham – a result which would undoubtedly put the town on the map – Blackmore wants to see local people play their part by getting behind their local team.

Revealing the club has already sold 1,500 home tickets, Blackmore said: “We’ve sold quite a few tickets already, which is good, and people still have the chance to buy more in the Bluebirds Bar.

“There will not be an opportunity to buy them on the day, so people will have to come up to the club on Thursday evening or on Friday throughout the day to buy a ticket.

“I’ve been up there every night selling tickets, and a lot of the people coming up are not people I recognise as regular fans – which is good.

“I just hope they enjoy the game, and they want to come back. That’s what I’m saying to people when they buy a ticket: “have you been before?” and if they say no, I say: “well I hope you enjoy the game, and we’d love to see you again.”

“While it would be absolutely superb to have 3,000 people in on Saturday, it would be nice if we can retain some of those people for our normal league games.

“There’s always this magical thing about the FA Cup – it always attracts people from the town who don’t normally come to games.”

A die-hard Bluebirds fan himself, Blackmore was not sitting on the fence when asked for his prediction of how the match might unfold.

He said: “We’re up for winning this game – we’re going to round two! We’re not just in the FA Cup to make the numbers up.”