PAUL Cox wants Barrow AFC to keep the romance of the FA Cup alive and kicking by reaching the fourth round for the first time.

The Bluebirds were handed a home tie with League One Rochdale in last night’s third-round draw – far from the glamour tie they were hoping for.

But manager Cox sees it as a real chance for his team – unbeaten in 22 matches in all competitions – to make progress and carry the non-league flame further into the competition.

“When we came out, the first thought was ‘wow, we’re at home’. You look at who came out after Rochdale, Manchester United, and it’s one of those scenarios where it could have been,” said Cox, who was in the BBC studios in Salford for the draw.

“It depends on how you look at romance. I still look at this as a romantic tie. We’re in the third round of the FA Cup, and I would never want to turn my nose up at any fixture, even if we played the lowest-ranked team in the competition.

“We have an opportunity. The players have given us the opportunity to have a crack at another League One club and try to progress through to the fourth round, which would be an amazing feat for a club of our size.”

He added: “The most important thing is that we are at home. I was speaking to the chairman on the way up here and I was asking him what his thoughts were and who he fancied. All he said was ‘as long as we’re at home Paul’. He’s got what he wanted.

“In the greater scheme of things, for the supporters and for the glamour of the FA Cup, you can fantasise about the big boys, but we look at this tie and once again we are pitting our wits against a team doing well in League One, but this time on home soil.

“Between ourselves and Rochdale, there is somebody who is going to be carrying on the romance into the fourth round. We’d like to think that it might be a televised game as well, which might bring a little bit of income to ourselves and Rochdale as well.”

AFC reached the third round for the 12th time in their history with a 2-1 win at Rochdale’s League One rivals Bristol Rovers on Sunday – Byron Harrison scoring both the goals. Dale sit eight places above Rovers in League One and won 2-0 at Carlisle United in the second round on Saturday.

Barrow have never reached the fourth round of the competition, but a home draw gives them a good chance of putting that competition record to bed.

Cox hopes the town will get behind the team and pack into Holker Street, and added: “I think you’ve always got a chance – that’s the beauty of the FA Cup. We went to Bristol Rovers and we had a belief that we could win a game.

“When we’re on a run as we are, confidence is high, but it’s not an arrogance – we feel we can compete, we feel we can win football matches, and we proved that on Sunday.

“Rochdale will be a totally different proposition, one we will do our due diligence on. We’ll make sure that everything is looked at.

“We’ll look to try and win a football match in front of our own supporters. Once again, it will be a really tough one. I’ve said of this group of players that we don’t know how to go out and try to draw a football game – we’ve had a few draws, but we look to try and win football matches.

“We want to keep the romance alive, we want to keep the journey going.

“It’s probably not the fixture that either set of supporters wanted, but somebody is going to progress and be in that draw again.

“We’re at home, we hope that people will get on board and come and try and help us progress.”

See the video as Barrow AFC fans react to the draw here .