Andy Preece believes Airbus UK Broughton are better prepared than ever ahead of tonight’s clash with what he expects to be the best team the club has ever faced.
The Wingmakers host Croatian full-timers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb at Bangor (6.45pm) in the Europa League first qualifying round knowing they’ll need the performance of a lifetime to record a famous first European win.
Director of football Preece said: "We’ve watched them as much as we can, a lot of DVDs, but it’s scary so maybe we shouldn’t have! They’re a top quality side."
But despite the gulf, Preece – who guided non-league Northwich to a famous FA Cup win over Charlton Athletic in 2009 – can’t help dreaming.
He told The Chronicle: "We know it can happen, and if we were to beat them it would be the biggest achievement of my career either as a player or manager. Of course it’s possible."
Several members of the current Lokomotiva squad are under-21 internationals, while captain Jarko Leko has 59 Croatia caps and played at Euro 2004 and 2008 as well as the 2006 World Cup.
Preece said: "It’s superb for our lads to play against someone of that calibre and that ability and get the chance to go toe-to-toe with them.
"You never know, there’s always a chance. We’re there and we’ve got players with a lot of ability who can play at a higher level. If we if we play to our maximum then we’ll give them a game.”
Preece said the Wingmakers are ‘indebted’ to the team at Scout7, which has provided extensive footage and reports on Lokomotiva, who finished fourth in Croatia’s top flight last season.
"Without them we’d have practically no info at all, they’ve been massive for us. They’ve been invaluable for us for the past two years and it’s been the same this time," said the manager.
"We’re better prepared than we’ve ever been for Europe in terms of the games we’ve had and getting the lads fit. We’ve got one or two knocks, but we’ll just have to deal with it."
Meanwhile, the club's first ever European goalscorer says confidence in the camp is high going into tonight’s game.
Targetman Chris Budrys wrote his name into Wingmakers history by heading the equalising goal in the club’s first Europa League tie, a 1-1 draw with Latvian champions FK Ventspils at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground in 2013.
Budrys is desperate to repeat the feat at Bangor’s Book People Stadium.
The 29-year-old PE teacher said: "That was the best feeling I’ve ever had, scoring that goal – I’ll never forget that moment. I’m feeling sharp, so hopefully I can do it again.
"We’ve worked a lot on set-pieces, and they’ll be key. If we get a chance we have to capitalise and take it. We’re confident and we’re certainly not frightened."
Airbus were knocked out on away goals by Ventspils and lost 3-2 on aggregate to Norwegian side FK Haugesund last summer after more than matching their full-time opponents for the majority of both legs.
Former Queen of the South and Northwich Victoria striker Budrys said: "We’ve been so close to progressing and we’ve just needed that cutting edge and a bit of luck. We believe we can do it.
"We’re massive underdogs and we’ve got nothing to lose. We shouldn’t really beat them but we feel we can – we can beat anyone on our day. They’re expected to win and they should, but teams have underestimated us before.
"We haven’t lost either of our home games in Europe and I think both times they thought they’d turn up and beat us because we’re part-time. We’ve shown we can compete – last year we pummelled Haugesund for long periods.”
"Lokomotiva are a quality side. We’ll give them respect, but we’re going to go for it."
