Huddersfield Town v Dover Athletic: Clark's spies can help Town prevent a shock

The Blue Square South outfit are the lowest-ranked club still in the competition after beating Gillingham and Aldershot Town in earlier rounds.

And it is to the Shots, beaten 2-0 on the Kent coast in the second round, that Clark has turned for help ahead of today's third round tie at the Galpharm.

He said: "A game like this is what the FA Cup is all about. Dover have done fantastically well to get this far and I am sure everyone outside Huddersfield will be rooting for them to cause an upset. As a team, we are well aware of the pitfalls, I have stressed to the players all week in training the importance of applying themselves correctly to make sure we are the name in Sunday's draw."

On the extra work that has had to go into preparing for today's tie, Clark added: "We have extended our scouting system to allow us to gather the appropriate information on Dover. It is slightly harder in terms of collating live footage of them.

"However, I have contacts who know plenty of information regarding the teams in the lower divisions and they have helped.

"Kevin Dillon at Aldershot, who is a former team-mate of mine, has passed on some information following their defeat earlier in the competition.

"It is good to have these sort of relationships around the League. Kevin sent me some information regarding Dover before I even had time to ask him and I know I could expect the same of other contacts I have around the League, which is obviously a massive help."

If today's tie finishes drawn then an already busy schedule over the coming six weeks will have to squeeze in a replay – something Clark wants to avoid.

The Town chief, whose side host Plymouth Argyle in League One on Tuesday, said: "It would make the workload a little easier if we didn't have to face a replay.

"Dover will come here under no pressure and will give us a really good game. They have one or two players who possess a fair amount of Football League experience and this is a chance to show they can still perform at a high level."