Bury are 90 minutes away from the FA Cup first round proper as they aim to cause another shock against Harborough Town.

The Shakers left it late to secure a stunning win at Radcliffe in the previous round. Dave McNabb’s side have also overcome Congleton Town, Avro, Garforth Town and Blyth Spartans since the start of the campaign.

“It is a chance for the lads to go and test themselves against a side much higher in the pyramid again,” said McNabb.

“History awaits if we are able to get to the first round, it would be a ridiculous achievement.

“We have no right to be here, on paper, but the lads have defied the odds so to speak with five games against higher opposition.

“We will go there to try and win the game but we know it is ‘Mission Impossible’ once again. We are really excited.”

Bury have had to show different strings to their bow during the previous rounds, and McNabb believes it can stand them in good stead.

“We have shown different sides of our game,” he explained. “Particularly against Radcliffe, we showed how good we can be in possession.

“For a spell of that game, we were completely on top and really showed what we can do. In injury time, we showed the other side where we were resolute and put our bodies on the line.

“We have had different experiences in different games, which will all stand us in good stead.

“We can take massive confidence from what we have achieved, but obviously it comes at a price in terms of the fatigue and workload the lads have had to come through.

“It has probably affected some of our performances in the (league) games in between. We have got to take things one game at a time and we will look to make it a difficult day on Saturday.”

The Shakers enter the tie on the back of a 2-2 draw against Glossop North End at Gigg Lane in midweek.

Rustam Stepans and Bryan Ly both got on the scoresheet to make it 21 games unbeaten this term, although McNabb admitted there was a tinge of frustration not to take all three points.

“It was a difficult game,” the boss reflected. “Glossop are effective in the way that they play, the midfield area was really strong and the backline did well.

“Without playing brilliantly, we got ourselves two goals in the lead. We are a bit disappointed we did not score in the first half and the game should have been out of side at that point.

“We tired towards the end of the game and the load that the lads have been put through, the amount of games, is ridiculous. With tiredness comes lapses in concentration and we conceded two sloppy goals.

“But fair play to Glossop, I think they deserved a point in terms of the way they played throughout the game and, in particular, the last 20 minutes. It was just a bit disappointing that we did not have the right levels of game management.”