WHITBY Town have not won a league game at home all season.

Undeterred, this weekend the players are hoping to pull off the biggest shocker the resort has seen since Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in a hotel overlooking Whitby harbour.

And they hope to do it in front of the TV cameras because Match of the Day plans to feature the game as part of its Saturday FA Cup coverage.

So far this season the club's home, opposite the ruined Abbey that inspired Stoker to write his horror classic, has not been a happy hunting ground. Played six, drawn one, lost five is not a record to be proud of.

Worse still, Whitby's FA Cup opponents, Plymouth Argyll, are sitting pretty atop the Third Division.

Whitby manager Harry Dunn said: "They've got to lose sometime."

He's hoping that will be tomorrow.

Whitby have already beaten Ramsbottom United, Spennymoor Town and local rivals Scarborough to get to the first round proper.

Window cleaner and club secretary Charlie Woodward can barely contain himself. "It's the biggest game I have had to organise, it's very exciting," he said, after confessing windows on his round haven't been cleaned this week.

The last time the team reached the same stage in 1996, the fixture with Hull City had to be switched to the McCain Stadium in Scarborough, because of crowd concerns. That game ended in a goal-less draw. Whitby lost the rematch 8-4 in extra time after leading 4-3 with less than a minute of normal time left to play.

This time around it's at the Turnbull Ground and club officials are looking forward to one of the biggest crowds since Whitby's finest moment to date, the 3-0 triumph that handed them the FA Vase in 1997.

Graham Manser, local accountant and club chairman, said euphoria turned to panic when he thought about the logistics of hosting the big game.

Mr Manser said: "The town is bubbling, it is absolutely electric. People are coming from all over the country to see it and that has got to be good for the town."

The players, who range from a sports psychologist to a plumber, come from all over the North-East but none are from Whitby.

Mr Manser said this was because it was very difficult to get players of the calibre needed to match the club's ambitions in a town that has an overall population of 13,000.

Certainly the financial benefits are considerable.

So far, the club has made £37,000 from its cup run, which will help Whitby replace its decrepit stand and further its ambitions to earn promotion to the Conference.

Everyone knows that Saturday will be a challenge. Mr Manser said: "Plymouth start as favourites, odds on favourites, but it is 11 men against 11 and we will have a ground full of Whitby supporters so I am optimistic but cautious."

And if they win, what then?

A showdown with a Premiership giant could be a distinct possibility. Manchester United playing at Whitby?

Stranger things have happened.