Team Bath v Chasetown

Andy Tillson takes his scholars to meet The Scholars tomorrow admitting he's on a learning curve, writes Tim Nash.

The former Walsall defender is full-time head coach of Team Bath, who host Chasetown in the FA Cup first round tie at Twerton Park.

Tillson made the radical step of moving into full-time coaching with the unique set-up three years ago when his playing days came to an end.

His side, who play one league higher than Chasetown in the British Gas Business Southern premier division, are all full-time students at Bath University and train every day at the campus.

Home matches are played at Bath City's Twerton Park, the former temporary home of Bristol Rovers.

"I'm very happy at the moment because I've not long gone from playing to coaching and it's totally different," said Tillson, who won promotion through the play-offs with the Saddlers.

"I'm at a great place to learn and I have the benefit of dealing with Dave Burnside, the former Wolves and Albion midfielder, who runs the coaching and education side, on a daily basis, which is good.

"If the right thing comes up, then I'll consider it but for the moment, I'm trying to learn as much as I can."

Tillson revealed dealing with students every day has been a breath of fresh air.

"They're grateful for everything they're given and they're a great bunch to work with," he said.

"We give them a bobble hat and they think it's the best thing in the world, whereas you give the same thing to a professional and they might turn their noses up at it.

"We encourage them to live the normal student life, but they're disciplined – they train, do their studies and a lot of them have jobs as well, which is good because it gives them a perspective."

Not surprisingly, Tillson has done his homework for the tie.

"We've watched Chasetown play twice and we know they're a good side who like to play football," he said. "It looks like they have been coached well.

"We've been impressed by what we've seen. We need to show them respect. But we'll be concentrating on the way we'll be preparing because I think it's important to keep things pretty normal.

"The players know it's a massive game, but they don't need any more pressure. It's going to be a cracker – two good non-League teams each having only lost one league game this season.

"There's no chance of us under-estimating them. If you look at who they have beaten to get here and the teams who came up from their league who have also done well, there's no massive difference between the leagues."

Unlike other teams, Team Bath can only recruit students from the university, so only a couple are over 21, and their squad changes once players graduate.

"We recruited a squad in the summer, but we were very limited because the term doesn't start until September and it's difficult to bring people in after that," said Tillson.

"But we came back on July 10 and did five weeks' pre-season which was a massive commitment because the players had to pay for extra accommodation.

"The good thing is because of their studies, they have a commitment to us and we have a commitment to them. It gives young players an opportunity who perhaps haven't cut it with professional clubs because sometimes, even at non-League level, teams want experience.

"It's difficult to get experienced players – we've got a lad called Gary Warren, who is doing his PGCE to become a teacher and he's only 23, but he's played aound 200 games for Mangotsfield."

Tillson's own academic life was modest – no further education as he left school and moved into non-League before moving into the full-time game with Bristol Rovers, QPR, Walsall and Rushden and Diamonds.

But he admits he had some of his greatest "lessons" with the Saddlers.

"I still speak to Brett Angell, Don Goodman and "Wacka" – he's a character – and I've got great memories of my time at Walsall," he said.

"I was almost 35 so I was wondering whether to go, but it was the best thing I ever did."