There may be no 'I' in team, and Jose Veiga says his personal plaudits are down to the 'team within a team' at Macclesfield.

Despite his Portuguese upbringing, the Silkmen's continental keeper has great respect for that age-old romance of the world's oldest cup competition and he's counting on Macc getting the rub of the green as they take on Bolton in the FA Cup tomorrow.

The Cape Verde international is in the running for League Two's player of the month for December after shipping just three goals in six games, but he's quick to point out the invaluable contribution of those around him.

"It's nice to be nominated," said the 34-year-old. "It's a small victory for us as a club, for all the work we've been doing as a team. But it's all down to teamwork, if I'm not having a good day Browny (centre-back Nat Brown) will have a good day, if Browny's having a bad day then Bris (Shaun Brisley) or Morgs (Paul Morgan) will step up, we all compensate for each other.

"If one is playing badly it can have a domino effect and spread through the team, but we help each other as well, we are all a team within a team and we work together to not concede. We have been ok this season, especially at home, but we all have a willingness to improve. We keep working and we'll see where that will take us."

Macc reached the halfway point in the league in mid-table thanks in no small part to miserly defending on home turf, where Veiga has picked the ball out of his goal just eight times in 13 games, a fine achievement for the Football League's flyweights.

Macc have faced the Premier League strugglers in the Carling Cup already this season, and led for most of the tie before Tuncay and Martin Petrov struck to spare their blushes.

And with the visit of Bolton looming large, the former Benfica apprentice is keen for Macc to go one better than being plucky losers.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's a good opportunity to show what we can do," he said. "We've done quite well in the league so this game is a bit of a bonus for us and for the fans too, hopefully we can go and get a result.

"The first game was hard, we knew at the time it would be. We were a bit unfortunate that day, they scored the winning goal late in the game and if we'd had a bit of luck we may have come away from there with a win.

"But Saturday will be a different game, especially as the conditions will be different, so there may be a few surprises. This is the FA Cup, I know its history and traditions very well. We just have to work together and stick together and go from there.

"I couldn't point out what would be the biggest threat to us, they are all good players, you could name just one and someone else could be the danger.

"It was the same when we played against East Thurrock and Chelmsford (in the two previous rounds), they play a few leagues under us and did very well, so we have to give the same respect to everybody and make sure we do our best."

The likeable Lisbon-born stopper reserved a word of solace for Bolton's Adam Bogdan, deputising in goal for Jussi Jaaskelainan, who was caught out by a long clearance from Everton keeper Tim Howard on Wednesday night.

Clearly a paid-up member of the keepers' club, Veiga dismissed the blame levelled at Bogdan after the Toffees man's strike from his own area.

"I don't think any keeper wouldn't have been caught out, especially in those conditions," he offered. "The keeper would never have been on his line at that time, it's just one of those things in football, you can't criticise the keeper for that.

"It's tough. Poor keepers."