TRY telling Gerry Luczka’s Radcliffe Borough that the FA Cup does not matter anymore.

Cash-strapped Boro stand to earn as much as £9,000 from an FA Cup run which has taken them to the third qualifying round and a mouthwatering tie at Workington Town of the Blue Square North League a week on Saturday.

Luczka’s makeshift team performed superbly on Tuesday night to pull off a stunning 3-1 win over Warrington Town in their second qualifying round replay, following Saturday’s 1-1 draw in Cheshire.

It was a cup tie which had everything — even before a ball was kicked.

Mark Drew was ruled out with swine flu and his midfield partner Mark Jones suffered enough minor injuires in a car accident on Tuesday to render him a non-starter.

Halfway through the first half Boro’s holding mildfielder Andy Barlow had to leave the field injured and the Boro director of football had to shuffle his pack again as Warrington went for the jugular.

But Town missed their chances and Boro, inspired by returning folk hero Jody Banim, took theirs. Banim struck on 73 minutes, before Eddie Stanford added the second from the penalty spot with three minutes remaining.

Although Michael O’Donnell pulled one back two minutes into injury time, Banim set up the third goal for Steve Howson to send Boro through by a comfortable scoreline.

“Under the circumstances, when you think of all the changes we had to make, it’s a fantastic result,” said Luczka.

“We had a game plan, then Andy Barlow got injured so we had to readjust again. We were very disorientated for the last 20 minutes of the first half.

“But we dug in and at half time we regrouped, went out in the second half and gave a far better performance.

“And we lived dangerously on numerous occasions, but, at the end of the day, it’s all about goals. And when we got a golden opportunity we scored and it changed the course of the game.

“But when you consider the number of young lads we’ve had out there, it was a superb performance. The goalkeeper Joe Brobbin is only 19 years old and deserves a special mention because over the two games, he’s kept us in this cup competition.

“He made a wonderful double save at Warrington and he’s made some great saves in the replay.

“Had they scored first, it could have been a completely different game.

“They would probably have shut up shop and made it very hard for us.

“But we still had that incentive to go forward. And we got the goal and from then on I thought there was only going to be one winner.”

And Luczka paid tribute to journeyman Banim, who scored 97 goals for Boro in 125 appearances in his last spell at the club.

He added: “He’s a folk hero here. I can remember turning down tickets to professional games to come here and watch him play.

“Jody has a wonderful football brain. He needs matches now. He needs to get into an environment where he’s happy. Last season he was a full-time pro at Burton Albion.

“My understanding is that he’s keen to come and enjoy his football again. He will be a major asset for us.

“His experience in the box, the way he picked Howson out for the third goal shows that he’s a wonderful footballer.”

Luczka also purred with delight at the quality of Boro’s defending in the absence of Lee Unsworth who has now joined Manchester United in a coaching capacity. But 18-year-old Shaun Connor is already showing he can fill the void.

“We were short of numbers,” he said. “But what a prospect Shaun he is. He’s a very composed player in possession but he’s also extremely tenacious when the ball’s in the air.“ Boro now turn their attention to the FA Trophy preliminary round on Saturday when they entertain Mickleover Sports of the UniBond First Division South.