HARROGATE Town boss Neil Aspin is hoping to mastermind an FA Cup giant-killing tonight akin to the time he helped Port Vale dump out holders Everton in 1996.

Aspin and his Vale team-mates, including former York City favourite Jon McCarthy, defeated a Blues side boasting the likes of Neville Southall, Andre Kanchelskis and Anders Limpar in a fourth round replay at Vale Park just nine months after Joe Royle's team had beaten Manchester United at Wembley.

Now, almost a decade later, Aspin is hoping to cause another cup shock when League Two outfit Torquay United visit Wetherby Road for tonight's first round replay.

"The Everton match was a great occasion," Aspin recalled. "But if underdogs are going to win you need all your players performing at eight or nine out of ten.

"You have to work harder than the opposition as well to close the gap in skill."

Aspin will be drawing on 22 years of FA Cup experience as a player and manager going into the tie having made his debut in the competition as a 17-year-old for Leeds United against current holders Arsenal.

He has been on the receiving end of surprise results as well, listing a Port Vale defeat to Scarborough - then bottom of the Football League - and a 2-1 struggle for Leeds against non-League Telford United as embarrassing moments.

He also counts a semi-final appearance for Leeds against Coventry in 1987 among his achievements.

But Aspin still reckons that defeating the Gulls will rank alongside any of his previous FA Cup highlights and does not agree with visiting boss Leroy Rosenior's claim that the part-time Conference North hosts will start as favourites.

The former Elland Road defender said: "We play a couple of leagues below them and we have also played a game more than them since the first tie and picked up some injuries. Having played us, the surprise factor won't be as big and they won't under-estimate us.

"They will have taken heart from getting on top of us in the second half but we can give anybody a good test at home."

Aspin is also hoping that an unprecedented level of local interest in the club can swell crowd numbers way beyond the normal 300-400 mark.

He said: "It's the biggest and most eagerly-anticipated game in the club's history and the interest in the club is the best since I have been associated with Harrogate."

Harrogate will give a late fitness test to first-choice 'keeper Michael Price, who missed Saturday's 1-1 draw with Droylsden.

Liam Sutcliffe will deputise if Price does not recover from a knock and defender Chris Ellerker is also hoping to be fit after a knee injury sustained in the first match at Plainmoor.

But captain Paul Stoneman, who pulled a hamstring after two minutes at Torquay, is definitely sidelined. Stoneman was today named as Nationwide Player of the Month.

Aspin is also aware of the financial rewards on offer to tonight's winners with £16,000 available in prize money and a second round home tie with Notts County on December 3 awaiting.

He said: "If you look at the gates we get as a rule then you can see our income isn't great so any additional money is a great help and it would be nice to keep the run going as long as possible. But we are not even thinking about beyond tonight."

Updated: 10:53 Tuesday, November 15, 2005