SOCCER: Forest Green Rovers will provide a tough test for Macc in Saturday's FA Cup clash.

It's not perhaps the ideal choice for many Macclesfield Town fans, but go back just a few years and Forest Green Rovers would be exactly the type of team the Silkmen would face week in, week out.

Based down in the depths of Gloucestershire, and not East London where apparently many supporters have mistakenly ventured, the ambitious Conference outfit has more than a familiar ring of the old Macc Town about it.

A famous face in the hot seat - former Aston Villa and England man Nigel Spink, a European Cup winning goalkeeper in 1982 - and another on the pitch, England winger Tony Daley, gives the club an immediate and more than credible impact.

The only club to win both the FA Vase and FA Trophy, Rovers have been serial finalists in the past few years, only missing out on cup glory last season after a single goal defeat to Canvey Island in the Trophy final at Villa Park.

Now in their fourth consecutive season in the Conference, and with a stadium, 'The Lawn' with a capacity of 4,000 and looking for more, the part-timers are clearly aiming for bigger things.

Chairman Trevor Horsley is rumoured to have sunk more then £250,000 into the club and a planned extension to the ground will cost up to £750,000 if given the go-ahead by the council.

On the pitch captain Mark Cooper has attracted much attention for his defensive displays this season while Lee Howey, brother of Manchester City star Steve, has also started the campaign in form.

The idiosyncrasies that can go hand in hand with all clubs at a lower league are commandeered by keeper Steve Perrin - just 5ft 9ins tall and with a 'solid' appearance to match - Steve is the archetypal natural lower leagues sportsman.

On form at present and a crowd favourite to match, Steve spends his summers captaining Wiltshire County cricket club as a successful and ton hitting wicket keeper/batsman.

Around 200 Rovers fans are expected to make the 100 mile trip north and the mood is one of assured confidence.

"The way things are going at present Macclesfield could well find themselves the underdogs," said Daley before the recent managerial changes at Moss Rose.

That said, underdogs can win too.

Forest Green.

GROUND: The Lawn, Nailsworth, Stroud, Gloucestershire

LAST 4 GAMES: Chester (A) W 3-2, Margate (H) D 3-3, Fisher Ath (A) W 3-1, Telford (A) D 0-0

MAN TO WATCH: Steve Perrin.

The 30-year-old keeper has been in splendid form this season and is hugely popular with the fans.

Steve combines football with cricket - as captain of minor county Wiltshire in the summer months - but is looking to move into the Nationwide League with Rovers.