Player/assistant manager Scott Laird believes Weston AFC are “more than a match for anybody” when they take on Wimborne in the first round of the FA Trophy on Saturday.

Laird scored his seventh goal of the season, to go level with Lloyd Humphries in the goalscoring charts, in the 81st minute of Weston’s 3-0 win Poole Town on Tuesday night.

Dayle Grubb’s penalty opened the scoring in the 70th minute and
Jordan Bastin’s first goal for the club followed three minutes later to give the Seagulls their fourth win in a row in all competitions.

And Laird says they are now “back now to how we want to play” and will look to put in another good performance against The Magpies at The Optima Stadium this weekend.

“It’s another opportunity to put a win on the board. It’s the FA Trophy obviously but we are back at home and we need to carry on that performance and work ethic and desire that we had (Tuesday) into Saturday,” he said.

“They are not a bad side, anyone at this league on the day are a very decent outfit. They have got some very good players and made a good signing in Jez Bedford from Poole this week. He’s a very good individual talented player.

“They have got (Lewis Beale) near the top of the goalscoring charts. They will be up for it like any team in this league but as long as we concentrate on ourselves and do what we are very good at, which is running hard the ball, running hard when we have got the ball, and playing our football we will be just fine.”

Laird knows what it is like to win in the competition having been part of Stevenage Borough’s first of two consecutive FA Trophy finals at Wembley.

The Boro beat York City 2-0 in 2009, despite Laird missing the final through suspension, before the 33-year-old defender played the in following year against Barrow, which ended in a 2-1 defeat.

“I’ve won this competition with Stevenage and Conference sides even when we won it they don’t play their strongest sides in the early stages,” he added.

“All of a sudden the lower league teams find themselves in the quarter-finals and that’s what we want to do.

“All of a sudden you are two games away from Wembley and what an opportunity that is. We don’t fear anybody in Non-League.

“We have proven that in pre-season, the FA Cup, that if we do what we do we are more than a match for anybody in Non-League.”