JAMIE Vermiglio will not only lock horns with John Sheridan when Chorley travel to Wigan Athletic in the first round of the FA Cup on Sunday but also his eight-year-old son Sam!

The Magpies boss has opponents to deal with both home and away with Vermiglio junior a keen Latics fan.

Having previously got one over Sheridan - Chorley won 3-2 when the former Republic of Ireland international was in charge at Chesterfield last season - Vermiglio will now be hoping to get his son on side.

“I’m from Liverpool so they are my team and Sam has a soft spot for them as well,” said Vermiglio. “But we live in Wigan and I’ve encouraged him to support his local team so he does like Wigan Athletic.

“So we will have to see what happens!”

He added: “A lot of my friends are Wigan fans as well so there has been a lot of banter flying around. My grandad, who is no longer with us, used to be a season ticket holder and he would tell stories of how he would go to the old Springfield Park with a piece of carpet to sit on.

“These of the sort of stories that pop up in the FA Cup.”

While Vermiglio refuses to say the FA Cup is not a distraction from the league but did admit a big performance could be the ‘catalyst’ to get their stuttering National League North campaign up and running.

And he will be hoping he can orchestrate another victory over a Sheridan side.

“We had three highlights last season and those three highlights were wins,” said Vermiglio of Chorley’s ill-fated campaign in the National League that ended in relegation. “One of them came at Chesterfield against John’s side so let’s hope we can do it again.”

Both Wigan and Chorley have had faltering starts to their respective campaigns - Wigan bottom of League one and Chorley second bottom in National League North - so this is a chance to put that to one side.

“Someone has to win, don’t they,” added Vermiglio who picked up the first point of the season in last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Bradford PA. “This is a great chance for both clubs to use this match as a springboard for the league, it could be the catalyst to go on a little bit of a run.

“The pressure is off us to a certain extent but doesn’t make too much of a difference because it is a game we want to go and win.”

While Vermiglio agrees that some of the magic of the FA Cup has gone, he says that is largely connected to the bigger clubs who enter the competition further down the line.

And the Magpies drawing the 2013 cup winners out of the hat just confirms that.

“I think the first round of the cup, probably more than any other round, is what makes the competition so special,” he said.

“When the bigger clubs come in to it, it loses its appeal to a certain extent as most of them no longer see it as a big concern.

“But here you have a team of part-timers like Chorley taking on recent cup winners Wigan. A local derby as well. This is what it is about.”

The one downside for Vermiglio is that Chorley fans will not be there to experience it.

“I’m gutted for them,” he said. “We have a great following and they would have loved it

“It’s a local derby and Chorley fans would have turned out in force and they would have made a difference. It’s such a shame they won’t be there.”