AN already tough FA Cup test will be made even trickier for Winchester City on Saturday by playing on a 3G pitch.

The Citizens have been drawn away to Hellenic Premier Division outfit Bracknell Town who have an all-weather surface at their Larges Lane home.

Winchester are due to train on an artificial pitch this evening in preparation for the preliminary round tie.

Bracknell finished Hellenic runners-up in 2016/17 and have made a flying start this season, winning both league games and turning over Wessex outfit Cowes Sports 3-0 in the FA Cup.

“They only narrowly missed out on promotion and they’ve got a lot of players who’ve played higher,” said Winchester boss Craig Davis.

“The 3G pitch makes a tricky tie even trickier, but it’s better than playing on a bobbly, old surface I suppose.

“More and more clubs are getting 3G and I can see the advantages of being able to hire out the pitch - and at least we know that if there’s a deluge of rain tomorrow, the game will be on.

“I'm probably anti 3G really. Football purists want it played on grass and don’t want to deviate away from the game we fell in love with.

“Having 3G is definitely an advantage to the home team, but then they have to revert to grass every other week.”

Davis has run the gamut of emotions since City’s Evo-Stik South West campaign got up and running last weekend.

Following the high of their 4-2 opening day win at Shortwood came Tuesday's frustrating 1-0 loss at home to Kidlington.

Having fallen behind on 24 minutes, City did everything but score. Rob Flooks had a header tipped onto the crossbar and there were countless goalline clearances.

“It was like The Alamo at times, but their goalkeeper was man-of-the-match and made five or six good saves,” said Davis.

“We had long throws flicked on and bounce along the goalline. It was painful to watch. On another day we could have had five or six.”

Not only would victory at Bracknell be good for the City team, but the boss knows from personal experience that there is huge individual incentive to shine in the FA Cup.

“I got player-of-the-round one year and it was probably one of the best days of my life,” said Davis, who in 2008/09 famously scored a hat-trick of penalties for AFC Totton in their 5-2 third qualifying round win over Fleet Town.

"There's lots to play for on Saturday from both a team and individual point of view.

"It's not the perfect draw, but we've got a clean bill of health and we're looking forward to it."