CHRIS Waterhouse is confident Gornal Athletic can cause an FA Vase upset this Saturday - just don’t expect to see him partying afterwards.

The Peacocks skipper, an imposing presence in the centre of defence, has played a major role in the club’s recent success.

But dedicated Waterhouse juggles his football career with his day job as a paramedic and will have to beat a hasty retreat from County Durham whatever the result, as he is due on shift at 6am on Sunday.

As the 27-year-old revealed, he is used to a hectic schedule.

He said: “It does get tough. I work 12 hour shifts but by and large I manage to fit my football around it.

“I often work nights so on a Saturday it’s a case of going home and having a couple of hours sleep, before getting up to play football at 3pm. Then straight after the game I’m off to work again.

“Some games I do miss but I often get round it by using up holiday. Me and the Mrs didn’t go away last year because I’d used up all my leave trying winning the West Midlands Premier League.”

After rising through the youth ranks at Tipton Town, Waterhouse was one of several players to make the switch to Gornal from Dudley Town with manager Ian Rowe in the summer of 2010.

He says much of the credit for the club’s success since then is because of the boss and his assistant Lee Rolfe.

Waterhouse said: “Leaving Dudley Town was a big step for me to make.

”I took a long time agonising over whether it was the right thing to do and in the end, Rowie was the reason I left.

“Most people only see him for 90 minutes on the touchline every Saturday. He can be loud and brash during games and sometimes even I don’t like him.

“But it’s when you take him away from football you realise what a great bloke he is. His passion is beyond belief.

“He is our manager but our mate first. He has sorted a few of the lads out in issues which were not football-related.

“That’s the kind of thing you can’t buy with money.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Waterhouse accepts Gornal will go into the game as underdogs but says it is a role they relish.

He said: “It just fires us up and makes us want to win it even more.

“We have shown we can cope with the big occasion. Bodmin was a very tough place to play and before them Wisbech had a large budget.

“It doesn’t automatically mean success. Spennymoor have won their league the last three years and we know the threat they will pose.

“It’s been a magical run for us so far, for a club at our level to do what we have done is incredible and we want to keep it going.”