CUP HERO JAS SPURRED ON BY LAMBS PROGRESS

THE FA Cup is packed with ‘pinch me’ moments but you’d be hard pressed to find any bigger than Jas Singh’s.

- Andy Mitchell

TAMWORTH V TOTTENHAM
Sunday January 12, ko 12.30pm, live on ITV1

A beaming Tamworth keeper turned to the crowd following his penalty shootout stops that scalped League One Burton Albion – his face a picture of pure joy with a hint of the disbelief that would follow on Monday when the Lambs pulled eight-time winners Tottenham Hotspur in the third round draw.

Watching the highlights on Instagram in between a barrage of congratulatory messages gave him “goosebumps” but Singh would not have to travel too much farther down Memory Lane to arrive at a very different place – it is less than three years since he played alongside Lambs hotshot Dan Creaney in a 4-0 defeat at Stourbridge at Step 3.

That marked the end of Gaz Smith’s reign and left Tamworth three points and one place above the Southern League Premier Division Central drop zone.

Andy Peaks took charge 11 days later, finished that season with a flourish and landed back-to-back titles through evolution rather than revolution – Singh, Creaney, Ben Milnes, Jamie Willets and Callum Cockerill-Mollett still remain from the Southern League title-winning side of 2023.