Haringey Borough boss Tom Loizou wants his side to take inspiration from Crawley Town's young FA Cup hero Nick Tsaroulla who trained with the club while searching for a way back into the sport.
The 21-year-old winger opened the scoring in superb fashion by beating three Leeds players, before firing past Kiko Casilla in the 50th minute before they went on to win 3-0.
Prior to that he was involved in a serious car crash in 2017 that halted his progression in Tottenham’s academy, leading to his release after joining the club at 12-years-old.
“He done pre-season with us, we helped him back into football if you like, he scored that first goal and it’s just a nice feeling when you can help someone like that,” Loizou said.
“He was at Spurs, he had a car crash and he caught septicemia, where he nearly died. Then Spurs released him and his dad asked me as a favour if he could come in and train with us.
“We were just about to sign him and then Brentford came in for him and they released him.
“He started to train with us again, we were about to sign him again, then Crawley Town signed him.
“To see him emotion on television giving that interview and the goal he scored was very nice. A little club like Haringey Borough helping a player like that is great.
“We’ve got four ex-Spurs players in our team as well, so it should be an inspiration to the rest of the players, and of course we’re in the FA Trophy last 32 this weekend and hopefully little Nick has inspired my players.”
He added: “That will be part of my team talk, I will say look where Nick has come from, I know a few of you have been released but none of you have had to fight for your lives and look what he has managed to achieve.”
Haringey will make the trip to National League South side Oxford City on Saturday in the FA Trophy for their first match in a long time with their remaining league fixtures suspended due to the national lockdown.
“People are dying everywhere, you’ve got managers like Jurgen Klopp saying we’re safe to play, but then also saying we shouldn’t be playing as many games.
“I think the whole country should have gone into lockdown including the elite clubs, I've had a couple of deaths in my family, and there is a lot of ill people out there.
“I’ve got an underlying health condition, but us managers including Jurgen Klopp, we want to play and we want to win.
“We’re contradicting ourselves, but I need to be there for Haringey Borough, and all my young players that want to play.
“I definitely won’t be missing a game worrying about Covid, even though I should be.”
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