WHEN Northwich Victoria try to add a Football League scalp to their FA Cup giant-killing run next weekend, Blackburn’s Scott Duxbury will be hoping it will be another step on the road back to the professional ranks.

The 20-year-old left back spent time as a youngster at Blackburn, Burnley and Preston, but was released from Deepdale as a 16-year-old.

After an up-and-down two years at Stockport County Duxbury, who still lives in Lower Darwen, joined the Vics in the summer and admits he has rediscovered his love for the game.

Jim Gannon’s side are flying at the top of the Evo-Stik League First Division North, having won 14 of 15 league outings this season, only suffering defeat to Clitheroe.

And the Vics, the lowest ranked team left in this year’s FA Cup, have already come through six rounds of the competition to reach the second round, in which they will face League Two promotion challengers Northampton Town a week today.

“It will be a big occasion, hopefully I can get as many family and friends there as possible,” Duxbury said of the trip to Sixfields.

“We’re top of the league with three games in hand, we’re in the FA Cup second round, so it’s been a good season so far.”

It has been quite a cup run already for Northwich. They needed two ties to beat Hyde United, from the tier above, in the second qualifying round, after their initial 1-0 win at Ewen Fields was chalked off after the Vics fielded an ineligible player.

They replayed the game and Gannon’s men again came through, this time winning 2-1 in Greater Manchester.

That started a run of four successive away wins against higher level opposition.

In the third qualifying round they won 4-2 at Marine, again from the league above, and then in the fourth and final qualifying round they beat Chorley, two tiers higher, in a replay after the first tie finished goalless at Northwich’s Wincham Park ground.

In the first round proper they drew at home to National League side Boreham Wood, but they stunned their opponents from three leagues up the pyramid in a replay to set up a tie with Northampton, who sit third in League Two despite being beset by off-field problems.

Next weekend’s fixture will be Northwich’s 10th in the FA Cup already this season, but given their remarkable run away from home against higher-ranked teams, Duxbury sees no reason why they can’t pull off another shock.

“Confidence is high because we’ve been winning games,” he said.

“With the team we’ve got at the moment anything can happen, it’s just whether we play as well as we can on the day.

“The win at Boreham was special. Everyone was buzzing in the dressing room after the game.

“With the stuff we’d been working on in training we knew we could go there and get a result and we managed to pull it off.”

In his first season with Stockport Duxbury turned in a series of impressive performances and he was linked with a move to Norwich City, and trained with his hometown club Rovers, but bad luck wrecked his chances of a dream return.

“I went in with Blackburn Under-21s and trained with them,” he said.

“I was supposed to go in for three days, but I went in one day, played a game and we beat Wigan 6-1 and I set up two and scored one.

“Because I only went in for one day they were going to watch my next three games but then I got injured for 10 weeks with ankle ligament damage, so that messed it up.”

His second season at Edgeley Park didn’t go as well, and Duxbury jumped at the chance to move to Victoria and work under experienced former Football League manager Gannon.

“Jim’s probably the best manager I’ve played under, he’s been a big help,” admits Duxbury, who hasn’t given up on his dream of getting back into the Football League.

“I want to press on and play as high as I can. I’ve dropped down a couple of levels to play for Northwich but I wanted to start enjoying my football again, which I’m doing, and push on as much as I can this year.”

But playing isn’t Duxbury’s only avenue to a career in the game.

After being released by Preston he went to Myerscough College, where he did a Level Three BTEC Diploma in Football Studies, before doing a coaching degree there.

And he is putting that to good use. He has two coaching jobs alongside his volunteer role of managing Mill Hill Juniors’ Under-14s side, with colleagues describing him as ‘very much a modern manager’.

“I played for Mill Hill Juniors from the age of six,” explains Duxbury.

“When I was 15 I started getting involved with helping run the Sunday team and then at 16 I started running my own team.

“I’ve always been interested in coaching. My brother started playing at six and seven so it started from helping his manager out and then I formed my own team on a Saturday.”

Now Duxbury has his brother, Josh, in his team.

“I probably give him a bit too much stick at times but I want the best for him,” he said.

“He’s a good player, he’s a goalkeeper, a bit different to me.

“I really enjoy coaching. I’ve got it as something to fall back on if playing doesn’t work it, but hopefully it will.”

Another FA Cup shock next weekend and another good performance from Northwich Victoria’s left-back could see Duxbury edge closer to that Football League dream.