(https://i.postimg.cc/rmVWFcXT/BOTN.png)
(https://static.standard.co.uk/2024/10/14/12/45/fa-cup-trophy.jpeg?trim=144,0,186,0&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1000)
Continuing my trend of making threads probably only one or two people - if that many - will be interested in, I see the FA Cup is starting again, and I'll be there, watching highlights, writing statistics, doing match reports and trying to pretend I know more about this sport than I do.
The FA Cup is the "great leveller" of English sport, where teams from the very lowest leagues get the chance to compete against the giants of the Premiership, and not always with the expected result. If the FA Cup has shown us anything, it's that football is completely unpredictable and may make AI blow a fuse, because you just never know what's going to happen. That's what makes it so good, so enjoyable, and why it engenders such passion. A team entering from the fifth division can, and have, beaten legendary teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal maybe. Having been in existence for over 150 years. it's the oldest football competition in the entire world.
These days there are nine seperate leagues in English football, and qualification for the FA Cup is open to any of them. The big league teams, those from the Premiership, don't come into it till the later rounds, but there are nevertheless some incredible matches to be seen, and a team coming from the eighth division beating one in the EFL (English Football League) second division is still classed as what is known as a "giant-killing"; some of, indeed many of the much lower leagues consist of players who are part-time only, and hold down other jobs. To see men who are butchers, factory workers or office clerks score against men for whom this football is a full-time job is a real sight, and something those men will never forget. There's also the prestige attached for the town or city who manages a giant-killing, with bragging rights for many years to come. Those of us who know, remember when Reading kicked Manchester United out of the tournament, and they've rightly never been let forget it.
I see there's a Women's FA Cup too, but I don't know if this is being broadcast on telly. I would like to be unbiased and gender equal, but honestly, if it's not being shown I'm not going to go tracking down match details - there are a LOT of matches for me to write about, and the Men's FA Cup may be more than enough. I don't have paid sports channels so I'm relying on the usual, such as my national station RTE, BBC and maybe Virgin to keep me updated, though I'm pretty sure Match of the Day will be following it. They do have a Women's Football Show, so I might get it there. All I can say is, if I can, I will, but I make no promises.
The first round takes place on November 1, so I won't be able obviously to post anything till then, but for now, my next post will be the draw for the first round, to show who is facing who.
(https://i.postimg.cc/mkmrc5nJ/FA-Cup-1.png)
(https://i.postimg.cc/Y2R0yvSR/FA-Cup-2.png)
(https://i.postimg.cc/j2x5SbMy/FA-Cup-3.png)
Key: EFL = English Football League, the second-highest tier in English football, just below the Premiership. It has three divisions. For some unknown reason, the first, top league is now called the Championship, while the second is called League 1 and the third League 2. Ah, these crazy English, eh?
NL = National League. If a team is relegated from League 2 they end up here. The National League, essentially forming the fifth tier of English football, is split into three, the first of which is called, confusingly, the National League. The second and third divisions are split along geographical lines, so you get
NLN = National League North (1 division)
NLS = National League South (1 division)
(In case you're interested, the National League used to be called the Conference League, which would have been better, as it would have saved confusion when you see the next step down is)
NPL = Northern Premier League (4 divisions)
SFLC = Southern Football League Central (3 divisions)
SFLS = Southern Football League South (3 divisions)
ILP = Isthmian League (4 divisions)
It's all pretty confusing, but from what I've read I think the Premier League of each of the above, i.e., the first or top division, is treated as tier 7 while the lower leagues are seen as tier 8. I tell ya, it's bringing a lot of tiers to these eyes!
There's one final tier (well, one that concerns the FA Cup - believe me, they go on and bloody on!) and though this doesn't seem to have an official name, it's like a loose confederacy made up of the top divisions of the lower leagues.
If that doesn't make sense to you (and I wouldn't blame you) I can't help you, so take a look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system#Structure
Christ scoring a penalty on the rebound! I only mentioned this because I didn't understand what the acronyms on the table were, and wanted to explain them! Should have just left it at the names.
There are over two weeks to go, so I'll try to research each team before the first matches kick off, and present here a sort of pencil-sketch profile of each.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Accrington Stanley
Home city or town: Accrington
Area: Lancashire
Nickname: The 'Owd Reds (No, I don't know either)
Home ground: Crown Ground
Manager: John Doolan
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
Current position: 22nd of 24*
First opponent in Round One: Rushall or Peterborough Sports
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Relegations:+++ EFL League 2
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run**: Fourth Round
Rivals: Rochdale, Morecambe, Bury, Blackburn Rovers and Burnley
* Barely avoided relegation by two points.
** By which I mean qualification; this has nothing to do with how well, or badly, they did. I'm also not taking into account how many times they achieved this; if they did it once, that's good enough, but it doesn't mean they didn't repeat the feat.
+++ I'm only looking at recent relegation here, let's say in the last five years or so.
Accrington Stanley is a club that came back from the dead. Twice. Originally formed in 1968, from the ashes, as it were, of its original predecessor of the same name, itself formed in 1891 but having gone into receivership in 1966. Accrington's history actually stretches back a little further than that, with their original club being named just Accrington having been formed in 1888 and able to claim the honour of being one of the clubs that formed the original football league. The current club has a rich history, having seen its golden years from 1977 - 1991, during which time they were regularly promoted from lower leagues, until they reached the dizzying heights (!) of the Northern Premier League's Premier division in 1991.
Though relegated in 1999 they quickly came back, a new team for a new century (and indeed, a new millennium) and were promoted to the EFL (at the time, Football League) League 2 in 2006, though they struggled here and remained at the bottom of the league for almost 12 years, before finally earning promotion to League 1 in 2017. Much of their recent success is due to the purchase of the club in 2015 by local businessman Andy Holt, who was able to clear the debts Stanley owed. He became chairman two years later.
A quick scan down through Stanley's latest results in the league does not make promising reading. They have only managed one win in eleven games, with three draws, their most encouraging perhaps being a 3-3 stalemate against Harrogate Town. Their heaviest defeat was a 4-1 loss to Doncaster Rovers in their opening match.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/30/Aldershot_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Aldershot_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Aldershot Town
Home city or town: Aldershot
Area: Hampshire
Nickname: The Shots
Home ground: Recreation Ground
Manager: Tommy Widdrington
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Bradford City
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: 4th Round
Rivals: Farnborough, Woking, Reading
A mere babe-in-arms compared to Accrington Stanley, Aldershot too have come from the ruins of another club, named the same, but this had only been in existence from 1926, closing in 1992, whereupon Aldershot Town was founded. From the beginning they seem to have flourished, winning promotion from lower leagues until they reached the EFL League 2 in 2008. After a spotty few seasons there, they were eventually relegated back to non-league football and actually went into administration in 2013, though obviously they survived. This was due to a cash injection from a consortium led by the former chairman, Shahid Azeem, and a deal with Chelsea to play the Premier League's reserve matches at their ground.
Narrowly missing relegation to the National League due to the administrative relegation of Gateshead, Aldershot did in fact fall down to the National League and have been there for the last ten years, this seeming to be their best season. Oddly enough, the year they were relegated (2013) seems to have featured their best run in the FA Cup, when they progressed to the fourth round, something they have consistently achieved over the last four years, last year being the first time they went out in round three.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/Alfreton_Town_FC_logo.svg/280px-Alfreton_Town_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Alfreton Town
Home city or town: Alfreton
Area: Derbyshire
Nickname: The Reds
Home ground: North Street
Manager: Billy Heath
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
Current position: 5th of 24 (as of 2024 season; can't get details for the current one)
First opponent in Round One: Notts County
Highest position achieved: National League North
Relegations: NLN Division 1, non-league football
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Created from the amalgamation of two older teams, Alfreton Town merged Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United in 1959, and after a shaky start when they ended bottom of their league, bounced back to top it and even qualify for the FA Cup in 1970. Success followed success and they were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division 1 in 1986, and ten years later the Premier division, though they were relegated back to division 1 in the following year, ending as last and being relegated the next season out of the league altogether.
The new millennium though saw their fortunes take an upturn, and in 2002 they were back in the NPL division 1 and promoted the next season back into the premier division. From here they went on to the National League North, where at present they are 5th in the table, so possibly looking at another promotion. Okay that's the previous season; I can find no statistics for the current one. Their FA Cup run has only seen them advance to the second round, so far.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3b/Altrincham_FC_crest.svg/340px-Altrincham_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Altrincham
Home city or town: Altrincham
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Robins
Home ground: Moss Lane
Manager: Phil Parkinson
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 5th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Maidstone **++
Highest position achieved: National League
Relegations: National League North, Northern Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Birmingham City (2-1; 1986) (Seventeen giant killings in all, but I'm not going to list every one. This was the biggest scalp they took)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Unknown
**++ Depends; it's still between two teams, only one of which can qualify.
Another club with a long history, Altrincham were originally a merger between Rigby Memorial Club and Grapplers (sounds like those monsters out of Tremors!) and became Broadheath Football Club. They changed their name in 1903, so although originally founded in 1891 you could probably say the Altrincham of today only began life then. They seem to have gone from strength to strength, rising from minor leagues (and creating some, or helping to) until they were instrumental in setting up the Northern Premier League in 1968.
For a small club, Altrincham hold the record for the most giant killings in the FA Cup, their biggest and most famous being, as noted above, Birmingham City, who have played in the Premiership, but they have also taken down Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool, Chester, Wigan, Crewe Alexandra, Rochdale and Sheffield United, to name but a few.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Barnet_FC.svg/340px-Barnet_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Barnet
Home city or town: Barnet
Area: London
Nickname: The Bees
Home ground: Hive Stadium
Manager: Dean Brennan
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 2nd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Exeter City
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) Newport County (6-1, 1970) also Bristol Rovers, Stockport County and Sheffield United (2019)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Wealdstone, Enfield, Stevenage, Boreham Wood
Founded, interestingly, in the very same year that London's East End was terrorised by Jack the Ripper, Barnet is the first London club we've come across, another which was formed from two other clubs, Barnet Avenue and Alston Works, and as Barnet F.C. As seems to have happened a lot, the original Barnet ceased to exist in 1902, and the two clubs mentioned then formed the "new" Barnet. They had tremendous success, winning seven league titles from 1917 to 1965. In 1991 they were promoted to the EFL (look, it was called the Football League at the time, and the National League was the Conference League, but I'm going to stick with modern names; it's confusing enough to me as it is!) but were relegated, then promoted, relegated then promoted, until they ended up in the EFL League 2 for eight seasons, and are now back in the National League, where they seem to be doing well.
FA Cup-wise, they appear to have done all right, having made it as far as the fourth round, and taken on, and beaten, bigger clubs such as Bristol Rovers, Stockport County, Sheffield United and Newport County.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Barnsley_FC.svg/350px-Barnsley_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Barnsley
Home city or town: Barnsley
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: The Reds, The Tykes, The Colliers
Home ground: Oakwell
Manager: Darrell Clarke
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 6th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Port Vale
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship (EFL Premier League)
Giant Killing(s) West Bromwich Albion 1-0 (1912); Manchester United (1998) Liverpool and Chelsea (2008)
Best FA Cup run: Final (which they won)
Rivals: Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Rotherham United, Leeds United
Who says football and religion don't mix? Barnsley was founded by an English clergyman who wanted to use sport as a way to empower the poor of his parish. Formed one year before the previous post's Barnet, in 1887, they are the first team we've come across not only to win the FA Cup (even if it was over 100 years ago now) but also progress to the very top tier of English football, the Premier League. Barnsley achieve another first, the first team I've come across here who had a player who was involved in winning two league titles (though not with them, but with Manchester United) and who also played for England. Finally, and tragically, the player, Tommy Taylor, was one of the Man United team who died in the fatal air crash in Munich in 1958. Taylor had also become, on the way, the most expensive English player when he was sold to United for a then-record fee of just under thirty grand.
In 1998 they won their only promotion to the Premier League, but lasted just the one season, being relegated at the end of it back into the Championship. The same year, however, they had a famous victory over Man United in the FA Cup. They were further relegated to the Second Division of the EFL (League 1, I think - man this is doing my head in) during 2002 and threatened with going into administration, this only avoided by the purchase of the team by the Barnsley mayor. Their woes haven't gone away though, as in July 2023 they were charged by the EFL with violations of regulations due to the makeup of the shareholders, or some damn thing.
Their greatest FA Cup victory - in terms of goals scored - was against Blackpool in 1912, when they beat them 6-0. On the flip side, their biggest defeat in the Cup came against Derby County, when they were thrashed 8-1, and Man United had their revenge recently (look, I know the proverb, but rather than cold, revenge would be a dish served frozen solid by now!) when they hammered them 7-0 in the EFL cup this year.
As an aside, I praise them for their attitude towards sponsorship, as this Wiki quote reveals: Originally, cryptocurrency company HEX.com were announced as Barnsley's shirt sponsor, but after the Barnsley Supporter's Trust raised concerns about controversial and homophobic tweets by people who reportedly brokered the deal and an investigation by the club, they were dropped as the Barnsley shirt sponsor after only featuring on the shirt for 2 games.[37][38] The shirts remained sponsorless for the following 4 games of the campaign. On 27 August 2022, Barnsley launched the "Together Red" campaign against discrimination and hate, with numerous sponsors adorning the Barnsley shirt for select games throughout the 2022/23 season starting with the away game against Ipswich Town.[39] The campaign ended on 14 April 2023.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/Barrow_AFC_logo.svg/300px-Barrow_AFC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Barrow AFC
Home city or town: Barrow-in-Furness
Area: Cumbria
Nickname: The Bluebirds
Home ground: Holker Street
Manager: Stephen Clemence
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 3
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Doncaster Rovers
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League
Giant Killing(s) Brentford (2-1, 2009)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown
Formed just after the turn of the century, in 1901, Barrow don't seem to have had a lot of success, spending almost half a century outside league football. They did have some luck in 1990 and again in 2010, winning the FA Trophy (not the same as the FA Cup) and were promoted to the EFL in 2020. Ah, now, you couldn't make this stuff up! Barrow were purchased by a boxing promoter with links to a Liverpool drug-dealer, who high-tailed it after being investigated for money laundering, and seems to have sold out the club's stadium from underneath them! The club then went into administration, but was saved by a members' club, who eventually bought it, and the ground too. Phew! Hard to play your matches if you don't have a stadium!
Not that any of this did anything to improve the performance of the team. They stumbled on, flirting with relegation and also with the law, one of their players actually making history for being the only English football player in recent times to be sent to jail for an assault, when he punched a Bristol Rovers player on the field. Sure, back in the early days, weren't they all kicking the shite out of each other, and nobody complained, least of all the ref, who probably joined in! Ah, the good old days. VAR would've had a field day with those games!
In 2014 Dallas businessman Paul Casson bought the club, but four years later he realised it was a bad deal and sold it. After that, Barrow's fortunes began to change for the better. In 2020 they were promoted to the EFL League 2. They struggled, but managed to maintain their position and are now in the top half of the table.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg/300px-Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Birmingham City
Home city or town: Birmingham
Area: West Midlands
Nickname: The Blues
Home ground: St. Andrew's
Manager: Chris Davies
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 22nd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Sutton United
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Final
Rivals: Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves), West Bromwich Albion
Though we've read about one other team who played in the Premier League, I would consider Birmingham to be the first proper "big" team I've come across here. They were regulars in the Premier League for years, but it seems their fortunes have turned recently, as they've just been relegated from the Championship to EFL League 1. A team which underwent four name changes, they began life as Small Heath Alliance (don't ask me!) in 1875, becoming simply Small Heath in 1888 and then Birmingham in 1905 and finally Birmingham City in 1943. 1943? You'd think they would have had more to worry about than changing the name of the team, wouldn't you?
Birmingham led the way to Europe when they became the first English football team to compete outside of Britain in 1956, losing to Barcelona, and again became the first English team to reach a European Cup Final, again losing to the Spanish side. In 1970 they broke the transfer record, when they sold one of their players to Everton for £350,000. Ah, not that long ago we were talking about one of the other clubs breaking that record with less than a tenth of that figure! How times change, eh? A mere eight years later they were getting a cool million pounds from Nottingham Forest, a new record.
There was tragedy, too, as a riot at one of their matches in 1985, resulting in the death of a boy when part of a wall collapsed on him, coincided with one of the most mourned days in British football, the Bradford City stadium fire, in which 56 people died. Financial problems, too, dogged the club, with its owners having to put it into receivership when their bank collapsed. Birmingham City was then bought by a newspaper tycoon, David Sullivan, who brought with him a little-known Karren Brady, whom he installed as Managing Director, and who would help turn the club's fortunes around. She would eventually become Baroness Brady, and serve as Lord Alan Sugar's right hand on the TV reality show The Apprentice.
In 2002 Birmingham made it to the Premier League for the first time ever. They would remain there for two seasons, then be relegated, but bounce back the next season, after which they would have a tumultuous time in the top tier, being relegated, flirting with relegation, coming back up, scraping by and so on. In 2023 American businessman Tom Wagner bought the club, bringing with him a minority stake for American football legend Tom Brady, something which helped raise the club's profile. This did not however prevent Birmingham from being relegated to EFL League 1, after almost thirty years in the top two tiers of English football.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Blackpool_FC_logo.svg/360px-Blackpool_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Blackpool
Home city or town: Blackpool
Area: Lancashire
Nickname: The Seasiders, The Tangerines
Home ground: Bloomfield Road
Manager: Steve Bruce
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 3
Current position: 8th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Gillingham
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None that I can see
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Blackburn Rovers
Another of the older clubs, Blackpool were formed in 1887, and from what I read so far, appear to be the first club we've read about that started with the name they ended up with, i.e., they were always Blackpool. They had a fine FA Cup run, winning it as early as 1956, and are the second team I've come across who had players in the national team. Also, one of their players, the great Stanley Matthews, was the very first recipient of the Ballon D'or, the Golden Boot, awarded to the player who is deemed to have performed best in a season.
A recurring theme among English football clubs though seems to be legal troubles, and here it seems Blackpool's owner, Owen Oyston, went to jail in 1996 for rape and indecent assault of a young girl. His wife took over the chair, and I think that, so far, this seems to be only the second instance of a woman running a football club, though I may find there are more as I go along. Hey that's weird! I see Oyston bought the club for the princely sum of one pound! I wonder what the deal was with that? I remember there being a story about Ken Bates buying Chelsea for a quid too: is it something to do with the idea that the club was seen as no good, a white elephant, and was not worth any more? Answers on a postcard, please.
Blackpool are another team who made it to the top, though they only managed one season in the Premier League before being relegated, and then suffered two further relegations, to the Championship and then League 1, ending up in League 2, where they are now.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Bolton_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/340px-Bolton_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Bolton Wanderers
Home city or town: Bolton
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Trotters, The Whites, The Wanderers
Home ground: Toughsheet Community Stadium
Manager: Ian Evatt
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 3rd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Walsall
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) West Ham (2-0, 1923); Manchester City (1-0, 1926); Portsmouth (2-0, 1929); Manchester City (2-0, 1958); Liverpool (2-0, 1993); Wolves (2-1, 1993); Arsenal (3-1, 1994); Everton (3-2, 1994); Aston Villa (1-0, 1994)
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Bury, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Oldham Athletic, Wigan Athletic, Burnley, Preston North End.
And here's another team with a female chairperson, so maybe not as rare as I had thought. I do wonder, though, why some teams choose the suffix "wanderers" to append to their name? Is it because they had to play in different stadiums or on different pitches early in their history? I know there was a dearth of football grounds at one point, and some had to share, so I wonder is that the reason behind it? May find out, may not. I'll read on.
Is this the oldest football club in England? Founded in 1874 as Christ Church Football Club, they took the current name three years later, but no, it doesn't say why. Bolton have also been in the Premier League, though I think lasted longer there than Blackpool. Yeah, far better: remained there, in fact, for most of the first decade of the twenty-first century, eleven seasons in all. Okay it seems I was right; Wanderers did choose their name due to difficulty finding a ground to play on. They are also the second team I've read about who were founded by a clergyman, hence, I guess, the original name.
Interesting, and I guess commendable, to see 15 of the Bolton playing staff saw active service during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Dunkirk, and quite amazingly, losing only one of their number before the war's end. I also read that they kept the game alive during the war, challenging other teams of allies during breaks in the fighting. What did they say about football being more important than life and death?
Sadly, as ever, this good side of the team is balanced with bad as what was at the time the biggest tragedy in English football, the Burnden Park disaster, claimed 33 lives when fans were packed in to the stadium with no regard for safety. The disaster did lead to changes in how crowds were regulated, so something good came of it I guess. Bolton hit the headlines again in 2012 when Patrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and had to be taken to hospital. His plight sparked sympathy all across the football spectrum.
Bolton also struggled with financial difficulties, at one point being 172 million in debt, but narrowly avoided a winding-up order and survived. Nevertheless, money worries continued to dog them and as late as 2019 a match had to be cancelled when the players refused to play as they had not been paid. Seems fair enough to me.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ea/Boreham_Wood_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Boreham_Wood_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Boreham Wood
Home city or town: Borehamwood
Area: Hertfordshire
Nickname: The Wood
Home ground: Meadow Park
Manager: Luke Garrard
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
Current position: 21st of 24 (relegated)
First opponent in Round One: Leyton Orient
Highest position achieved: National League
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) Blackpool (2-1, 2018); Southend United (4-3, 2021); AFC Wimbledon (2022); Bournemouth (2022)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Unknown
Certainly one of the younger clubs, Boreham Wood was founded in 1948 as a merger between Boreham Wood Rovers and Royal Retournez. And, um, that's all she wrote, folks. Can't tell you anything more than that, other than that Boreham Wood have reached the dizzying heights of the National League, only to be relegated and are now in the next tier down, the National League South.
QuoteA team which underwent four name changes, they began life as Small Heath Alliance (don't ask me!) in 1875, becoming simply Small Heath in 1888 and then Birmingham in 1905 and finally Birmingham City in 1943. 1943? You'd think they would have had more to worry about than changing the name of the team, wouldn't you?
Regarding this, they're from an area in Birmingham called Small Heath. In the same way Villa are from Aston. Back then, we also had another club called St George's (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_St_George's_F.C.). Anyway, Birmingham City broke an agreement with Villa to not use the citys name and that's partly how the rivalry started.
It is said that when they built St. Andrew's in 1906, they used a gypsy site and were told by the gypsies if they built on there, they would put them under a 100 year curse. They won one league cup in the next century and then won another one in 2011 five years after the 'curse' was lifted.
@Trollheart
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Boston_United_FC_logo.svg/360px-Boston_United_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Boston United
Home city or town: Boston
Area: Lincolnshire
Nickname: The Pilgrims
Home ground: Boston Community Stadium
Manager: Ian Culverhouse
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 6th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Gateshead
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations: National League, National League North, Northern Premier League
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Lincoln City, Scunthorphe United, Gainsborough Trinity, Grimsby Town
Sounding like they should be an American football team, Boston United do in fact take their nickname from the Englishmen who set out to create America, as it were, and the Mayflower is on their crest. Beginning life as Boston Town, they became Boston United in 1933, so again quite a young team, but seem to have had marked success in their early days, winning the Northern Premier League title four times in the seventies, and even securing promotion to the EFL in 2002, where they spent five seasons before being relegated down two divisions on foot of an administration order.
Dodgy goings-on led to their manager and ex-chairman receiving suspended jail sentences for trying to defraud Customs, and the club was in bad financial waters, and after a Company Voluntary Agreement (what? Ah hell, I don't know: look it up for once!) the club released the following statement: "Because Boston United are in breach of certain rules, it was felt Blue Square North was the best place for them. HM Revenue and Customs put a caveat on that CVA that Boston could not pay football creditors. That breaks Football Association, Football League and Football Conference rules and regulations. We're giving Boston the opportunity to re-establish themselves as a leading club outside the Football League. They believe the decision we have made is fair and just, and they are not going to appeal. We had meetings all day on Friday with Boston United and then informed Altrincham that they were staying up."
In 2007, a local housing development bought the club, but the players must not have felt this development (sorry) was as safe as houses (sorry again) as almost all of them had it away on their toes, and there was no team to speak of, Boston United having to start again from the beginning. An interesting, and no doubt unwanted milestone the club created was to be the first football team in the league to ever start a season with less than zero points, this being due to points deducted thanks to their tricky financial dealings.
Quote from: jimmy jazz on Oct 16, 2024, 07:04 PMRegarding this, they're from an area in Birmingham called Small Heath. In the same way Villa are from Aston. Back then, we also had another club called St George's (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_St_George's_F.C.). Anyway, Birmingham City broke an agreement with Villa to not use the citys name and that's partly how the rivalry started.
It is said that when they built St. Andrew's in 1906, they used a gypsy site and were told by the gypsies if they built on there, they would put them under a 100 year curse. They won one league cup in the next century and then won another one in 2011 five years after the 'curse' was lifted.
@Trollheart
See, this is the kind of shit I love! I'd never have gotten that, even from Wiki, and it's good to know. Also good to know someone's reading, but I knew you would be, my soccerpal! :thumb:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Braintreefc.png)
Team name: Braintree Town
Home city or town: Braintree
Area: Essex
Nickname: The Iron
Home ground: Cressing Road
Manager: Angelo Harrop
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
Current position: 5th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Hartlepool or Brackley Town
Highest position achieved: National League
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
A small club, but much older, founded in 1898 as, apparently, the second Braintree FC (though I can't find any information on the original one) and called Manor Works, due to its players all coming from a window manufacturing plant, from which they took their nickname. Not sure if this has happened before, but in 1921 they changed their name to Crittall Athletic (Crittall being the name of that window company) then in 1968 became Crittall & Braintree, dropping the first part in 1981 to be named Braintree F.C., and then the next year Braintree Town.
They seem to have done very well in the earlier part of their existence, winning league titles and helping set up newer leagues, and generally speaking, though they were relegated recently, these winning ways seem to have continued as they climbed the lower leagues.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/BrackleyTownFCBadge.png)
Team name: Brackley Town
Home city or town: Brackley
Area: Northamptonshire
Nickname: The Saints
Home ground: St. James Park
Manager: Gavin Cowan
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
Current position: 3rd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Braintree **++
Highest position achieved: National League North
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) Gillingham (1-0, 2013, and again in 2017, this time 4-3)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Little to tell you here, other than this is another old-established club (1890) and another that did really well in the lower leagues.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg/260px-Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Bradford City
Home city or town: Bradford
Area: West Yorkshire
Nickname: The Bantams, The Paraders, The Citizens
Home ground: Valley Parade
Manager: Graham Alexander
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 5
Current position: 9th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Aldershot Town
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Relegations: Championship, EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Newcastle United (1911); Chelsea (4-2, 2015); Sunderland (2-0, 2015)
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Bradford (Park Avenue), Burnley, Barnsley, Oldham Athletic
Unfortunately, the one event Bradford will always be linked with is one of the worst disasters to occur in English football. We'll come to that in due course, but for now let's note Bradford City were founded in 1903 and started the new millennium well by earning promotion to the Premier League, but this lasted only one season, and successive financial woes ended up pushing them down until they were at the fourth tier, EFL League 2. I think I'm right in saying Bradford have the dubious distinction of being the only team to have had their manager die while in service, as happened in 1968, but if you want tragedy, Bradford is the place.
As already mentioned above, and also referred to in a previous post, the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 was one of the worst disasters in English football. After a small fire broke out and a TV commentator mentioned it on air, a combination of wind and long-accumulated garbage under the stands whipped the flames and soon the entire stand was on fire. People started running, either onto the field or, in some cases, to the exits, the doors of which were barred (shades of the Stardust tragedy here!). The panic as people surged forward, or back, led to 56 deaths and over 260 injuries, and stringent new rules coming into place. It's quite upsetting to read, so I'll leave it at that, and if you want to read more, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_City_stadium_fire
With increasing money troubles, Bradford suffered three relegations after reaching the Premier League, and are currently in the EFL League 2.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Bristol Rovers
Home city or town: Bristol
Area: Bristol
Nickname: The Pirates, The Gas
Home ground: Memorial Stadium
Manager: Matt Taylor
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Current position: 15th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Weston-super-Mare
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) Derby County (3-1, 2002)
Best FA Cup run: Quarter finals
Rivals: (deep breath...) Bristol City, Swindon Town, Cardiff City, Cheltenham Town, Forest Green Rovers, Exeter City, Yeovil Town, Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United
One of the many cities which has two main teams, Bristol Rovers' main rivals are their contemporaries, Bristol City, though as you can see, they got a lot of rivals! Beginning life in 1884 as, for some reason, Black Arabs, they (wisely, I believe) changed their name a year later. Oh I see: it was something to do with the local rugby club. Well, fancy that. They only lasted a year anyway under this name before changing it to Eastville Rovers, then Eastville Bristol Rovers in 1897 and finally, just before the turn of the century, in 1899 Bristol Rovers.
Their top-flight performances seem to have been a mixture of ups and downs, promotions and relegations. Honestly, I thought I'd have more to write about them, but that's all I got. Avast, me hearties? Perhaps not.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Bromley_FC_crest.svg/350px-Bromley_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Bromley
Home city or town: Bromley
Area: Greater London
Nickname: The Lilywhites, The Ravens
Home ground: Hayes Lane
Manager: Andy Woodman
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
Current position: 3rd of 24
First opponent in Round One: Rochdale
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: First round
Rivals: Unknown
Doesn't seem to be too much to say here. Another old club, formed in 1892, that came up through the lower leagues with mixed fortunes, suffering a few relegations along the way, this is their first season in the EFL. I suppose an interesting fact I can pick out is that Bromley have several times made it to the first round of the FA Cup, but they have never beaten any of the teams they came up against.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg/320px-Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Burton Albion
Home city or town: Burton upon Trent
Area: Staffordshire
Nickname: The Brewers, The Yellow and Black Army
Home ground: Pirelli Stadium
Manager: Mark Robinson
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
Current position: 20th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Scarborough Athletic
Highest position achieved: Championship
Relegations:
Giant Killing(s) Middlesbrough (2-1, 2009)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Port Vale, Notts County, Chesterfield, Walsall
Perhaps to be considered the babies of the clubs, so far anyway, Burton were only formed in 1950, making them just short of seventy-five years old, their highest placing has been in the Championship, where they lasted two seasons. That's it: that's all I got.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8f/Cambridge_United_FC.svg/300px-Cambridge_United_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Cambridge United
Home city or town: Cambridge
Area: Cambridgeshire
Nickname:None
Home ground: Abbey Stadium
Manager: Garry Monk
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
Current position: 18th of 24
First opponent in Round One: Woking
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1 (see note 1 on next post)
Relegations: (see note 2 on next post)
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Quarter finals
Rivals: Histon
I find it strange that a club based in Cambridge doesn't have a nickname based on the famous college (Professors? Dons? Eggheads? The possibilities are finite, but many) - in fact, they don't appear to have a nickname at all. Maybe one just does not do that kind of thing around there, don't you know? Formed in 1912 as Abbey United they changed to their current name in 1956. Again, not much else I can add.
Note (1): In future, if their current standing is as high as a club has got, I'm just writing "current position" rather than writing the league out again.
Note (2): I'm dispensing with the "relegations" category, as quite frankly, it's giving me a pain in the hole. Also gone is "position" after "Currently playing in", as all the notes there refer to the previous season, so what help is that? Away with ye, foul categories for which I have no further use!
(https://media1.giphy.com/media/vohOR29F78sGk/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952tbya1p6tgco3loa3mhu4i6kay7a24kojvhe4sdtl&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
And they're gone.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/Carlisle_United_FC_crest.svg/340px-Carlisle_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Carlisle United
Home city or town: Carlisle
Area: Cumbria
Nickname: The Blues, The Cumbrians
Home ground: Brunton Park
Manager: Mike Williamson
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Wigan Athletic
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Quarter finals
Rivals: Workington, Preston North End, Barrow, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough
Almost honorary Scots, Carlisle are the club closest to the border with the northern kingdom, and that sort of hot-headed, argumentative (who are ye callin' argymentive, ye sassenach bastard? Hey, I'm Irish, I'll have you know!) temperament is evident in the meeting that took place in 1904, when Shaddongate United and Carlisle Red Rose met to discuss a possible changing of the name of the team. Those who advocated for the former were so incensed by the decision to become Carlisle United that they broke away and played under their old name.
(https://media.tenor.com/n6f5V9Yy66oAAAAM/blackjack-bender.gif)
In the best tradition of George RR, maybe, the whole thing seems to have been orchestrated from the shadows by the machiavellian machinations of Newcastle United. Howay the lads!
Carlisle's best years came over a twenty-year period from 1964-1985, when they bossed the second division, which I guess is the Championship these days. In 1974 they were promoted to the Premier League (though it was not called that then, just the First Division I guess) though like many teams they found it tough there - although initially they were top for a time - and were relegated at the end of the season, beginning a backwards slide down the divisions which ended with them at the equivalent of today's EFL League 2.
In 1992 businessman Michael Knight, sorry Michael Knighton (no KITT) purchased the club after an abortive attempt to buy Manchester United, and things began to improve, as he promised he would ensure Carlisle went back into the now-Premier League. Before 2003. In fact, they began to slip again, and in 2000, three years before his promise was to either be fulfilled or denied, Knighton resigned. By 2003 not only were Carlisle not in the Premiership, they might as easily have been on Mars, as they were in fact engaged in a desperate attempt to avoid relegation out of the football league entirely.
In 2004 they lost this fight and fell into the Conference, what is today known as the National League. Over the next ten years or so they hauled themselves back up - suffering a setback or two - until they were back in League 2, and in 2023 got to the third tier of English football, League 1, ending the season however last and being relegated back down. Bloody money men and their promises eh? Sure, you can't buy the Premier League, as Pep found out. Oh. Wait.
:shycouch:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/370px-Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Charlton Athletic
Home city or town: Charlton
Area: London
Nickname: The Addicks, The Red Robins, The Valiants
Home ground: The Valley
Manager: Nathan Jones
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
First opponent in Round One: Southend United
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Burnley (1-0, 1947); Manchester City, West Brom and Preston North End (1923)
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Crystal Palace, Millwall
Founded in 1905, Charlton Athletic look to have had a very successful early career, winning league titles and being promoted all over the place, and even winning the FA Cup just after the war. They seem to have been the youngest team too, as in, founded by kids - 14 and 15 year olds, it says. They have the second-longest stay in the Premiership of the teams we've seen so far, seven consecutive from 2000 - 2008, ten in all. In 1985 their ground was criticised for safety reasons in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire, and they had to close it down and ground-share with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, which may have led to them becoming one of their rivals, as I'm sure the Palace fans ribbed them about not having their own ground.
The 2003-2004 season saw Charlton do so well in the Premier League that they were actually challenging for Europe, for which they needed to secure at least fourth place, but they fell short. Having been relegated then in 2007, and despite multiple changes of ownership, Charlton look unlikely to grace the Premier League any time soon.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg/320px-Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Cheltenham Town
Home city or town: Cheltenham
Area: Gloucestershire
Nickname: The Robins
Home ground: Whaddon Road
Manager: Michael Flynn
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Rotherham United
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Gloucester City, Kidderminster Harriers, Hereford United, Bristol City, Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town, Oxford United
More connected with horse racing of course, Cheltenham Town was founded in 1887, so another of the original clubs. They seem to have spent most of the 21st century in the EFL, just dropping out the once but being promoted the next season. However they do hold an uncomfortable and unwanted record, having failed to score in thier first eleven games last season.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Chesham_United_F.C._logo.png)
Team name: Chesham United
Home city or town: Chesham
Area: Buckinghamshire
Nickname: The Generals
Home ground: The Meadow
Manager: James Duncan, Michael Murray
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Lincoln City
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Bristol Rovers (2-1, 2015)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
I'll have to check back, but I think this is the first team I've written about who are only semi-professional, and they were formed in 1917 after a merger of Chesham Town and Chesham Generals, hence, I guess, the nickname. They recently won promotion from the Southern League to the National League South. Fair play to them.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg/310px-Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Chesterfield
Home city or town: Chesterfield
Area: Derbyshire
Nickname: Town, The Spireites
Home ground: SMH Group Stadium
Manager: Paul Cook
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Horsham
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Nottingham Forest (1996)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Mansfield Town, Rotherham United, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United
Nothing, I assure you, to do with sofas, Chesterfield were established in 1867 as Chesterfield FC but turned professional in 1891 and changed their name to Chesterfield Town. 2000 was not a good year for them, the beginning of a new millennium featuring not a single victory for them as they went on a 21-match-losing streak - that's got to have been most of the season. Relegation surely followed? Relegation followed, and the next season a 9 point deduction for what I believe is technically termed "financial jiggery-pokery" did not help their efforts to get back up a division, though they did make it.
Their chairman (now resigned) found himself a new job very quickly though, with much less responsibility and longer hours, as he was sentenced to four years in prison for his dodgy dealings. From 2017 Chesterfield found themselves in freefall, dropping to League 1, then the National League and finally the National League North over a period of three years. They've managed to claw their way back into the EFL though, so you have to give them credit for that.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Colchester_United_FC_crest.svg/300px-Colchester_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Colchester United
Home city or town: Colchester
Area: Essex
Nickname: The U's
Home ground: Colchester Community Stadium
Manager: Danny Cowley
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
First opponent in Round One: Swindon Town
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) Leeds United (3-2, 1971); Wrexham, Huddersfield Town and Bradford Park Avenue (1948)
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Wycombe Wanderers
Another club founded relatively recently, Colchester came into being in 1937 and, like I would venture to suggest a lot of people, spent most of the sixties bouncing up and down (!), though in their case that's being promoted, relegated, promoted, relegated... finally settling in EFL League 2.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Crawley Town
Home city or town: Crawley
Area: West Sussex
Nickname: The Red Devils
Home ground: Broadfield Stadium
Manager: Rob Elliot
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Taunton or Maidenhead
Highest position achieved:
Giant Killing(s) Derby County (2-1, 2010); Bristol City and Hull City (both 1-0, 2012); Leeds United (3-0, 2021)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: AFC Wimbledon, Sutton United
Delusions of grandeur, I would say, considering the nickname! Well at least they've been around, founded in 1896, but they're another team for whom the new millennium was not a good time, going into administration in 1999, but luckily for them, only spending two months there before the club was bought. A decision in 2005 to go professional seems to have coincided with a really bad turn in the club's fortunes. Some of the players literally had to quit because they could not afford to, as they say, give up the day job, and results began to suffer. League position dropped, and so did wages as they were slashed in half, precipitating the exit of more players, and though they managed to avoid relegation, they fell foul of the other -ation, administration.
They were only days from being wound-up for good when an offer came through, though the former chairman was later jailed for tax fraud. I don't think it related to the club, but still, criminals everywhere huh? Last minute rescue seemed to reinvigorate the club, and they stormed up the league. Oh no wait, they didn't. They did all right for a few games but then fell back on losing ways, sliding down the table, but with new investment they were soon at the top of League 2. It wouldn't last of course. Never does. Not sure if this is a record, but Crawley's new manager, signed on 12 May 2019, left two months later, having taken charge for exactly zero games. Can't have helped confidence, now can it?
And while a previous team's manager died in service, this time an ex-manager seems to have taken his own life, as Dermot Drummy, sacked after a year in the job, was found dead six months later. Whether his suicide had anything to do with his time at the club or not, I don't know. Sad though. Another manager was fired for racist behaviour, later banned from football until 2026 when the charges were proven. Yet another manager left after a staggering 34 days in charge!
I must say, when I saw them in the table I thought "Crawley Town? I'll have a few lines to write about them, maybe make a joke about insects, that'll be it." I did not expect to end up writing so much. It was interesting though.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Crewe_Alexandra.svg/280px-Crewe_Alexandra.svg.png)
Team name: Crewe Alexandra
Home city or town: Crewe
Area: Cheshire
Nickname: The Railwaymen, The Alex
Home ground: Gresty Road
Manager: Lee Bell
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Dagenham and Redbridge
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) Chelsea (2-1, 1961)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town, Salford City, Wrexham, Stoke City, Macclesfield, Chester City, Tranmere Rovers, Stockport County, Chester City
I don't know why, but I also thought Crewe Alexandra were a Welsh team! Founded in 1877, it was over a century later before Crewe began to find any sort of proper form, rising to the second tier of English football, the Championship, where they remained a fixture for eight years from 1997. The club became something of a factory producing later players for England, including Danny Murphy and David Platt. Not bad for a team who, from Christmas Day of 1954, embarked on a staggering 56-game streak where they failed to win away even once! This unwanted record took two years to break.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Curzon_Ashton_F.C._Logo_2018.png)
Team name: Curzon Ashton
Home city or town: Ashton-under-Lyne
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Nash
Home ground: Tameside Stadium
Manager: Craig Mahon
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Mansfield Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Exeter City (3-2, 2009)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Even younger than our previous "baby team", Curzon Ashton were only formed in 1963, and where the Curzon part comes from I can't tell you. Can I? Yes. Yes I can. It's the name of a road in Ashton-under-Lyne. Okay then. Seems the team has something of a record with managers, hiring and firing no less than four in a year! The gulf in leagues though becomes evident when I read that in 1999 - 2000 Curzon Ashton were promoted to division 1 of the First North Western TRAINS League! I mean, come on! To paraphrase Homer Simpson: "That's not the Premiership! That's not even the Northern Premier League!"
From 2017 on though they seem to have started to come up through the real leagues, gaining promotion after promotion until they now stand at the peak of their achievement, feeling vertigo no doubt as they reach the National League North.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg/300px-Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Dagenham & Redbridge
Home city or town: Dagenham
Area: Greater London
Nickname: The Daggers
Home ground: Victoria Road
Manager: Ben Strevens
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Crewe Alexandra
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Unknown
No I'm wrong: this is the baby, only formed in 1992! That means Dagenham & Redbridge have only been in existence for 32 years. As you probably worked out, they're a merger of two clubs, but as you may not have known, they're actually technically made up of five! Dagenham and Redbridge Forest merged in 1992, but the latter had already been made up of three clubs: Ilford, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Avenue. Well I see those three teams had at least been around since the 19th century, so there is some pedigree there, even if the current club is little more than an embryo. Dagenham itself was formed in 1949 and Redbridge Forest in 1979.
Why did they merge? Well, lack of cash due to nobody coming to see them seems to have been the main one. Dagenham & Redbridge (let's just call them Dagenham for the sake of simplicity) played most of their career in the National Legaue, where they are now, and did well. 2002 saw them almost champions. In fact, they should have been. Beaten by Boston United, that team were then deemed to have indulged in that old chestnut seemingly beloved of football clubs everywhere, financial irregularities, and were docked points, which would have left Dagenham top. But for some reason the league decided the points would be applied to the previous season, not that one, so Dagenham were cheated. Must have been looking daggers at Boston. Sorry.
After that, and possibly because of that, to quote Marvin, the Paranoid Android, they went into a bit of a decline, sliding down the table, but gamely fought on and achieved the coveted top spot in 2007, earning promotion to the EFL for the first time ever. They had a really good run there, lasting eight years, during which they progressed from League 2 to League 1, but only lasted the one season before being relegated back to League 2.
I've had a look, but as far as I can see Dagenham were not involved in the famous match-fixing scandal of 2013, though one of the fixers did say they could influence one of their matches. That never happened, and I don't see any Dagenham staff having been arrested or charged, but it makes interesting reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_English_football_match-fixing_scandal
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Doncaster Rovers
Home city or town: Doncaster
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: Rovers
Home ground: Eco-power Stadium
Manager: Grant McCann
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Barrow
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Never qualified
Rivals: Rotherham United, Barnsley, Sheffield United, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Chesterfield, Mansfield Town, Grimsby, Nottingham Forest, Bradford City
Har har! Doesn't their crest look like a sweeping brush and pan! Cleaning up, eh? Sorry; it really does look like that to me on first glance. Anyway, it's been a struggle for Doncaster, who lost their place in the then second division in 1948, and spent the next five decades trying to get back, which they finally achieved in 2003. They made it to the Championship in 2008 and spent four non-consecutive seasons there, being relegated, promoted, relegated, promoted.
The club was formed in 1879 and is another, like Crewe Alexandra, with strong links to the local railways, as it was one of their staff who founded the club. I have to say, it's funny to hear that he did so in order to take on the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf! I mean, how are these people supposed to have heard the whistle? Or "On the 'ead, son!" Or indeed, any instructions? Lends new meaning to the phrase "Are ye blind, ref?" Yeah I know: I'm going to Hell. Already got my ticket booked, don't worry.
Okay look, I tend to skim through the early periods of football clubs' success - I don't particularly care if they were relegated from, say, The Young Gentlemen's League 2* to its lower league in 1919 or whatever - but if I come across an amusing story you can bet I'll tell it. And this is amusing. Seems back in the 1940s the rule was that a game went on, literally, until someone won. No limit. So when Doncaster played Stockport County on March 30 1946, with the score tied at 2-2, and neither team able to break the deadlock after 20 minutes extra time, well, the match went on. As it began to get dark, so the account says, spectators went home, had their tea, and came back to watch. The match was still going on! 203 minutes in all, but had to be stopped because there was, well, no light to see the ball by. 203 minutes! Think about that. That's over twice the time a normal match runs for today, without extra time. It is, in fact, a match played twice, with 23 minutes extra time! In the end, Doncaster won the replay 4-0. Guess men was hardier back in them days.
And it doesn't stop there! Now we have criminal damage and intimidation, as Ken Richards, described by police as "the type of man who would trample a two-year old child to pick up a tuppenny bit" (two pennies) took over, but when his plans for a new stadium were refused, he hired men to torch the old one! Off to jail he went, for four years, but the damage was done. Doncaster fell out of the league, went into administration, and blamed Richards for the death of the club, even holding a mock funeral, complete with coffin, on the last day of the season when they were relegated.
The new millennium, however, was a new dawn, or if you will, given the imagery above, a rebirth for Doncaster Rovers. They were taken over by a new firm, who invested heavily and built them a new stadium, and their fortunes began to turn. They got back into the EFL and began winning trophies, making it into the Championship in 2008, spending most of the next decade there.
* Made up, so far as I know.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/Exeter_City_FC.svg/360px-Exeter_City_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Exeter City
Home city or town: Exeter
Area: Devon
Nickname: The Grecians
Home ground: St. James Park (yeah, another one)
Manager: Gary Caldwell
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Barnet
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Plymouth Argyle
Formed in 1901, Exeter City certainly had high expectations, being the first English team to tour South America in 1914, and also the first to play a Brazilian team. Guess they weren't fighting in the Great War, then. Might be why they had to get out of Dodge. Hmm. Hard to be drafted when you're several thousand miles away. Anyway, it seems that Exeter City are another team that came about from a merger, but different this time, as both Exeter United F.C. and St. Sidwell's United fought out a 3-1 victory for the latter in 1904, and decided the best thing to do was team up, literally, and become Exeter City.
More financial hi-jinks as one of the directors of the club went to manage at Her Majesty's Pleasure for fraudulent trading, while the other got off with a community sentence. Exeter avoided going into administration when their supporters' trust took over the running of the club, but the team were still relegated to the National League. In 2004 they invited their old muckers the national Brazil team over for a kickabout, to celebrate the club's centenary. Must have been quite a money spinner for a club who desperately needed cash. In 2008 they made their way back into the EFL.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/85/Forest_Green_Rovers_crest.svg/360px-Forest_Green_Rovers_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Forest Green Rovers
Home city or town: Nailsworth
Area: Gloucestershire
Nickname: The Green, Rovers, Green Army, Black and White Army
Home ground: The New Lawn
Manager: Steve Cotterill
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Stockport County
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Rotherham United (3-0, 2008)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Cheltenham Town, Gloucester City, Bath City, Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town, Newport County
Another club founded by a churchman, this one a Peach (Reverend E.J.H., to be exact), Forest Green were formed in 1889 and became Forest Green Rovers four years later. Oddly enough, 100 years after their founding the club were renamed Stroud Football Club, but this change only lasted a few years and they reverted to Forest Green Rovers, a name they have kept since.
In 2018 they became the only football club in the world to be certified carbon neutral, thanks in the main to the new ownership, which pushed eco-friendly values. At least that means they earned the "green" part of their name. FIFA recognises them as "the greenest team in the world". One more point of interest: Forest Green are, to date, the only football club in England to have a female manager, when Hannah Dingley took over in 2023. Doesn't seem like she lasted, but still, way to blaze a trail, girl!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/Gainsboroughtrinityfc.png)
Team name: Gainsborough Trinity
Home city or town: Gainsborough
Area: Lincolnshire
Nickname: Trinity, The Holy Blues
Home ground: The Northolme
Manager: Russ Wilcox
Currently playing in: Northern Premier League
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Hednesford or Gateshead **++
Highest position achieved:National League
Giant Killing(s) Crewe Alexandra (3-1, 1929, and again in 1932); Port Vale (1938); Gateshead (1939)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Boston United, Worksop Town,
What is it with the Church in the late nineteenth century? Was every vicar, priest and reverend going around thinking "I must set up a football club!"? Here we are with another one, Gainsborough having been founded in 1873, which I think makes them, so far, the oldest team we've looked at? Must check back when I can be bothered.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b3/Gateshead_FC.svg/360px-Gateshead_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Gateshead
Home city or town: Gateshead
Area: Tyne & Wear
Nickname: The Tynesiders, The Heed
Home ground: Gateshead International Stadium
Manager: Carl Magnay
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Gainsborough Trinity or Boston United **++
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown
Originally formed as South Shields Adelaide in 1899, money worries saw the club fold in 1973 and reformed as Gateshead United in 1974. They only lasted a few years before being dissolved and the new Gateshead Football Club emerged in 1977. So, technically a young club but with an old history if you like to trace it back. Old or young, seems every club has trouble with money, and Gateshead's financial woes led to them being demoted in 2019 to the Northern Premier League. They didn't have to stay there long though, earning promotion back to the National League the next season.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/FC_Gillingham_Logo.svg/280px-FC_Gillingham_Logo.svg.png)
Team name: Gillingham
Home city or town: Gillingham
Area: Kent
Nickname: The Gills
Home ground: Priestfield Stadium
Manager: Mark Bonner
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Blackpool
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Can't see that they ever qualified
Rivals: It seems they don't have any real rivals, but there's tension between them and Millwall, Fulham, Maidstone United and Swindon Town
Founded in 1893 as New Brompton F.C., the club changed its name to Gillingham (the G is soft, as in "jill", not as in "gill") in 1913. They could probably be called "The Strugglers", as they were ejected from the Football League in 1938 after 18 seasons without success. Another amusing story to relate: after all the talk of transfer records, it seems Gillingham signed future Ireland star Tony Cascarino for... a bunch of tracksuits! I bet that made him feel valued!
In 1995 that old bugbear, financial difficulties, raised its head, and in fact opened its mouth to swallow Gillingham whole. They went into administration, and faced being shut down entirely before a London businessman stepped in to save them. The manager he hired though, Tony Pulis, was later sacked for "gross misconduct". I can't see any further details.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Grimsby_Town_F.C._logo.svg/300px-Grimsby_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Grimsby Town
Home city or town: Cleethorpes
Area: Lincolnshire
Nickname: The Mariners
Home ground: Blundell Park
Manager: David Artell
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Wealdstone
Highest position achieved: Premier League, though not really. It was the old Division One at the time, and in the 1930s.
Giant Killing(s) Liverpool (2-1, 2002) Southampton (2-1, 2023)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-final
Rivals: Hull City, Scunthorpe United, Lincoln City
Strange thing about the 1930s: seems that if a player got injured and had to be taken off, he could not be substituted. So when the keeper was hurt in one of Grimsby's matches and couldn't continue, they had to play with ten men, one of whom had to take the goalie's place. Not surprisingly, they lost the match 5-0. Grimsby were the first English club to appoint a foreign manager, bringing a Hungarian in in 1954, while one of their chairmen would go on to become president of FIFA.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Guiseley_AFC_logo.png)
Team name: Guiseley
Home city or town: Guiseley
Area: West Yorkshire
Nickname: The Lions
Home ground: Nethermoor Park
Manager: Mark Bower
Currently playing in: Northern Premier League
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Stevenage
Highest position achieved: National League
Giant Killing(s) Accrington Stanley (well, they were giants to them!) (4-3, 2018); Cambridge United (4-3, 2019)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Really almost nothing I can tell you about these guys, other than they were relatively successful for a time, founded in 1909, but their Wiki page is mostly drowning in statistics, and not terribly interesting ones. They did beat upper tier (to them) opposition twice in the FA Cup, but while we're here, let's consider the hilarity that the non-league teams who don't or can't compete in that competition can qualify for their own one, called - wait for it - the FA Vase! I find that so funny. Oh, you can't have a cup - you're amateurs, part-timers. A vase? Yeah sure, why not. :laughing:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Harborough_Town_F.C._logo.png)
Team name: Harborough Town
Home city or town: Market Harborough
Area: Leicestershire
Nickname: The Bees
Home ground: Bowden Park
Manager: Mitch Austin
Currently playing in: Southern League Premier Central
Tier: 7
First opponent in Round One: Tonbridge Angels
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Only qualified this year
Rivals: Unknown
We have a winner in the baby stakes! Harborough Town appear only to have been founded in 2008, after a merger with Spencer United. Originally though, they can trace their hoary old history all the way back to... 1975. Wow. I've not yet come across a team that only came into existence in this century, never mind fifteen years ago. I will hazard a guess that, given that they're currently playing at tier 7, there isn't going to be a whole lot to say about them.
No, there isn't. In fact, this is the very first year they've qualified for the FA Cup. All their other statistics are about regional leagues, for which I care not one jot, sir. Hey, at least they have a cool crest! Looks like the Amityville house on top of a football. Right. Let me then concentrate on a poor joke at the expense of an innocent club they played called Antsey Nomads. Sounds like bedouins with itching powder in their - what? It's ANSTEY Nomads? Ah, still a good joke. You, sir, are no fun any more. 🙁
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg/360px-Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg.png)
Team name: Harrogate Town
Home city or town: Harrogate
Area: West Yorkshire
Nickname: The Sulphurites (Talk about the Red Devils! Sorry)
Home ground: Wetherby Road
Manager: Simon Weaver
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Wrexham
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Torquay United (1-0, 2012)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown
Hey, this is interesting. The chairman and the manager have the same surname. Father and son? Let's see. Yep, father and son, but at least it seems our Simon got the job before his father was made chairman, so no accusations of nepotism there. Unless it's the other way around, which I guess is still nepotism. These nepots, I tell ya! They're everywhere! Given the nickname of the team, and their location, going to take a stab in the dark and say this was a mining town? Hmm. Doesn't say, but they did play South Kirkby Colliery in 1919, so I would think I'm on the right track there.
Originally formed as Harrogate Hotspurs in 1919, having previously been known as Harrogate AFC United in 1914 until that pesky four-year round of pushing and shoving known as World War I interrupted proceedings, they renamed themselves after the War to End All Wars did precisely not that, and in fact spawned an even greater (or worse) one. After Hitler had been defeated and either shot himself in the head or escaped to Argentina, depending on your own personal level of gullibility, the Harrogate Hotspurs became Harrogate Town, and a legend was not born. Tottenham must have breathed a sigh of relief.
Time for another tasteless joke to pass the time and allow me to fill in some pointless column inches, as it were. It says in 1976 Harrogate fielded their first ever black player (well, it says a first ever, but I doubt he was the first in English football at this point), but sure, down pit aren't all the lads black? Okay, I'll get me coat. Oh look! They even installed floodlights! Who did they think they were, Manchester United?
Look, I have nothing against them, and I don't think they're in the Cup this year, but every second entry I make I read about fucking Torquay United! I thought the most famous thing about Torquay was a certain television show about a hotel, but it seems that, one way or another, their football team keeps popping up like a game of whack-a-mole! Weird. Right, more silly humour. I misread a line that said someone joined the board to help "promote community links" and thought it said "community kinks". I immediately had visions of wife-swapping parties, people in rubber and leather and chains and... you know what? Let's just cut off this particular avenue of thought, shall we? There may be kids reading.
As Michael Corleone sighed, I keep tryin' to get out, they keep draggin' me back in! Now I see the 2011-2012 season ended in a dogfight! Aren't they illegal? Or was it a case of Sopwith Camels at dawn? Oh, I see: relegation dogfight. No biplanes then. Or dogs. Jesus Christ making a last-minute save before the whistle! There they are again! Fucking Torquay United! Seems Harrogate beat them in the FA Cup. Basil would not have been happy, though he probably preferred to watch cricket. And listen to Bach's 3rd Racket.
Oh this is funny. Near the end of the 2016-17 season, as the team dropped into a bad slump, for some reason the directors thought going professional would give the players the incentive they needed to do better (presumably with better wages as professional players), but in fact most of the team left, unable to hold down a job at the club and down pit, or in factory, or office, or wherever. Talk about a plan backfiring! Still, the players that stayed and the new ones brought in did the business, and up went the team to the staggering heights of the EFL. Nice.
Harrogate also bore witness to football history when a game they played was the first in which a woman officiated as a referee, though of course they themselves had nothing to do with the choice. Wow. I wrote a whole lot more about this team that I had expected I would. Admittedly, most of it is drivel - what do you mean, no change there then? Charming.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/Hartlepool_United_FC_crest.svg/360px-Hartlepool_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Hartlepool United
Home city or town: Hartlepool
Area: County Durham
Nickname: Pools, Monkey Hangers (wait, what?)
Home ground: Victoria Park
Manager: Lennie Lawrence (interim)
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Braintree **++
Highest position achieved: EFL League 2
Giant Killing(s) Crystal Palace (1-0, 1993)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Darlington, Sheffield Wednesday, Carlisle United, Rushden & Diamonds (RIP), Sunderland
Founded in 1908 as the rather grand-sounding Hartlepools United Football & Athletic Club Company Ltd., they didn't last long, going into liquidation two years later, and taken over by the much shorter and snappier Hartlepools United. Which lasted until 1965 when they dropped the plural and became Hartlepool United.
I guess you have to feel for them: relegated after 96 years in the Football League! That's some record, and with that sort of pedigree, they weren't going to stay out of it for long, returning in 2021, though they only lasted two seasons there. Oh for the love of... Torquay United again! Can I not turn around without encountering that side? Are they in the Cup this year? No I don't see them, but my god their ghost is. Will nobody rid me of this turbulent team? Arrrgghh!
Hey that's cool! Janick Gers, guitarist with my favourite metal band, Iron Maiden, is a fan. So was Meat Loaf. Bat out of Hartlepool? Sorry.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/HFC-Crest.png/400px-HFC-Crest.png)
Team name: Horsham
Home city or town: Horsham
Area: West Sussex
Nickname: The Hornets
Home ground: Fusion Aviation Community Stadium
Manager: Dominic di Paola
Currently playing in: Isthmian League Premier
Tier: 7
First opponent in Round One: Chesterfield
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown
Originally founded in 1871, Horsham Football Club collapsed due to basic lack of interest/time, and was resurrected in 1881. You have to feel for them: in their first appearance in the FA Cup they faced Notts County and took a first-minute lead, only to end up losing the match 9-1! Now that's a loss of a lead that the Irish national team would be proud of. Talk about shooting your load too soon, or something.
Definitely a team that should have chosen the name Horsham Wanderers, they sold their ground in 2008 (doesn't say why, but I assume they needed the cash) and spent the next years traipsing around from ground to ground like lost waifs with footballs under their arms maybe, until 2021, when they were able to build their own finally. That's a long time to be homeless for a football team.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg/280px-Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Huddersfield Town
Home city or town: Huddersfield
Area: West Yorkshire
Nickname: The Terriers
Home ground: John Smith's Stadium (someone give it back to him!)
Manager: Michael Duff
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Tamworth
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) None that I can see
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Bradford City, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham Athletic, Peterborough United, Barnsley,
Interesting. In 1908 Huddersfield Town was founded, on Leeds Road. I wonder if Leeds United were already in existence, and if not, why they didn't call the team after the road. Even more interesting; they were not. In fact, Leeds only came into being ten years later. Maybe these guys preferred Huddersfield, who knows? Right, reading further, it seems they were in debt to the tune of twenty-five grand in 1919, coincidentally the year Leeds were founded, and Huddersfield's board considered merging the two teams, and moving to Leeds. Supporters, aghast at this potential loss of their team, bought shares and managed to block the move, saving the team. Good for them.
Soon after, the supporters' faith in their team was repaid as they made it to the FA Cup final and earned promotion to the First Division, the Premier League of its day. Things just got better for Huddersfield-not-Leeds two years later, as they won the FA Cup and one year after that the then Premier League. In 1926 they made history as the first English football club to win the "Premier League" three times. Another record of sorts when they took part in, but did not win, the 1938 FA Cup final, which was the first to be broadcast on the telly.
The sixties and seventies were bad times for them, as they began to slide down the divisions, with a few recoveries along the way, and in 1988 they had another, unwanted record when they conceded 100 goals in a season, while the new millennium saw the club 20 million in debt and unable to sack the manager, as they could not pay him his severance. Not surprisingly, they went into administration, but were saved in 2003 by a fresh injection of cash by a new owner.
Their fortunes began to turn, and by 2018 Huddersfield were back in Division One, now renamed the Premier League (and later, the Premiership, for some reason) but only lasted the one season, flirting with administration again by 2020, again saved by yet another new owner.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Hednesford.png)
Team name: Hednesford Town
Home city or town: Hednesford
Area: Staffordshire
Nickname: The Pitmen
Home ground: Keys Park
Manager: Steve King
Currently playing in: Northern Premier League Division One West
Tier: 8
First opponent in Round One: Boston United or Gainsborough **++
Highest position achieved:National League
Giant Killing(s) Blackpool (1-0, 1996) York City (1-0, 1996)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Unknown
The team playing in the lowest tier yet, Hednesford don't seem to have come into their own until the mid 1990s, when they won promotion to the National League, then called the Conference. This seems to have been something of a springboard for them, as they finished third and also reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, defeating League 2 opposition twice. Around 2000 though they began to lose ground, and suffered relegation after relegation, ending up in football's next-to-lowest tier, the eighth.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Kettering Town
Home city or town: Burton Latimer
Area: Northamptonshire
Nickname: The Poppies
Home ground: Latimer Park
Manager: Richard Lavery
Currently playing in: Southern League Premier Division Central
Tier: 8
First opponent in Round One: Northampton Town (A derby of sorts, surely?)
Highest position achieved: National League
Giant Killing(s) Loughborough and Leicester Fosse (both 2-1, and both in, um, 1896); Burton Swifts and Chesterfield (1901); Oxford United (1977); Bristol Rovers (1981); Lincoln City (2-1, 2009); Notts County (2-1, 2009)
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round
Rivals: Unknown
Nobody seems to like Kettering Town. Their many attempts to join the Football League over a staggering more than sixty years saw them receive three, two, one or on several occasions no votes. Even their best attempt, which took place in 1974, got them twenty, but still not enough. Aw, hell with ya, they must have thought: we're gonna create our own league, with blackjack. And hookers. And no, I'm not doing the GIF again.
The next year they were in trouble again, this time for being the first team (in England, possibly the world? Probably just England) to dare have a sponsor on their shirts, which the grumpy old FA thought was "detrimental to the image of the game". Right. The sight of grown men kicking the shite out of each other every weekend - and I don't mean on the pitch - wasn't detrimental to the image of football, but having a commercial logo on your shirt was? And now look at where we are. Everyone has a sponsor, and you're nobody if you don't have one. The FA obviously, as I say above, didn't like them, and I don't know why.
Kettering seem to have spent an awful lot of their early career playing reserve teams, so maybe they just weren't that good, though they did make it to the fourth round of the FA Cup, but then, we know what the Cup is like, and that's why we love it.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Leyton Orient
Home city or town: Leyton
Area: Greater London
Nickname: The O's
Home ground: Brisbane Road
Manager: Richie Wellen
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Boreham Wood
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Chelsea (3-2; 1972); Fulham (2006); Norwich City 1-0 (2011); Swansea 2-1 (2011)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-final
Rivals: Southend, West Ham, Millwall, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge, Colchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Barnet, Cambridge United
I suppose cricket must have been around before football, but a lot of clubs either arose from crickets clubs or were affiliated with them. Here we have an example of a cricket club turning into a football club, which I have not seen before. Leyton Orient are one of the, if you will, "bigger small clubs", as in, I've heard about them a lot, mostly through both the FA Cup and the times when the BBC used to broadcast The Football League Show. Always wondered why the "Orient" part of the name? Orient is, or was, linked with Asia, in fact in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries the entire continent was known as "The Orient" (hence the Orient Express), but what a London club has to do with Asia has always eluded me. Let's see if I can find out.
No, doesn't seem to say. Began life as the Glyn Cricket Club in 1881, then as a football club became just Orient in 1888, changed the name, for some reason, to Clapton Orient in 1890 and remained as such until after the Second World War, when they took the current name. Ah wait, I see now: one of the players, who worked for the Orient Steam Navigation Company (who later became part of P&O, which stands for Peninsular & Orient), asked that the name be changed to that. That's quite interesting, as in a way you're almost talking about free advertising/sponsorship here. I wonder if the company made any sort of contribution to the club? Probably not.
Like another club I wrote about (can't recall which and I'm not looking back for it) Leyton Orient also were not found wanting when their king and country came calling, and in all 41 staff signed up to go kick the Kaiser up the arse, apparently the most of any English football team. Three were to lose their lives in the Great War, which is tragic enough, but one was a real hero (well, I'm sure they all were) even without going to war. Richard McFadden definitely deserves a special mention, as before the war, he had saved two young boys from drowning, having the previous week pulled a little girl from a house fire. Not only that, but before signing for the team he had already performed another heroic deed by pulling a man out of another fire before that. A real hero, and so tragic he never made it home. I'm sure the team were and are proud of him.
In 1921 Leyton Orient had a royal visitor, as the then Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward "I am not a Nazi; take my crown if I am" VIII, came to see them play, in recognition of the great sacrifice the team made to the war effort. Probably might have been happier had they not gone, killing all his German buddies, but however. In 1962 Orient made it to the top tier of English football, then called the First Division, today the Premier League, for the first and only time in their career. They only lasted a season, but it's still a hell of an achievement for a "lower" side.
They fielded their first ever black player, Bobby Fisher (no, not that one!) in 1973, so I guess that quote I made previously about a first black player in football only referred to Harrogate Town, as he played later than Fisher. The two Lloyd-Webber brothers had a bet on apparently in 1976 about the outcome of their match against Hull (Orient's match, not the Lloyd-Webbers, though what a sight that would have been! "And the Phantom of the Opera passes to Judas from Jesus Christ Superstar! Someone from Chess makes a despairing tackle but Judas passes to Jesus, who scores in the dying minutes!" Yeah, didn't think that one through too well did I? Probably better had I known more characters from the musicals).
Possibly appropriately for a club named for another continent, as such, it was the loss of the chairman's company in the civil war in Rwanda that plunged Orient into financial crisis and had them relegated to EFL League 2, then called the Third Division. This led to the club being put up for sale literally for a fiver (five times as much as Blackpool was sold for) and snapped up. Orient climbed to the EFL League 1, and their fortunes began to turn. They are also semi-famous for participating in what was described as "the weirdest game of football ever", when they played Droylsden, trailing 2-0 but then scoring six goals in extra time to take the match!
Things began to sour though from 2014 onwards when Orient were bought by an Italian businessman, and things began to go, as they say, tits up. Losing ground in the league they would find themselves finally giving up an incredibly impressive 112-year stay in the Football League when they were relegated to the National League in 2017. The Mafia godfather sorry Italian legitimate businessman fell out with HM Customs and Revenue - "Taxes? We no pay-a the taxes! I smash-a your face!" - and though he retained control of the club after Orient were relegated, a protest and pitch invasion two months later led to him selling and heading back to Sicily, or wherever the fuck he come from. Mama! I'm a- comin' home!
(https://y.yarn.co/23ed7ade-c111-4522-929a-932e901b89ca_text.gif)
Two years later Orient were back in League 2, but tragedy followed as their new manager had a heart attack and died at the tender age of 42. Perhaps it can be seen as a tribute to him that four years later, Orient not only remained in League 2 but topped it, securing promotion back to League 1.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/39/Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg/240px-Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Lincoln City
Home city or town: Lincoln
Area: Lincolnshire
Nickname: The Imps
Home ground: Sincil Bank
Manager: Michael Skubula
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Chesham United
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Ipswich, Brighton and Burnley (2017)
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Scunthorphe United, Grimsby Town, Gainsborough Trinity, Mansfield Town, Boston United, Peterborough United, Notts County, Hull City, York City
Okay, maybe I'm being a little precipitous here, but I kind of doubt I'm going to have pages to write about this team, so let's instead explore the origins of their odd nickname. It's linked, apparently, to legends involving something called The Lincoln Imp, which is a sort of gargoyle carved on the wall of Lincoln Cathedral. The carving was not named until about 1897, when Arnold (not Robert) Frost described it in his poem "The Ballad of the Wind, the Devil and Lincoln Minster," as below:
"The coming of Bishop Remigius to Lincoln made the devil very angry, for up to that time he had had it all his own way in the town and district. The devil tried his utmost to turn him from his purpose of building a Cathedral, but without success. At last in desperation — the Minster then nearing its completion — the devil waylaid the bishop at the south-western corner of the building and tried to kill him. But the good prelate in his extremity called for aid upon the Blessed Virgin Mary — to whom the Church was to be dedicated — whereupon, the Blessed Virgin sent a mighty rushing wind, which, catching the devil, so hustled and buffeted him, that he slipped inside the Church for safety, where he has been ever since, nor dare he come out, knowing that the wind awaits his return in order to make an end of him."
You have to say, bit of a wuss of a devil. Lord of Hell, Father of Lies, Ruler of the Underworld and he has to hide from a little wind? He won't live that one down for a long time! They'll be talking about that down the Blood & Virgin for yonks!
However, taking the old poetic licence, Frost realised the ballad didn't mention no imp, so he popped one in, to spice things up.
[/i]
The bishop we know died long ago.
The wind still waits, nor will he go
Till he has a chance of beating his foe;
But the devil hopp'd up without a limp.
And at once took shape as the "Lincoln Imp."
And there he sits a'top of the column,
And grins at the people who gaze so solemn;
Moreover, he mocks at the wind below.
And says, "you may wait till doomsday, O !"[/i]
Then there's the even sillier one that says the Devil and his good buddy the Wind were walking along when His Horniness stopped by Lincoln Cathedral to have a chin wag with the Deacon, maybe fry up his liver, who knows? He asked the Wind to wait outside, and it's been waiting ever since. Bloody Satan! Can never depend on the guy. Late for his own Judgement Day, he'll be!
For some reason, probably linked to the Frost poem, an expression grew up in the area of "looking as the Devil over Lincoln", to describe someone experiencing and exhibiting malicious envy. Right. Also connected to the idea that when the cathedral was built it was so magnificent and affronted Old Nick so much that he regarded it with envy.
That's probably enough mediaeval tales for now. Wasn't quite as interesting as I thought. When the Wiki article said "the legend of the Lincoln Imp", I thought I'd be reading about some creature from myth, said to be glimpsed from time to time in the Lincoln hills after dark when one hath consumeth far more good ale than is good for a healthy body, or something. Bah. Oh wait, this is more interesting. The Lincoln Imp has become a good luck charm in the city, and this - obviously fanciful and embellished - legend is at least fun.
Legend has it that one day the Devil was in a frolicsome mood, and sent two naughty creatures to cause mischief on Earth. After allegedly stopping at Chesterfield, twisting the spire of St Mary and All Saints Church, the two imps went to Lincoln to wreak havoc in the city's Cathedral. Upon arriving, the naughty imps went inside the cathedral and started to cause mayhem, knocking over the Dean, smashing the stained glass windows and destroying the lights. In a bid to put a stop to their antics, an angel was sent to warn the imps off causing any more chaos.
One of the imps hid underneath a table, whilst the other started throwing stones and rocks at the Angel in a final act of defiance - "Stop me if you can!" it cheekily retorted. In a moment of anger, the Angel turned the Imp to stone. He has remained in the same spot ever since, sitting cross-legged on top of the pillar overlooking the Angel Choir – a constant reminder of how good will always triumph over evil. Ever wondered why it's so windy outside the Cathedral? That's thought to be caused by the second Imp, waiting for his friend to return!
Head to Lincoln Cathedral and see the petrified Lincoln Imp high up for yourself - there's a spotlight to help you if you give in! You'll also find imps across the city too: on door knockers, in gift shops and even in the nickname of the local football team - the Red Imps.
Back to the real world we go. Let's see what we can find out about the team, and if they're any more interesting. Well at least we can put to bed the question of how early black men were playing in the League, as Lincoln fielded their first black player, John Walker (no, I'm going to do it: Johnnie Walker Black?) in 1899! Not only that, they may not have been the earliest to do so, as it says they were the third team to have a gentleman of the darker persuasion in their team. So, quite modern at the turn of the century then. Makes you look on the emergence of black players in the 1970s and say, yeah, so what?
In 1986 Lincoln earned the dubious distinction of being the first club to be automatically relegated from the Football League, but they weren't out for long, being promoted at the end of the next season. Yeah, I was right: reading about the Lincoln Imp was a lot more interesting than reading about the team that took him for a mascot.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Maidenhead_United_FC_crest.svg/360px-Maidenhead_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Maidenhead
Home city or town: Maidenhead
Area: Berkshire
Nickname: The Magpies (Way-aye! Think Newcastle might have something to say about that, man!)
Home ground: York Road
Manager: Alan Devonshire
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Crawley Town **++
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Unknown
I know he's only the current one, but isn't there something amusing about having a team playing in Berkshire and a manager called Devonshire? Founded in 1870 and having played all their home games at the same ground since 1871, this apparently makes York Road the oldest senior football ground in England continuously used by the same club, and they got the plague to mark the point. Wait, what? Oh: a plaque! :laughing: They're also one of the fifteen teams to participate in the very first FA Cup, so some history there for sure. Ah yes, but read on...
Oh now that's good. The team was created when two others merged - Boyne Hill and - get this - Maiden Temperance! Sounds like a nineteenth century suggestion for contraception. You know, maidenhead being what they used to call, well, I mean... ah forget it. You people are no fun. Also no fun has been Maidenhead's exploits in the FA Cup, in which, so far as I can read or can divine, they have lost every single match they played in!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Maidstone_United_FC_crest.svg/300px-Maidstone_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Maidstone United
Home city or town: Maidstone
Area: Kent
Nickname: The Stones
Home ground: Gallagher Stadium
Manager: George Elokobi
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Altrincham or Solihull Moors
Highest position achieved: National League
Giant Killing(s) Stevenage (2-1, 2015); Stevenage (again, 2024); Barrow (2024); Ipswich (2-1; 2024)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Gillingham, Tonbridge Angels, Ebbsfleet United
Oh now look at that crest! MUFC? I think Man United might be a little upset at that.
Another very young team, they seem to have been formed only thirty years or so ago, in 1992, and in total contrast to the similar-sounding Maidenhead, they had no ground of their own until 2012. Where did they play? I'll tell you if I can find out. And I can. They played at the old Maidstone ground, near the original London Stadium. Right. Also Sittingbourne's Central Park Stadium, which I have to assume was not in New York. The old Maidstone, founded in 1989 were forced out of the leagues due to going bankrupt. The new Maidstone was called Maidstone Invicta (ideas above their station?) and changed to Maidstone United in, um, some year, doesn't seem to say.
Heartening to see that Maidstone, though fighting for their place in much lower leagues than them, took a fifty percent wage cut in good heart, and unlike Crawley Town, their players stayed and just got on with it. Ah, that English fighting spirit, eh? Still, it's a world away from even the National League when you hear Maidstone were neck-and-neck at the top of their division with a team called Dulwich Hamlet! What did they have: two strikers and a blacksmith? Sorry.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Mansfield_Town_FC.svg/300px-Mansfield_Town_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Mansfield Town
Home city or town: Mansfield
Area: Nottinghamshire
Nickname: The Stags
Home ground: Field Mill
Manager: Nigel Clough
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Curzon Ashton
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) West Ham (3-0, 1969)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Chesterfield, Notts County, Doncaster Rovers, Grimsby Town
Although not founded by a clergyman, Mansfield Town nevertheless have a connection to the Church, having been named originally as Manfield Wesleyans, due to the Wesleyan church in the area. That was in 1897, and they changed their name to Mansfield Wesley in 1907, when, it says, the church "abandoned" the club. Now, what that means exactly I don't know. Was the church sponsoring or funding them? Or was it just that they approved of the use of the name? Either way, once they went professional the church was apparently no longer interested. Fucking church. Guess God was no longer on their side. Three years later they became Mansfield Town.
In the sixties the club was involved in a match-fixing scandal of its own, when two players - whether sanctioned to do so or not, I don't know - bribed their opponents, Hartlepool, in order to win a vital match. Which they did, but both players were then given a lifetime suspension for bribery. Well, Doncaster Rovers may have had a funeral for their club thanks to their chairman, but at least he didn't get attacked! Keith Haslam, who had loans out of a million quid and refused to pay them back, was punched and kicked by fans during the end of the 2007-2008 season, when Mansfield were relegated out of the Football League, and had to be taken to hospital. He sold the club pretty quickly after that!
I would have to say, with some considerable confidence, that this must be the only team locked out of their own football ground as the rent had not been paid! Imagine arriving to train and seeing an eviction notice on the gate! Looks to have been two years before they got it sorted, so I wonder where they played in the interim? Oh wait, no I don't: I don't care.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Milton_Keynes_Dons_FC_crest.svg/360px-Milton_Keynes_Dons_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: MK Dons
Home city or town: Milton Keynes
Area: Buckinghamshire
Nickname: The Dons
Home ground: Stadium MK
Manager: Scott Lindsey
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: AFC Wimbledon (oh my god!)
Highest position achieved: Premier League (as Wimbledon) Championship (as MK Dons)
Giant Killing(s) Cambridge United (6-1, 2013); Sheffield Wednesday (2-0, 2013); QPR (4-2, 2013)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: AFC Wimbledon duh, Wycombe Wanderers
MK Dons are both a very young and very old football club, and their story is a long and interesting one. And here it is. Originally Wimbledon F.C., they had made their name in the Premier League as "the Crazy Gang", a team possessed of boundless enthusiasm (especially among their fans, optimism and a "never-say-die" attitude. They numbered among their ranks at one time the infamous Vinny Jones, known as soccer's hard man, who went into movies and became Hollywood's hard man. The problem with Wimbledon, at the time - apart from the proliferation of fucking Wombles everywhere, wandering onto the pitch and disrupting games with their protests against people not picking up their rubbish - was that their stadium was a nineteenth century monstrosity, and looked like one. After the Taylor Report in 1991, following the Hillsborough Disaster in which 96, later 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives, recommended certain standards for football stadia, Plough Lane, Wimbledon's ground, was nowhere near up to code.
Unable to pony up the readies to allow it to meet the new standards, the club's owner began to consider a move. And into the story now comes the borough of Milton Keynes. This had been only established in 1967 (Wimbledon F.C. had been around since 1889) and was desperately looking for a decent football team to represent it, as all the ones in its area were, I believe the correct technical term is, shite. The suggestion was mooted that one of the teams in the Football League would consider moving, relocating. Nobody was really interested; Charton Atheltic thought about it, fans and staff said "Oh no you fucking don't me old china!" to the manager, and he closed the file. Luton Town also mulled over the idea, but in the end decided it wasn't for them.
Wimbledon, having hardly received what they would term support from the local council, and ready to stick it to them by taking their team away (almost literally, taking their ball and going home) had already considered, for some reason, relocating to Dublin (?) but the fans nixed that. They may be loyal, but I'm sure they weren't hopping on a boat or a British Airways flight every time they wanted to see their team play! Still, Wimbledon could not afford to update Plough Lane, and so had to leave it behind, ground-sharing with Crystal Palace while they searched for a new home.
Then the idea of building a new stadium in Milton Keynes seemed the answer to all their problems. If they relocated there, Wimbledon would receive all the support they needed. And now the supermarkets come into the story. I know, I know: bear with me. First, poor old Plough Lane got sold off to Safeway (how ironic, given that the ground was anything but safe!) and then Asda and IKEA got together in 1997 to build a new shopping mall in Milton Keynes, which was to include a brand spanking new, state of the art football stadium. Only one problem: nobody to play in it. Might be a bit of a waste of money. But hang on, they thought: surely one of those nice clubs in the Football League would be interested in a shiny new stadium? So they approached Barnet (hah), Luton (again), Crystal Palace (snort) and QPR (Queens Park Rangers) but they all said, you're all right mate, we'll stop where we are. Only Wimbledon was interested, and talks began.
The Football League was not impressed. If there's one thing the FA likes, it's tradition, and this was completely against tradition. Clubs were supposed to play in, and support, and be supported by, their local area, and Wimbledon was definitely not local to Milton Keynes! Not unless you consider being eighty miles away local. So they blocked the move, to the intense relief of the fans, who were just as determined not to travel eighty miles down the Mwhatever as they were not to be boarding a plane or boat every time they wanted to see a match.
But as ever, money talks, and normally it yells and drowns out any protests if there's enough of it, and the FA had to let the decision go to arbitration, which they lost. Wimbledon could move to Milton Keynes. And they did, to the fury of the ex-fans. Not much point, then, in retaining the name, so they changed to MK Dons. Wimbledon F.C. had been known as The Dons, so in a way this was I think both a two-fingers to the fans and a determination to link back to their historical identity. The MK part of course stands for Milton Keynes.
Many players, objecting to the move (a decision in which, I assume, they had no say) defected, as a rival club was set up, AFC Wimbledon, and I see with interest that MK Dons' first FA Cup match is against them. Talk about revenge, old scores to be settled and a derby of derbies!
So in effect that makes both AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons two of the youngest English football teams, while paradoxically MK Dons are also technically one of the oldest! You really wouldn't expect anything less from the Crazy Gang though, would you?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Morecambe_FC_crest.svg/320px-Morecambe_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Morecambe
Home city or town: Morecambe
Area: Lancashire
Nickname: The Shrimps
Home ground: Mazuma Mobile Stadium
Manager: Derek Adams
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Worthing
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Cambridge United (2001); Chesterfield (2003)
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Accrington Stanley, Lancaster City, Barrow, Fleetwood Town, Kendall Town, Southport
Funny things about Morecambe. First, they're nothing to do with the comedian who was half of Morecambe and Wise (though they come from the same town), and second, doesn't their stadium sound like it's some sort of African exhibit on constant tour? Ah sod ya then. Let's see what we can find out about these guys. Oh, and their nickname has nothing to do with them being a small team (though they are) but is due to shrimps being a local delicacy in the coastal town, so there.
Founded in 1920, they originally had to share a ground with the local cricket club, also called Morecambe. Must have been a bit confusing. "Are you coming to see Morecambe, mate? Nah, I thought I'd go see Morecambe instead." Definitely not cricket. Sorry. I'm sure other clubs have had smaller attendances, but for one supposedly in the "major minor" leagues, as it were, having only 200 people come to see you has got to sting. Another team who had a manager take a heart attack while in office, in fact, during a game. I suppose football management is a stressful business. Did he die? No. No he didn't. Well, I mean, he may have done, but not from the cardiac arrest.
By 2007 Morecambe were playing to 40,000 fans. Much better, as was their league progress, now in the National League. However the old favourite, financial worry, was about to spoil the party. In 2023 players were paid, but late, and the club faced trouble. This kind of low morale probably led to their exit, after two seasons, from League 1, and the subsequent exodus of most of the team. Indeed, more left afterwards, when the club was hit with a three-point deduction for paying wages late, and this year Morecambe could field a team of five players! Talk about your five-a-sides! At the eleventh hour, the transfer embargo imposed along with the three-point deduction was lifted (though the deduction stayed) and Morecambe were able to sign fifteen players. Phew!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/44/Newport_County_AFC_crest.svg/360px-Newport_County_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Newport County
Home city or town: Newport
Area: Wales
Nickname: The Port, The Exiles, The Ironsides, The Black and Amber Army
Home ground: Rodney Parade
Manager: Nelson Jardim
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Peterborough United
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) West Ham (2-1, 1979); Leeds (2-1, 2018)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Unknown
The first Welsh club we've come across, Newport County were founded in 1912 but money troubles and a double relegation (probably related to each other) in 1988 led to them being disbanded the next year. They are joint holders of the record for heaviest defeat in the Football League, losing a staggering 13-0 to Newcastle, with one of the Newcastle players quipping that they were so bad "they were lucky to get nil!" Love that quote.
Newport don't seem to have been very lucky, despite their change of strip to reflect that of the Argentinian national team (I'm serious!) and look to have spent most of their time scrambling to avoid relegation, but they stayed in the Football League for an impressive sixty seasons, this stay coming to an end in 1988 when they were relegated to the National League. A few months later, crippled by financial debt, they collapsed, not even finishing the season, and Newport County were no more.
Only four months later, 400 supporters got together to resurrect the club. I see I was wrong: Mansfield were not the only team unable to play at their home ground due to unpaid rent. The same thing happened to the "new" Newport County, and so they adopted the nickname The Exiles, forced to play their home matches at London Road, eighty miles away. It wasn't till they took legal action in 1994 that they were able to have their own stadium. That coincided with an upturn in their fortunes and in 2013 they made it back into the Football League.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg/280px-Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Northampton Town
Home city or town: Northampton
Area: Northamptonshire
Nickname: The Cobblers, The Shoe Army
Home ground: Sixfields Stadium
Manager: Jon Brady
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Kettering Town
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Huddersfield Town (1934)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Unknown
Bunch of teachers formed this club in 1897 - makes a change from priests anyway - but it all went up in smoke in 1929. Well, not quite, but the main stands burned down after a fire, thought to have started in the away team dressing room, destroyed them after a match with Bournemouth. Still, like some sort of bird from the flames, the stands were rebuilt and things went on.
Until they went into administration in 1992, only saved from their massive debts by the supporters' trust, who took the club over, the first time this had happened in English football, so it says.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/Notts_County_Logo.svg/280px-Notts_County_Logo.svg.png)
Team name: Notts County
Home city or town: Nottingham
Area: Nottinghamshire
Nickname: The Magpies (Oh dear! Speak to Newcastle. And Maidenhead)
Home ground: Meadow Lane
Manager: Stuart Maynard
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Alfreton Town
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) None: they won the FA Cup back in the nineteenth century, when no team could really be called a top league team, or even a second division one.
Best FA Cup run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Nottingham Forest, Mansfield Town
Another team beset by financial problems, which is ironic when you consider that in their initial incarnation back in the nineteenth century, the club only accepted "persons of a certain social class" as players - lawyers, teachers, businessmen etc. But Notts County went into administration around the beginning of the third millennium and remained there for over a year, resulting in their relegation from the Football League, to which they would only return in 2023.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg/180px-Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg.png)
Team name: Oldham Athletic
Home city or town: Oldham
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: Latics
Home ground: Boundary Park
Manager: Micky Mellon
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Tranmere Rovers
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Liverpool (2013)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Rochdale, Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town, Bury, Stockport County, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United
Oldham have the dubious distinction of being, in addition to one of the founding members of the Premier League, the first team that has played there who have been relegated out of the Football League, when they fell in 2022 into the National League. They had a hard time in the top leagues, struggling to maintain their position and slipping each time, and like a lot of the smaller clubs flirted with administration and even liquidation in the early half of the 2000s, but managed to survive.
And then there's Ched Evans.
Convicted in 2012 of the rape of a young woman the previous year, and sentenced to five years imprisonment, he wriggled out of it through that time-honoured device of we men, victim-blaming, his reprehensible defence team essentially framing the woman as a slut, and had his appeal accepted and his conviction quashed in 2016, also netting a big payoff from his original legal team. What a world!
Anyhow, somehow thinking he could just pick up where he left off, Evans had talks with various football clubs, including Sheffield United and Grimsby Town, and another was of course Oldham Athletic. Quite rightly, in my view, there was a storm of protest against this, but quite wrongly, again in my view but I think in that of every right-thinking person, death threats and rape threats resulted, and the whole thing took on the uncomfortable feeling of intimidation and mob rule. In the end, Oldham decided, wisely, not to sign Evans, but mostly put this down to the "campaign of harassment" over their intentions. I can't see anywhere they apologised for even attempting to sign a convicted rapist.
I'd like to pass swiftly on from that now, spitting out the bad taste of so many clubs even considering giving such a man a job. But that wasn't the end of Oldham's problems, as in 2017 they were actually raided by HM Customs, who wanted back taxes they had not been paid. This debt was settled in 2021, but left Oldham unable to pay their staff, which resulted in players going on strike (first/only club where this happened?) and unsurprisingly continued their slide down the leagues, which ended ignominiously with an exit from the Football League, the first ever team, as I said, to fall so low as Oldham were relegated to the National League.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Psfclogo_51273d5034f57.png)
Team name: Peterborough Sports
Home city or town: Peterborough
Area: Cambridgeshire
Nickname: The Turbines
Home ground: Lincoln Road
Manager: Michael Gash and Luke Steele
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Accrington Stanley **++
Highest position achieved: Current I think
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Fourth qualifying round
Rivals: Unknown
So little I can tell you about these guys, who spent all their time playing in really lower regional leagues. Just don't mix them up with the next team, who are a whole different kettle of pisceans.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Peterborough_United.svg/360px-Peterborough_United.svg.png)
Team name: Peterborough United
Home city or town: Peterborough
Area: Cambridgeshire
Nickname: The Posh
Home ground: London Road
Manager: Darren Ferguson
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Newport County
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) Arsenal, Swansea City (1965)
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Cambridge United, Northampton Town (though oddly enough, not Peterborough Sports!), Huddersfield Town, Lincoln City, MK Dons,
Yeah, this is the team a certain Victoria Beckham tried to sue for using the name "posh", until it was pointed out to her - something she and her lawyers, if they were serious and not just looking for publicity, should have known - that Peterborough have been around since the thirties, and though Posh Spice might be looking in need of a little tune-up these days, she ain't 90 years old! I imagine poor David was mortified.
Peterborough are, then, one of the "younger older" clubs, having been founded in the twentieth rather than the nineteenth century, 1934 to be precise. They've had mixed fortunes, playing the Fourth Division and reaching the heady heights of the Championship, and are managed by Alex Ferguson's son, which kind of makes me hate them.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Port_Vale_logo.svg/340px-Port_Vale_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Port Vale
Home city or town: Burslem
Area: Stoke-on-Trent
Nickname: The Valiants (isn't there another team with that nickname? Mind you, that's nothing new: we have three calling themselves the Magpies, another three calling themselves the Reds and two using The Red Devils)
Home ground: Vale Road
Manager: Darren Moore
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Barnsley
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Tottenham Hotspur (2-1, 1988); Everton (2-1, 1996)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Stoke City, Crewe Alexandra, Walsall, Shrewsbury Town, Burton Albion, Wolves, Macclesfield
Whether they were formed in 1876 or 1879, (dates are disputed) Port Vale are one of the older clubs, one of those who existed before the turn of the century. That one, not this. However that particular team did not do well and only lasted till 1907, when they were disbanded. Then five years later Cobridge Church decided, for reasons best known no doubt to themselves, to rename themselves as Port Vale, and so the second incarnation of the club, as it were, was born. The new club, to quote Jim Hacker in Yes Minister, did all right, and had some success in the league in the 1930s, but fell out of favour in the sixties when they were accused of the old chestnut, financial irregularities. They were relegated out of the Football League, but won a reprieve on appeal.
In 2012 they were in hot water with Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, and unable to pay players, staff or any of their creditors they entered administration for most of the year.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/360px-Reading_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Reading
Home city or town: Reading
Area: Berkshire
Nickname: The Royals, The Ding, The Biscuitmen
Home ground: Madejski Stadium
Manager: Ruben Selles
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Fleetwood Town
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Aldershot Town, Swinford Town, Oxford United
One of the oldest teams in England, Reading have seen the dizzying heights of the Premier League, though it took them over 80 years to get there. Only the second team I've read about to have gone on tour outside of England at that time, Reading had a very successful tour of Italy in 1913, impressing the sports press there, who called them "the finest foreign team seen in Italy."
In 1994 Reading were denied their first season in the Premier League as, though they had finished top of the Championship, the Premier League had been changed that year from 22 teams to just 20, which meant there was no room at the inn, so to speak. They would have to wait another 12 years before they could take their place at the top of England's Football League, where they managed two seasons before being relegated. But they would be back. 2012 saw them again promoted to the top flight, though this time it would be just a single season before they were back in the Championship.
Another team in difficult financial waters, in 2023 Reading were handed a points deduction for being unable to pay their players and also their taxes, and the club was put up for sale. In January of this year, with the current owner still in control, fans invaded the pitch in protest and a match between Reading and Port Vale had to be called off. Nevertheless, from what I read, the issues have not been sorted and Reading continue to receive deduction after deduction from the EFL.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Rochdale_AFC_crest.svg/360px-Rochdale_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Rochdale
Home city or town: Rochdale
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Dale
Home ground: Spotland Stadium
Manager: Jimmy McNulty
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Bromley
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) Leeds United (2-0, 2014)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Bury, Oldham Athletic, Burnley, Halifax Town, Stockport County, Wigan Athletic, Accrington Stanley, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City
Although it has nothing to do with this, I'd just like to mention that when I entered Rochdale in the search bar on Wiki, I shuddered to see, just below the entry on the team, "Rochdale Child Sex Abuse Ring". Thank Christ I don't have to read that! No reflection on the people of Rochdale, or indeed Manchester, who I'm sure were all horrified by the story, but it's not something I want to read.
And luckily, I don't, so let's turn to more pleasant topics. Well, not so pleasant maybe for Rochdale, who have spent so long in EFL League 1 that some have apparently called it "The Rochdale League", as they've spent 36 seasons there. And honestly, not much else I can tell you.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c0/Rotherham_United_FC.svg/290px-Rotherham_United_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Rotherham United
Home city or town: Rotherham
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: The Millers
Home ground: New York Ground (long way to go to play your matches!)
Manager: Steve Evans
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Cheltenham Town
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Unknown; don't think they ever qualified before now
Rivals: Unknown
I don't know if it is, but I think a 17-point deduction has to rank as one of the largest, if not the largest fine levied on an English football club in history. Naturally, this came about due to empty pockets, and Rotherham were coming close to going into administration before they were saved. No easy job, being a football manager, but try being a chairman! After this massive deduction, Rotherham were forced to leave their home ground, where they had played for a century, unable to pay the rent.
They didn't let this affect them though, and fought hard to kill the deficit, ending the season at the top of the league and earning promotion. Promoted again, and now playing in the Championship, they were hit by yet another deduction, which really wrecked them and had them fighting for survival, which they achieved. The next season was harder though, and ended in relegation for them, but they were soon back up. And down. And up again. And down.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Rushallolympicfc.png)
Team name: Rushall Olympic
Home city or town: Rushall
Area: West Midlands
Nickname: The Pics
Home ground: Dale Lane
Manager: Adam Stevens
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Accrington Stanley
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: First round
Rivals: Unknown
Not a whole lot to tell really (you didn't actually expect there to be, did you?) and for a team with "Olympic" as their suffix, maybe they're reaching too high? Rushall spent most of their career in the regional leagues, where generally they did as well as could be expected, but this is the highest they've ever been.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Salford_City_FC_crest.svg/260px-Salford_City_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Salford City
Home city or town: Salford
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Ammies (uh?)
Home ground: Moor Lane
Manager: Karl Robinson
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Shrewsbury Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Notts County (2-0, 2015)
Best FA Cup run: First round
Rivals: Oldham Athletic, Stockport County, Rochdale, Bolton Wanderers, Macclesfield Town, Crewe Alexandra, Accrington Stanley, Leyton Orient
Okay, the odd nickname is short for amateurs, as Salford were both once known as Salford Church and Salford Amateurs before changing to their current name. Well, that's cleared that up. Oh dear: you know what league you're playing in when you lose out on promotion to Prescot Cables, don't you? Might as well have been vying with Harry's DIY Cabin or Maud's Fish and Chips Emporium! Salford achieved much more success and social standing when they became kind of Man United-lite, after a consortium consisting of ex-players Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs bought a stake in the club. Can't imagine what possessed them, but there you are. Football's a funny old game.
I do have to wonder though, when they played their newly-owned team themselves in a friendly match before the opening of the 2014 season, and lost 5-1, if the Man U legends hadn't let them win? I mean, Salford's record hardly had them raining goals, and against a bunch of legends from the Red Devils? Still, maybe the old guys were past it, who knows? Good for morale though, both being bought by them and also beating them. Also good for morale - if a trifle ambitious, not to say living in a land with clocks with birds in them and formations of water vapour - was the owners' intention to make Salford a Premier League side! Ah here now: they had only made it into the National League North (tier 6) that year! Of course, they didn't say when, so I suppose promotion in 2054 might be an outside possibility?
Well to be fair, they did start well, being promoted in 2018 to the National League, but after six years, they've got as far as EFL League 2, and if they manage to make the Premier League before I die, I'll eat my head. No, it's not a misprint: read some Dickens, why don't ya?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Scarborough_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/330px-Scarborough_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Scarborough Athletic
Home city or town: Scarborough
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: The Seadogs
Home ground: Flamingo Land Stadium
Manager: Jonathan Greening
Currently playing in: National League North
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Burton Albion
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: First round
Rivals: Unknown
Scarborough is of course famous both for its fair, and for the song that made it famous, or at least gave it worldwide fame, by two lads you probably never heard of, Simon & Gar-something or other. But it would appear this is a team with something of an identity crisis. I mean, look at them: they call themselves the Seadogs, play at the Flamingo Land Stadium (in Scarborough? Where do they think there are? Vegas?) and have a seagull on their crest! Some sorting out to do, methinks.
A real new kid on the block, they've only been in existence since 2007, not even wet behind the ears yet. Mind you, they arose from the demise of the original Scarborough, who persisted from 1879 and collapsed due to not having enough cash. So whether we can consider them one of the youngest or oldest of the clubs, one thing followed them, and it was that damn seagull they just don't seem to be able to get off their ball. Then again, who in his right mind would try to shoo a seagull away? They're vicious, man! You want the ball, you take it. We have others.
They also faced problems with the FA, being given a 6-point deduction and a "massive" fine of, um, £300 for fielding an ineligible player but they managed to survive the season and the following one saw them top of the table. What? No: some obscure counties league, I don't know.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/Shrewsbury_Town_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Shrewsbury_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Shrewsbury Town
Home city or town: Shrewsbury
Area: Shropshire
Nickname: The Shrews, Salop, The Town
Home ground: New Meadow
Manager: Paul Hurst
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Salford City
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Everton (2-1, 2003)
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Hereford United, Chester, Wrexham, Walsall, Wolves, Port Vale, Telford United
Oh, you have to feel for a team that played at Gay Meadow, don't you? Of course, that was in 1910, when the word meant something completely different to what it does today, or even twenty years ago. Then again, they were there almost a full century, so plenty of time for rival supporters to grin and point and say "Dude! That place is so gay!" But enough frivolity. These days they play at the much more sexually-neutral New Meadow, so memories of all those sarcastic comments are gone. Probably.
Quote from: Trollheart on Oct 21, 2024, 09:15 PM(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c0/Rotherham_United_FC.svg/290px-Rotherham_United_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Rotherham United
Home city or town: Rotherham
Area: South Yorkshire
Nickname: The Millers
Home ground: New York Ground (long way to go to play your matches!)
Manager: Steve Evans
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Cheltenham Town
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Unknown; don't think they ever qualified before now
Rivals: Unknown
I don't know if it is, but I think a 17-point deduction has to rank as one of the largest, if not the largest fine levied on an English football club in history. Naturally, this came about due to empty pockets, and Rotherham were coming close to going into administration before they were saved. No easy job, being a football manager, but try being a chairman! After this massive deduction, Rotherham were forced to leave their home ground, where they had played for a century, unable to pay the rent.
They didn't let this affect them though, and fought hard to kill the deficit, ending the season at the top of the league and earning promotion. Promoted again, and now playing in the Championship, they were hit by yet another deduction, which really wrecked them and had them fighting for survival, which they achieved. The next season was harder though, and ended in relegation for them, but they were soon back up. And down. And up again. And down.
When we were in the Championship for those three years, Rotherham fans came to Villa Park and I'll always remember their forum raving about us after. The comments were like "I love the New York, but their club shop is bigger than it" and "you can absolutely smell the tradition coming out of there, what a huge club".
The fixture at their ground was one of the wins in the 9 match winning run that got us promoted, Grealish scored a goal Messi would have been proud of.
There is even a video posted by a Rotherham fan sat in the home end creaming himself to our fans and even singing along :laughing:
Nice bunch. Also, Bradford were the same when they came to VP. I'd say maybe it's a Yorkshire thing but then you have Leeds so maybe it's not.
Yeah, friendly rivalries are great. It's when it gets violent that things turn ugly. In my research for this, I'm coming across some hairy moments when there were all but fistfights on and off the pitch. And people didn't seem to think it that much of a deal.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg/360px-Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Solihull Moors
Home city or town: Solihull
Area: Warwickshire
Nickname: The Moors
Home ground: Damson Park
Manager: Andy Whing
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Maidstone United **++
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Yeovil Town (2016)
Best FA Cup run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Sometimes I start these writeups expecting there to be little to write, and there ends up being a ton, but a team only founded in 2007 surely can't have too much history or interest behind them? I go by the scroll on the right of the Wiki page, and this one is moving rather fast down the screen, so I don't think I'll quite be writing a novel on these guys. Again though, in fairness, there is some history, as once more (moor? Sorry) we have two older clubs being merged: Moor Green, founded 1901 and Solihull Borough, around since 1953.
Another club who had their manager die in service, again of cancer at only 60, and that's about as much as I can tell you about them.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/Southend_United.svg/360px-Southend_United.svg.png)
Team name: Southend United
Home city or town: Southend
Area: Essex
Nickname: The Shrimpers, The Blues
Home ground: Roots Hall
Manager: Kevin Maher
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Charlton Athletic
Highest position achieved: EFL League 1
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Colchester United, Leyton Orient
I remember Southend fondly, as a colleague of mine, who lived there, used to moan constantly about how poor they were, but you stick with your home side (if you're English) and there's no way around that. I see they did their bit for the war effort, their stadium being dismantled and the timber used for, well, whatever the War Ministry wanted it for I guess: making more DeHavilland Mosquitoes? Resurfacing the wings on old Gloster Gladiators? Helping to build the Mulberry artificial harbours for D-Day? Whatever, I don't know if Southend had any choice in the matter - probably not - but I'm sure they'd later say they did their duty.
Customs didn't care about that sixty years or so later though, when they came with the hand out, looking for tax that Southend had been unable or unwilling to pay, and holding wind-up orders in the other hand. Players were not paid, and the situation was looking decidedly dodgy for a while, but as they always do, the taxman got paid and all was well, God was in his Heaven and the Queen could have that new ivory backscratcher she'd been eyeing up. Ten years later, they were back in the same position.
Never heard of a club in such dire, and consistent, financial straits: no less than eighteen wind-up orders with a debt at one point of over 17 million, and players constantly having to go to the wife for a loan, as they had not been paid. This, surely, involved extra work on behalf of those who were not married, who then had to find a girl (and, despite the assurances of Showwaddywaddy about there being "Three Steps to Heaven", perhaps finding the second step harder, as who wants to fall in love with, much less marry a cash-strapped footballer from the lower leagues?), marry her and then go to her for a loan, explaining he had not been paid. Again.
As if things weren't bad enough, the club was hit with a 10-point deduction for consistently failing to pay their debts, players went on strike (finally) and at one point there were a total of ten men available for a match! Fans weren't happy, HM Customs weren't happy, players weren't happy and I imagine my old mate wasn't happy either.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Stevenage_FC_crest.svg/360px-Stevenage_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Stevenage
Home city or town: Stevenage
Area: Hertfordshire
Nickname: The Boro
Home ground: The Lamex Stadium
Manager: Alex Revell
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Guisely
Highest position achieved:
Giant Killing(s) Newcastle (3-1, 2011); Aston Villa (2023)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Unknown
Only founded in 1976, Stevenage arrived to find that the local borough council had rather sneakily sold their ground to a businessman, and to make sure they couldn't use it, a long trench had been dug across the ground. Lends new meaning to the phrase "falling into the offside trap", doesn't it? Ah, there's my old muckers Torquay United again! Kind of missed references to them recently, but they're back.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg/360px-Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg.png)
Team name: Stockport County
Home city or town: Stockport
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: The Hatters, County
Home ground: Edgeley Park
Manager: Dave Challinor
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Forest Green Rovers
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Manchester City, Oldham Athletic, Bury, Rochdale, Crewe Alexandra, Macclesfield Town, Burnley, Stoke City, Wrexham
One of the older clubs, founded by schoolboys in 1883, Stockport County suffered a fire at their grounds in 1935 which also took with it all their records. I'm not saying there's anything suspicious about that, not at all, not me. The fire also burned down some nearby houses, so I suppose in general Stockport may not have had the greatest reputation among the locals at that time. Mind you, five years later and Hitler would do the job for them.
Customs and creditors came pointing at invoices and making the "hand it over" gesture, but Stockport showed empty inside pockets, so Customs fucked off. Like hell. They intended to wind the club up, but a last-minute sale saved their bacon. I think this is the first time I've heard of a team going backwards, from professional, full-time to amateur part-time, but that was the proposal in 2013.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a3/Swindon_Town_FC.svg/360px-Swindon_Town_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Swindon Town
Home city or town: Swindon
Area: Wiltshire
Nickname: The Robins
Home ground: The County Ground
Manager: Mark Kennedy
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Colchester United
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Wigan Athletic (2012)
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Bristol Rovers, Oxford United, Reading, Bristol City, Forest Green Rovers, Cheltenham Town, Newport County, Gillingham
Another of the older, more venerated teams, Swindon Town are another which was founded by a churchman, The Reverend William Pitt (presumably not the Younger) in 1879, and in the true spirit of Christian charity, some of the funds from the match between them and Man United in 1911 (actually the Charity Shield, perhaps appropriately) went to help the survivors when some big ship went down in 1912, can't recall the name. Enormous or something like that. This is also interesting: (Uncle Albert voice) during the war, Swindon's ground was commandeered by the War Ministry and converted into a prisoner of war camp! It says the war "affected Swindon more than more other football clubs", but it doesn't say why, or in what way. Hmm.
Speaking of war, in 1970 (no, the team did not sign up to fight in Vietnam!) Swindon played in the Anglo-Italian Cup, and after riots and a pitch invasion in their game against Napoli tear gas had to be deployed to allow them escape to their dressing rooms. And, presumably, to the airport and back home to dear old Blighty! Oh, to see the fair shores of England once more, where the FA slapped a fine on them for illegal payments to players in 1989 and got themselves relegated, and their chairman a six-month prison sentence.
Now come on! You deserve everything you get if you decide to appoint as your manager a guy whose first name is Iffy! Yeah, apparently: Iffy Onoura, who presided over their ignominious dive from Premier League to EFL League 2. Customs went around shaking the tin - and its fist - again, but a new owner sorted that. Ah ha! Torquay United make another appearance. More trouble at the bank when financial irregularities were discovered at the club, and some players walked, fans urged the boycott of the club until the owner pissed off, the players weren't being paid and now the council was demanding rent it had not had for the ground.
They're probably not the only ones, but Swindon Town are the first club I've read about who have their own hooligan gangs (is the word hooligan even used anymore? Probably call them something like "agents provocateur" or "agitators" now), quite a few in fact, including the hilariously named Swindon Town Aggro Boys (STAB), the Swindon Southside Firm (SSF) and the Swindon Active Service (SAS). Just surprised there wasn't one with the acronym SS! And by the way, this isn't way back when: from the 1970s right up to 2006 these lunatics were ruining the sport for everyone. Whether they have since been brought under control I don't know. No they haven't; well, incidents have decreased but there was still a punch-up in 2023 that saw 4 arrests, and in 2013 a so-called fan ran onto the pitch and punched Leyton Orient's keeper.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Sutton_United_FC_crest.svg/320px-Sutton_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Sutton United
Home city or town: Sutton
Area: London
Nickname: The U's, The Yellow, The Amber and Chocolates
Home ground: Gander Green Lane
Manager: Steve Morison
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Birmingham City
Highest position achieved:EFL League 2
Giant Killing(s) Coventry City (2-1, 1989); Colchester United (1993); Torquay United (yay!) (1993); Cheltenham Town (2-1, 2017); AFC Wimbledon (3-1 (replay) 2017); Leeds United (1-0, 2017)
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round
Rivals: Bromley, Carshalton Athletic, Kingstonian, AFC Wimbledon, Tooting & Mitcham
Well, look, despite all the giant killings shown above, and the fact that they were the new AFC Wimbledon's first ever opponent on their formation (see entries on both them and MK Dons for more), the only real information I can give you on these guys is a sort of funny story. Apparently bookies had, for some reason I don't understand, given odds of 8-1 against their reserve keeper eating a pie during the match, and blow me down, but he did! He ate a pie, sitting on the bench. Allegations of being paid off (possibly, though never proven, in pies) led to the guy's resignation. Well, that's the world of association football for you: everyone wants a piece of the pie. Sorry.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Tamworth_FC.svg/300px-Tamworth_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Tamworth
Home city or town: Tamworth
Area: Staffordshire
Nickname: The Lambs
Home ground: The Lamb Ground
Manager: Andy Peaks
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Huddersfield Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup run: Third round
Rivals: Unknown
Well! Talk about the bloom going off the rose! Tamworth signed, somehow, ex-Arsenal and Aston Villa midfielder (and noted poster boy for substance abuse) Paul Merson, he played one game (in which they lost), was dropped to the bench for the next game (which they also lost), left and a month later announced his retirement from football. The best laid plans of mice and managers, eh?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Taunton_Town_logo.png)
Team name: Taunton
Home city or town: Taunton
Area: Somerset
Nickname: The Peacocks
Home ground: Wordsworth Drive
Manager: Richard Luffman
Currently playing in: Southern League Premier Division South
Tier: 7
First opponent in Round One: Crawley Town **++
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s)None
Best FA Cup Run: First round
Rivals: Unknown
Oh well at least there's something I can write about them. Taunton Town hold the record for the most penalties, not, I think scored but kicked, in a game, having beaten Truro City 12-11 in a match which took place in 2019. 34 penalties were taken in all. Can you imagine that in the professional game? Not so much sudden death as death of a thousand cuts. How knackered must they, and the supporters of both sides, have been at the end! And poor old Truro City: to lose such a huge amount of penalty kicks by one! They must have been kicking themselves, although after all those penalties, another kick is probably the last thing they wanted to do!
I'm actually surprised they're in this, as it seems they were threatened with being wound up, unless they could cough up the readies for the King and his taxmen, and they couldn't, so how are they still here?
(https://www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk/images/new-badge-2023/3786-360.png)
Team name: Tonbridge Angels
Home city or town: Tonbridge
Area: Kent
Nickname: The Angels
Home ground: Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium
Manager: Jay Saunders
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Harborough Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup Run: First round
Rivals: Unknown
Wow. These guys are so small time that they're the first team I've researched for whom Wiki had no crest on their page. A-Googling I had to go, and I found one. On the club's own website.
Never heard of a team calling themselves angels before. Would be quite funny if they held the record for the most red cards or something, wouldn't it? Well, I think it would, so there. Okay they got their name from a local hotel, called The Angel. Fair enough I guess: we've far too many devils and imps running around the place, and the Saints are probably feeling picked-upon.
Hmm. A crowd of 5,000 for your opening match back in 1947 seems very impressive; many of the teams I've read about had hundreds watching them, not thousands. And this was before they built up any sort of following. If they ever built up any sort of following.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/55/Tranmere_Rovers_FC_crest.svg/300px-Tranmere_Rovers_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Tranmere Rovers
Home city or town: Tranmere
Area: Merseyside
Nickname: Rovers, The White Army
Home ground: Prenton Park
Manager: Nigel Adkins
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Oldham Athletic
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) West Ham, Sunderland and Fulham (2000); Everton (3-0, 2000); Southampton (4-3, 2000)
Best FA Cup Run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Wrexham, Bolton Wanderers, Southport, Everton, Liverpool, Chester, Crewe Alexandra, New Brighton
One of the "grand old clubs" of English football, Tranmere, being from Merseyside, are I guess always going to be in the shadow of the two leviathans of that area, Everton and Liverpool, but they have seen the heights of the Premier League themselves. With all the stuff about World War I and II that comes up here, it's interesting to note that apparently Tranmere's players were criticised (I don't know specifically by whom) for not doing their part and signing up to be blown to little pieces in the trenches or be scattered across No-Man's Land. I imagine most if not all of these "objections" came from those who would not, or could not, fight themselves. I noted in some programme or other that a certain cohort of women took it upon themselves - during WW II I think - to present white feathers to any man they encountered who was not in uniform. A bit much, as they had the perfect excuse not to be fighting, and had the army allowed women in, I wonder would they have been in such a rush to put their lives in jeopardy?
Actually, come to think of it now, women could and did serve in World War II, as nurses, ambulance drivers, flight plotters and even anti-aircraft gunners. So what were these women going on about? Or was it the Great War they did that? And how did I get onto this tangent anyway? Oh yeah: because they mostly worked in the shipyards as well as played footy, the Tranmere players were criticised for not enlisting. Well, it takes one to know one, or something.
While we're at it, can I just take a moment to shout out to the Wiki editors, bunch of fucking nit-pickers, who make me look cavalier and tolerant. In the entry on Tranmere, it's dotted with whining notes - "primary source required" or "close paraphrasing" or "source failed" - which really pisses me off. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to write this article, and nobody has paid them, and now we have some little jobsworth cunt who wants to tear it apart because certain links don't work or may be taken nearly verbatim. And they're not getting paid either! How would I like it if someone started pulling my articles to bits on SCD or MB, writing in snide little notes and observations, a passive-fucking-aggressive if I ever heard one. Really grinds my gears, that does. It's not just one or two: they're all over the article. Fuck's sake you smarmy, superior cunt: leave the guy or girl alone! Write your own poxy article, and see how far you get!
Okay, that's out of my system now. Sorry. But I hate nit-pickers. Except for myself. I loathe me. Back to the article anyway. Showing that even the "bigger" clubs could struggle, Tranmere had financial problems throughout the 1980s and at the end of the decade went into administration. Sorry that's all I can write: constantly stepping around those fucking poxy notes, like someone following you with a red marker and circling all your mistakes, is driving me mad and I've kind of skimmed through it.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/Walsall_FC.svg/370px-Walsall_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Walsall
Home city or town: Walsall
Area: West Midlands
Nickname: The Saddlers
Home ground: Poundland Bescot Stadium
Manager: Mat Sadler
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Bolton Wanderers
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) Arsenal (2-0, 1933); Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City (1987)
Best FA Cup Run: Fifth round
Rivals: Wolves, West Bromwich Albion, Shrewsbury Town, Port Vale
Paul Merson figures in the story of Walsall, too. Becoming manager in 2004, he was unable to halt their slide down the table and they were relegated. Despite this, and despite too the fact that Merson had no managerial experience prior, Walsall's board gave him the job full time. It would turn out to be another poor decision concerning this guy, as by the time fan pressure had forced the chairman to see sense, they had suffered another relegation. Merson sloped off, possibly with the contents of the drinks cabinet in his car. What a waste of time.
I guess the flipside of appointing a guy called Iffy is to give the job to someone whose second name is Money, and so the hilariously-named Richard Money (wonder if his friends called him Rich, or Richie? Or even Richie Rich?) was appointed to save the day, and more or less did, keeping the club up that season for the first time in a while. Not only that, they were in the top three for most of the season. Our Richie left in 2008, but by then the club had more or less stabilised.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg/360px-Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Wealdstone
Home city or town: Ruislip
Area: London
Nickname: The Stones, The Royal
Home ground: Grosvenor Vale
Manager: Matt Taylor
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Grimsby Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Colchester United (1950); Hereford United (3-2, 1978); Reading (2-1, 1978)
Best FA Cup Run: Third round
Rivals: Barnet, Harrow Borough, Enfield, Hendon
Hey! It's Dulwich Hamlet again! Never thought I'd read about them after the first time. And they were involved in a thrilling, record-breaking match against Wealdstone in 1929, which ended in a staggering 7-7 draw. After all that, the Hamlet won the replay. In 1991 Wealdstone had their ground sold out from under them, and had to ground share with Watford and other clubs till they could get another stadium to play in. 1995 was their worst year, when all they could must was a two-man team thanks to serious financial difficulties.
You really have to feel for them. After various ground sharing exercises, they finally began to get their own place built in 2003, only for their backers to go out of business the following year! The site remained unfinished for two years, after which the council said "Fuck this! We gots to make money," and sold the site to Barnet, who used it as a training ground. Wealdstone were out in the cold again. Hey, at least they had their revenge on the villagers that year, when they beat Dulwich Hamlet on penalties. And they finally got their own stadium in 2008. Yay!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Weston-super-Mare_AFC_logo.svg/370px-Weston-super-Mare_AFC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Weston-super-Mare
Home city or town: Weston-super-Mare
Area: Somerset
Nickname: The Seagulls
Home ground: Woodspring Stadium
Manager: Scott Bartlett
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Bristol Rovers
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup Run: Second round
Rivals: Clevedon Town
Another seagull! Hey, at least these guys are called the Seagulls. But hold on: isn't that what Brighton are called too? Well, we've already established that nicknames get replicated across clubs throughout the divisions, so I guess it doesn't matter: not likely too many people are going to mistake Premier League Brighton for National League South Weston-super-Mare, now is it? But if you're not a seagull-fancier, not much more I can tell you.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/360px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png)
Team name: Wigan Athletic
Home city or town: Wigan
Area: Greater Manchester
Nickname: Latics, Tics
Home ground: Brick Community Stadium
Manager: Shaun Moloney
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Carlisle United
Highest position achieved: Premier League
Giant Killing(s) Carlisle United (6-1, 1934); Manchester City (1-0, 2013); Manchester City (2014); Manchester City (1-0, 2017) (Getting to be a bit of a habit, this!)
Best FA Cup Run: Final (winners)
Rivals: Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Preston North End, Oldham Athletic, Blackpool, Rochdale, Blackburn Rovers
How times change! In 1932 Wigan bought their stadium for a measly three grand. You'd almost pay that for rent in an expensive apartment now, certainly wouldn't buy a house, never mind a stadium. But times were different then, money bought more, and dinosaurs roamed the earth in search of the next big thing. Or was that football talent scouts? Same thing really.
You have to admire Wigan's persistence though: thirty-seven times they applied to be admitted into the Football League, and thirty-seven times they were told to sling their hook. On the thirty-eighth, perhaps worn down by successive requests, the League said okay, and they were in. And once they were in, they were staying in! Not only that, they made it to the Premier League and remained there for several seasons, even though some of these stays were due to "great escapes" and last-day survivals.
They also won the FA Cup in 2013, against high-flying Manchester City. In fact, they beat Pep's team twice in successive years, the second time in the semi-finals. Oh no I'm wrong: three times. But after they were relegated from the Premier League things started to go wrong. The club was sold and the new investor seemed a bit stingy with the funds, hardly anyone being paid and in fact half of the staff being laid off. It got so bad that the local MP for Wigan got involved and brought the situation up in the House of Commons, probably.
With points deductions, fine and a winding-up order, things were finally settled last year when the club was bought by a locally-based millionaire, who cleared all debts. Wigan had, by this time though, already been relegated from the Championship, and began their new campaign with an 8-point deduction, therefore starting the season with a negative points difference.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg/290px-AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg.png)
Team name: AFC Wimbledon
Home city or town: Wimbledon
Area: London
Nickname: The Dons, The Wombles
Home ground: Plough Lane
Manager: Johnnie Jackson (and his clone, Jackie Johnson! )
Currently playing in: EFL League 2
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: MK Dons (!)
Highest position achieved: Premier League (as the original Wimbledon), EFL League 1 (as AFC Wimbledon)
Giant Killing(s) Fifth round
Best FA Cup Run: West Ham (4-2, 2018)
Rivals: MK Dons duh, Charlton Athletic, Crawley Town, Sutton United
Much of this post refers to and crosses over with the one on MK Dons, as explained in that article, so I won't go into the details of how a long-established Premier League team split, in effect, one half going to Milton Keynes and the other, this one, staying here. It's of course not that simple, but as I say, you can read the full story in the article on MK Dons. As far as the new AFC Wimbledon (which, for simplicity's sake, I will refer to here only as Wimbledon) were concerned, their new life began very much in the lower leagues, but they would soon make it to the higher tiers of English football, perhaps if only to spite MK Dons.
Not that they needed more controversy, but their manager was sacked due to gross misconduct only two years in, after he was deemed to have acted inappropriately around staff, fired people without cause and spread untruths about the board. Given that the coach was a former player from the original Wimbledon (as were many others in the team) you could perhaps theorise that he had been left behind as a kind of "sleeper agent" by the new MK Dons, to try to disrupt the new team. If this was a spy movie and not association football. Fun, though.
Initially, Wimbledon had an almost meteoric rise up the leagues, going at one point on a 78-game unbeaten streak, but when they reached the top division they did find things a little harder, flirting with play-off places, and in 2006 they faced a massive 18-point deduction for incorrectly registering a player, though this was dropped to a 3-point when they were able to prove to the FA's satisfaction that it was all just down to clerical error, and not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules. As if!
They were also involved - though not directly - in the 2013 match-fixing scandal, which was written about in another article, can't remember which one, but overall Wimbledon's rise through the leagues continued unabated, and although they sailed close to the relegation zone on occasion, they never fell and earned promotion after promotion, the fastest and most complete rise through the ranks in English footballing history. In 2016 they were able to shake their fists at MK Dons, who had been relegated from the Championship that season and were in the same league as them, EFL League 1. To their delight, revenge was sweet as they faced their old rivals and beat them 2-0 in March of 2017. I see they're in EFL League 2 now, so that seems to have been the first time they have been relegated, which is quite amazing. MK Dons, who they face in the first round, should probably watch out! The Gang is, it seems, still crazy after all these years.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/de/Woking_FC_logo.svg/360px-Woking_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Woking
Home city or town: Woking
Area: Surrey
Nickname: The Cardinals, The Cards
Home ground: Laithwaite Community Stadium
Manager: Michael Doyle
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 5
First opponent in Round One: Cambridge United
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) West Brom (4-2, 1991); Barnet (various years); Millwall and Cambridge United (1997); Swindon Town (2019)
Best FA Cup Run: Fourth round
Rivals: Stevenage, Aldershot Town, Torquay United (rayy!)
I guess you won't find Bolton Wanderers on the list of Woking's rivals, as they were essentially responsible for keeping them in business. After defeating them in the 1905 FA Cup, Wanderers were so impressed by the way Woking played, being such a small team in comparison, that they played a friendly match at their home stadium, the gate receipts allowing Woking to pay their debts and remain solvent. That was nice of them; they didn't have to do that, and I'm sure it's cemented an ongoing friendship between the two clubs.
Woking went on not only to survive but to thrive, maintaining their place in the lower league for 78 seasons, something of a record I would think. Nothing lasts forever though, and in the 1980s they began to slip and slide down the leagues, but by the 1990s they were back on track. FA Cup glory beckoned too, and in 1991 they beat three National League sides and then took Second Division (EFL League 1) team West Brom for 4-2, going on to be narrowly beaten by Everton. However currently it seems Woking are - or were, at the time of the last notes in the Wiki article - in deep financial trouble, with the owner offering to sell the club for a pound. Not sure if anyone has taken that up yet.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/Worthing_FC_crest.svg/360px-Worthing_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Worthing
Home city or town: Worthing
Area: West Sussex
Nickname: The Rebels, The Mackerel Men
Home ground: Woodside Stadium
Manager: Chris Agutter
Currently playing in: National League South
Tier: 6
First opponent in Round One: Morecambe
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) None
Best FA Cup Run: Second round
Rivals: Unknown
Really there's very little I can tell you here. Every time but one Worthing have made it into the FA Cup (never getting any further than the second round) they've been beaten, and usually quite comprehensively. Other than that, they've quietly played their football in the lower leagues, and don't look too likely to be rising any time soon. Hardly Worthing my time. Sorry.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Wrexham_A.F.C._Logo.svg/280px-Wrexham_A.F.C._Logo.svg.png)
Team name: Wrexham
Home city or town: Wrexham
Area: Wales
Nickname: The Red Dragons, The Robins, The Town
Home ground: Racecourse Ground
Manager: Phil Parkinson
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: Harrogate Town
Highest position achieved: Current
Giant Killing(s) Shrewsbury Town, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace, Rotherham United, Southampton (1974); Sunderland (1977); Arsenal (2-1, 1992); Stockport County, Rotherham United (1995); Ipswich (2-1, 1995); West Ham (1-0, 1997); Peterborough, Birmingham City (1997); Middlesbrough (2-1, 2000); Coventry City (2023)
Best FA Cup Run: Quarter-finals
Rivals: Chester, Shrewsbury Town, Tranmere Rovers, Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale, Cardiff City, Swansea, Newport County, Stockport County, Notts County
"Welcome to etc"
The only other Welsh team in the draw, surely everyone knows about little Wrexham now, thanks to the intervention of movie star Ryan Reynolds in buying the club (possibly after a long night on the tiles and the ingestion of suspicious substances) and its featuring in a documentary on the goggle box. Formed in 1864, they're the fifth-oldest club in England and the oldest in Wales. I find it amusing that their first game ever was against the Prince of Wales Fire Brigade: surely they could have won by default by just shouting "Fire!"? All the other team would have had to answer the call, no? Leaving the match forfeited. But enough mirth. Yes, yes it is.
Oh, maybe just one more then. In 1867 they faced Druids and beat them 1-0. What? Could the other team not conjure up some goals? Suppose the magic was gone for a spell? All right, I really will stop now. I recognise death threats when I read them in my inbox. Ah but I have to add this: after beating the magic ones and winning the trophy, the newly-inaugurated Welsh FA were so strapped for cash that they couldn't afford the cup! Imagine it: "You won lads. Sorry you can't hold up the trophy just yet, we're having a whip-round. Here's an IOU for now!"
1888 saw the rent on their ground rise to a staggering TEN POUNDS a year! Who makes that kind of money? Of course, let's remember that back then a tenner would buy you a house, or passage on a ship to the New World, so you can see how much they were being charged. This at a time when a pint was thruppence, or something. Oh look, they just keep coming. This is highly entertaining. Has any other club ever fielded a one-armed player? Wrexham did, in 1890, when Arthur Lea played for them. I've checked, and there's no indication as to whether he was in an accident, had the arm removed by surgery or was born that way, but given the time I imagine the latter might be more likely. He also worked as a postman. Quite a guy.
Oh wow! They had TWO one-armed players. No, I'm not going to say it. I'm not. You can't make me. They won't like it. I'm telling you now. Forget it. No. No way. Probably not. Oh all right then if you insist. Had they taped the two of them together Wrexham would have had one good player. See? I told you they wouldn't like it. Now look what you've done. As it happens, Lea was one of their best scorers, so there. Even played for his country, and oh my god! Almost lost his leg too! Now that would have ended his career. Can't find out anything about the other guy.
The 1980s were not a good time for Wrexham, as they were twice relegated and faced severe financial burdens. I certainly can't say I've read before of a club's chairman trying to get his own team kicked off the ground so he could sell it to developers, but that's what happened at Wrexham in 2006. Okay, seems the same thing happened at Brighton, and there the fans rose up and got the chairman fired. Here though, a 10-point deduction for being unable to pony up to the taxman ended in relegation for Wrexham. Meanwhile the diabolical chairman lost his bid to sell the ground, the court ruling it had to remain part of the club's assets, as they were now in administration. Boo! Hiss! Hoorah for the judge! Etc.
Then in 2020, as we all know, Hollywood arrived to save the day, in the shape of Ryan "Deadpool" Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought the club, significantly raising its profile and winning new fans on the strength of the docuseries Welcome to Wrexham which, for many of them I suspect, was the first time they had ever heard of the club, or the town. Or, possibly in some cases, Wales. This of course coincided with a spurt in form, and Wrexham were promoted to EFL League 2, and the next season were playing in England's third tier, EFL League 1.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/360px-Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Wycombe Wanderers
Home city or town: High Wycombe
Area: Buckinghamshire
Nickname: The Chairboys, The Blues
Home ground: Adams Park
Manager: Matt Bloomfield
Currently playing in: EFL League 1
Tier: 3
First opponent in Round One: York City
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) Grimsby Town, Wolves, Wimbledon (2001) ; Leicester (2-1, 2001)
Best FA Cup Run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Bishop Auckland (presumably not based in Auckland, at least, not that one!), Slough Town, Colchester United, MK Dons, Oxford United, Luton Town, Reading, Plymouth Argyle
Can't tell you a huge amount about these guys. They started in the lower regional leagues and made their way into the EFL, which is pretty impressive, and they had tragedy when one of their players died in a car accident and the manager's wife passed away from cancer, both in 2006, and in fact within months of each other. I find it a little harsh then that the manager was fired shortly afterwards. No room for human compassion and understanding in the Beautiful Game? It's not even as if the team was in trouble, sitting sixth in the league. Hard-hearted bastards. Two fucking months after he lost his wife. Jesus.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/York_City_FC.svg/220px-York_City_FC.svg.png)
Team name: York City
Home city or town: York
Area: North Yorkshire
Nickname: The Minstermen (not the Mister Men!)
Home ground: York Community Stadium
Manager: Adam Hinshelwood
Currently playing in: National League
Tier: 4
First opponent in Round One: Wycombe Wanderers
Highest position achieved: Championship
Giant Killing(s) West Brom, Middlesbrough (1938); Arsenal (1-0, 1985)
Best FA Cup Run: Semi-finals
Rivals: Hull City, Scarborough, Halifax Town, Luton Town
Before we finish up, I want to raise a point here. With very few exceptions, football players seem to have been seen as being exempt from war service, in both World Wars. I wonder is this because the government thought it was important to keep people's morale up, with them playing football through the conflict? Or was it that clubs, worried about losing players they had made major investments in possibly, asked for or demanded special dispensation? And what about the chairman and other boardroom staff of these clubs? They weren't playing, so what would it matter if they headed off to fight for king and country? Suppose they'd say someone had to be there to look after the club and pay the wages.
All of which probably alerts you to the fact that I doubt I'll have much to write about this, our last club, and am desperately trying to fill up space so that there's something there, but I'm also genuinely curious. With the remark I made previously about the white feathers and the way people who did not sign up were regarded by others, especially women, I just wonder how football players managed to avoid war service? Not that anyone should enlist in any army and go to war, but considering the national fervour and sense of patriotism at the time - "England expects" and all that - it's surprising to me how few footballers served. With, as already noted, some extremely honourable exceptions.
So, what can I tell you about York City? Well, contrary to public belief, they don't come from the city that created the chunkiest milk chocolate bar in the world, but they do come from one of the hotspots during that minor disagreement between royal houses in the fifteenth century, the Wars of the Noses. Roses. Wars of the Roses. Yes, I know: I'm filling up more space with pointless banter. Sue me. The average settlement is ten thousand dollars.
Okay, York once had a player called Arthur Bottom, and no, he wasn't the only no-legged player in the game. Amusing though. I know, I know! I'm looking. You know how hard this is, separating dry, boring statistics from dry, boring information I can actually use? Thank a god I don't believe in it's almost over now. What was I thinking? Well, the finish line is in sight. One last spurt - sorry about that; got a bit excited. Better go change my underwear - one last push and we'll be there.
Right. York seem to have spent a lot of their time being relegated - winter of their discontent? Sorry - and climbing back up, only to be knocked back down again. Who started singing that Chumbawamba song? Stop it: it's very distracting. Where was I? Oh yeah. In 2001 the club was put up for sale, in dire financial straits, and bought by a racing driver, who promptly sent it into administration. When you read further, that's not so surprising, as a sponsorship deal worth 400K which should have rightly benefited the club went instead to his racing team, after which he fucked off, unseen for dust. Charming.
Ok footy fans, that's it!
(https://media.tenor.com/PZpO3A2UgyYAAAAM/free-i%27m-free.gif)
(https://y.yarn.co/8938486b-1bb2-42fd-958d-84665cecce9e_text.gif)
Ninety-two teams in the first round of the 2024/2025 FA Cup first round, and I've told you all I can about them. At least now you have a better idea of who's playing. Probably a huge waste of time, but it's done now.
(https://i.redd.it/i9sohlnvh6vb1.gif)
The FA Cup begins on November 2, and runs to May 17 of next year, progressing through five rounds before we hit quarter-finals, semi-finals and then the final. But round one begins in 10 days, when I'll be back to take you through all the action.
Till then...
(https://y.yarn.co/846963a6-cc4f-412c-98f8-21eea75c7e6a_text.gif)
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjidTlGwQqeYMfbxvAl8BWtSEf0ozVIem1OPDuqM7DlInm0VgfVljg77jiMN_GKzenFwauLnghpT7OS2rCFlXJqsCbtSyJTeqdHzFd5zWRCm8jDeHWBFxdtIUnML3tnS0jLmIE0KWVmBiGQ/s498/tenor+%25282%2529.gif)
Rather to my disappointment - but perhaps I should have expected this - there is no official television coverage of the First Round. Two channels (ITV and BBC) are broadcasting one match each, but that's it. There appear to be no highlights shows, and despite my hope that Match of the Day would do an FA Cup special, they of course are not, as right now all the Premier League teams are still playing in, well, the Premier League, and won't enter the FA Cup till later rounds. So unless they did a separate show (which they don't seem to be doing) they can't replace the Saturday/Sunday shows, as there are still Premier League matches to be played.
As a result of that, all I can do is try to catch the matches being shown live, if I can, and then piece together details of the others, as I often do, from Wiki, BBC Sports and other match reports. In all, there are five matches being shown, but the other channels, the ITV ones, are not ones I pay for and so are not on my system. I've managed to add them (after some trouble) but they cannot be recorded, so I would have to watch each match live. Plus they can't be paused, which presents its own problems. In reality, I expect I'll only get to watch the two being shown on BBC.
I'm not even sure if I can find league tables to show where the various teams are in their own leagues; for the lower ones such as the National or Northern Premier Leagues, I feel this is very much doubtful, but I'll do what I can.
So I'll try to add what colour I can to my reports, reminding you of who the teams are and what their achievements, if any, have been, without, if possible, just copying and pasting from my other posts. I'll add in what humour I can, make my own observations as to what may or may not have happened, and generally make the mess I do of things when I don't have the actual matches to watch.
Hey, that's the FA Cup for you!
TAMWORTH JUST KNOCKED OUT HUDDERSFIELD!
Well done lads!
Full match report coming up in due course. The Lambs went to the slaughter but ended up savaging the Terriers, and didn't they deserve it!
(https://dreamgifs5.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/untitled-354.gif?w=760)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Tamworth_FC.svg/300px-Tamworth_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg/280px-Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Tamworth v Huddersfield Town
Home city or town: Tamworth v Huddersfield
Area: Staffordshire v West Yorkshire
Nicknames: The Lambs v The Terriers
Match played at: The Lamb Ground
Managers: Andy Peaks v Michael Duff
Currently playing in: National League v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 3
Position (if available) or Form:++ 16th/Relegated from the Championship but 6th in League 1 at the moment
Expectations:* On paper, Huddersfield would appear to be the ones with the advantage here, having already won the Cup, but as they always say with this tournament, take nothing for granted.
Prediction: Huddersfield Town 3 - 0 Tamworth
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: Third Round /Winners
When you consider that Huddersfield have just recently been in English football's second-highest tier, the Championship, and by contrast, Tamworth are made up of part-timers (their goalkeeper is a full-time builder AND was working on the day of the match!), you begin to see the enormity of the task of giant killing here for the lads from Staffordshire. They're not even doing well in the National League, currently sitting 16th, which, while it doesn't put them in danger of relegation, doesn't exactly mean they will be expecting to see the giddy heights of the Football League any time soon. Still, I hear they've achieved back-to-back promotions over the last two years, from the Southern Premier League, to get to where they are today, and maybe they are on a slow climb up. An FA Cup upset would probably do wonders for their season, of course, and you'd expect them to survive in the league.
However they were facing a team which had already won the trophy, even if that was a century ago, but in some ways there was more pressure on the League 1 side, as the last thing they wanted to do was bow out in the first round, especially to a team way below them. Pride would definitely figure in the game for Huddersfield, and they would take nothing for granted. Being on the telly might add another layer of pressure, possibly, as their mistakes/glories would be there for all the nation to see as they happened. A great financial boost for the Lambs though, as each team would be paid by the League if the game was televised from their ground. No doubt that money will come in very handy for Tamworth, no matter the outcome. With replays now no longer a thing in the FA Cup, this would be the smaller teams' best chance of making money, as before this, should the original match be played away, a draw would allow them to play the rematch at their own ground, resulting in higher revenue for them.
But the main thing was, if not to win the match, at least give a good account of themselves and try not to look like a team of part-timers. In front of their home fans, they'd be anxious to perform well. They had the first attack on goal within three minutes, having been given a free kick, but the Huddersfield keeper punched it away. Tamworth showing no fear, that's for sure, not cowed by the big occasion. They also defended well when Huddersfield got down their half, which wasn't as often as you might have expected.
First corner to the visitors, but it came to nothing, then the gulf between the teams, or at least the grounds, became clear when the Tamworth net had to be fixed as it was coming away at the corners! Ah, don't you just love the FA Cup? A long throw worthy of Rory Delap almost let Tamworth in on 12 minutes, then there was a cry for a penalty for handball, but VAR isn't being used here, and the ref didn't see it, so no dice. A moment afterwards the visitors went close but the ball just went inches wide of the post. A warning, perhaps, for the Lambs?
Huddersfield seemed to be settling in now and taking control of the game, but we hadn't even played 15 minutes, so a long way to go yet. Tamworth got their first corner halfway through the first half, but on the half-hour it was still scoreless. The Terriers came close with eight minutes to go when they got a free, but the Tamworth keeper/builder made a fine save to keep them out as time ticked down, the Lambs surely the happier of the two. With two minutes to go the home side struck, scoring their first goal of the tournament and shocking the League 1 side as another of those Delapesque long throws found its target, Creaney went up for it but Maxwell, the Huddersfield keeper, actually punched it into his own net, under pressure from the Tamworth man. Really, though an own goal, you'd give huge credit to Tonks, who launched it into the area like some sort of grenade or something, and the goal owes a massive amount to his long throw. A minute later they could have been two ahead, but Creaney shot straight at the keeper, who this time was able to keep it out. So at the break, to the delight of the home fans and the dismay of the visitors, Tamworth were ahead.
A cagey opening to the second half then, as Huddersfield, perhaps with more respect for the minnows, carefully tried to build up attacks while Tamworth were intent on keeping their one-goal lead, and even possibly adding to it, but surely well aware that a single goal was a hard advantage to keep with half the match to go. No complacency here from the part-timers, and no running away with themselves or dreaming of Wembley or anything; there was a job to be done.
A second "Tonks Torpedo" almost had them two up, but Maxwell had learned his lesson, then a corner came to nothing, but Tamworth pressing for the second, but well able to defend too when they needed to. Past the hour and it was still one-nil to the Lambs, Huddersfield unable to make the breakthrough. Mind you, the home side almost gifted them a goal when Cullinane-Liburd nearly lobbed his own keeper, but thankfully for the Lambs it went just past the post.
13 minutes to go and Tamworth nearly had another, securing the game as McGlinchey got on the end of another Tonks throw, but this time Maxwell was equal to it. The National League team definitely in the ascendancy though, as they had been all through the game really. Huddersfield wasted three corners, including one in the last four minutes, each being easily claimed by the Tamworth keeper. Time running out for the League 1 team.
In fact, the Lambs nearly got a second from a corner in the dying moments, but over the top it went. It was pretty clear that this was the danger time; should Huddersfield snatch what would be at this point an unlikely equaliser and force the game into extra time, Tamworth would be demoralised and might capitulate. And with seven added minutes shown, the Lambs were definitely living on their nerves, unless they could make certain of the victory by netting again.
In fact, in the first minute of extra time it almost happened for the Terriers, Wiles shooting just wide of the post, and again on 93 but this time saved. A desperate, last-minute flurry of chances by Huddersfield came to nothing, as Tamworth took the game and became giant killers, knocking Huddersfield Town out of the FA Cup. And it wasn't even as if they fluked a goal - well, okay it was an own goal but well deserved - as Tamworth controlled the game and honestly, Huddersfield were lucky not to go down two or three nil. But one will do, and it's a great night for the non-league team. There'll be no silence of the Lambs tonight in Tamworth - the whole town will be rocking. Well done, you Lambs!
Result: Tamworth 1 - 0 Huddersfield Town
Scorer(s): Maxwell (og) (TAM)
Effect: Huddersfield go out, Tamworth advance to the Second round
Match rating: :5stars:
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings total so far: 1
Eliminated:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg/280px-Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R 0 W 1
* = Though you can never predict the outcome of a match in the FA Cup, I'll be trying to do so on the basis of form and perhaps league position. Probably get it wrong each time, but what the hell.
** = this time I won't list them all, just a yes or no, and it will only refer, of course, to any previous ones, not this year's tournament.
++ = Position is obvious: what position are they in their particular league? Form is a little more nebulous, and would be something like are they on their way up or down, fighting relegation, about to be champions of their league, midway, just promoted or relegated etc.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg/280px-Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Northampton Town v Kettering Town
Home city or town: Northampton v Burton Latimer
Area: Northamptonshire v Northamptonshire
Nicknames: The Cobblers v The Poppies
Match played at: Sixfields Stadium
Managers: Jon Brady v Richard Lavery
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v Southern League Premier Division Central
Tier: 3 v 8
Position (if available) or Form:++ 18th/1st
Expectations:* It would be a giant killing indeed if tiny Kettering Town, playing in the 8th tier of football, beat the mighty Northampton, who are just below the Championship, though stranger things have happened. I would expect the Cobblers to walk this one though. Sorry.
Prediction: Northampton Town 4 - 0 Kettering Town
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round /Fourth round
A second giant-killing in one day would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Well, as I keep saying, this is the FA Cup, and tiny Kettering Town hold the highest score in the competition, at a staggering 920. Not even Premier League teams can equal that! Also, Kettering have a list of giant-killings as long as your arm, with big names like Bristol City and Notts County notched up to the SLPDC team, while Northampton Town just have the one, in fact the team knocked out by Kettering's fellow minnows Tamworth earlier today, Huddersfield Town. And that was back in 1934! Add to this the fact that Kettering, though in tier 5, are first in that league whereas their opponents are struggling in League 1, trying to stay above the relegation zone, and well, it could happen. We have, literally, seen it.
This is also a derby of sorts, as both teams come from the same area, Northamptonshire, and there must be some sort of rivalry between the high-flying (but currently falling) League 1 team and the tiny team who are top of the Southern League Premier Division Central, with the latter surely out to prove something. Northampton were on the attack within seconds though, all the possession with the League 1 team.Kettering had their own shot on goal with 10 minutes, the header into the keeper's gloves.
Without question, the League 1 team were playing far better than had Huddersfield Town in their game against Tamworth, and almost got their reward on the quarter-hour, but the goal was ruled offside and nil-nil it remained. It looked like the goal should have stood, but with no input from VAR the ref's word was final and it was ruled out. Different atmosphere here, of course, as the match was being played at the home ground of the League 1 team, so all the cheers were for Northampton. Still, for all the home support and all the admittedly fine football from the Cobblers, it was Kettering who had arguably the best chance of the half, clear through on goal before the keeper snagged it, both teams having had their scares now.
It was Northampton who struck first though, amazingly another own goal to open a match as Johnson stuck out his leg and diverted the ball into his own net, to put the Cobblers ahead almost on the half hour. They could have doubled their lead a few minutes later but over the bar it went, another good shot with 7 minutes to go but straight at the keeper. And again on 40. You'd have to say that Northampton's finishing needed work for sure. After all, they were in the lead but only through an own goal.
Kettering weren't doing so great either though, having hardly had a shot on goal, and as the half wound down it didn't look like that was going to change, nor did it, and so advantage with the home team as the kettles began to boil. Though continuing in control of the game, the home side showed their lack of finishing when McCarron was again straight through but could not beat the man in front of the Kettering net. The same from the corner they got on 55, straight into the keeper's arms.
You know, if Kettering could get themselves together, they could have a chance here, Northampton far from in a commanding position and possibly made to rue all those missed chances. And the visitors came close on 57 with two bites of the cherry, but failing to make the Northampton net bulge. It did get them their first corner - which they completely wasted - and then they were back defending while the Cobblers went on the attack again. And on 68 Kettering levelled, as had been somewhat on the cards. Pretty bad for the home team, who should have been home and dry by now, and were now staring at an equaliser which, given what they had done so far, didn't look too likely they could overturn. An exciting last twenty minutes then, or a dogged struggle to keep it at a draw and go to extra time, maybe penalties?
Advantage definitely with the visitors now, and if any team looked like scoring again, and possibly winning the match, it was them. A lot of action down the Kettering half but mostly wasted effort as Northampton desperately tried to get back in front. The last ten minutes saw Kettering push forward in search of a winner, and nearly get it two minutes from time, but the Northampton keeper was grateful to be able to catch it, then in the last minute of added time it was the Cobblers who spurned the chance to take all three points, and into extra time we went.
Hardly a minute gone when Kettering got a corner and Ranger blasted a header past the Northampton keeper to put them in front, both their goals now having come from headers. In the 5th minute it was the Cobblers' turn to get a corner, but this time it was wasted, Kettering still in front at the end of the first half of extra time. Just hold on for fifteen more minutes and they were through to the second round.
In the second minute of the second half Kettering almost shot themselves in the foot, giving the ball away in front of their goal, but luckily their keeper was alert and gathered. Northampton beginning to play now, as they watched the tie slip away from them, but had they left it too late? Yes they had, and unable to break Kettering down, it was the Poppies who won, to take down the League 1 side and win the unofficial derby, and more importantly a place in the second round.
Result: Northampton 1 - 2 Kettering Town
Scorer(s): Johnson (og) (NOR), Miller, Ranger (KET)
Effect: Northampton go out, Kettering march on
Match rating: :4stars:
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings total so far: 2
Eliminated:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg/280px-Huddersfield_Town_AFC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg/280px-Northampton_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R 0 W 2
Okay had to wait for the last match to be played last night before I could continue really. There are some changes. And here they are.
Predictions are gone. I'm shit at them anyway and they're a bit pointless unless you know what you're talking about, which I never do.
Position/form is gone, as this information was too hard to come by, and in the case of some teams, impossible.
Effect is gone; once I realised there were no replays, the effect was always going to be the same: loser goes out, winner goes on.
Ratings are gone, as many of the highlights I watched (there were over 40 matches) were just too short to form a proper opinion on, or idea of how the match went.
Now that we've sorted that out, let's go. We got a lot to get through.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c0/Rotherham_United_FC.svg/290px-Rotherham_United_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg/320px-Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Rotherham United v Cheltenham Town
Home city or town: Rotherham v Cheltenham
Area: South Yorkshire v Gloucestershire
Nicknames: The Millers v The Robins
Match played at: New York Stadium
Managers: Steve Evans v Michael Flynn
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v EFL League 2
Tier: 3 v 4
Expectations:* Something more of an even match-up, so to speak, with both teams in the EFL, though a division apart.
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round /Fourth round
The visitors were ahead with a bit of a comedy of errors when the Rotherham keeper fumbled the ball from a corner, but his blushes were spared when his team raced down the opposition end and banged the ball past his counterpart, levelling the match. The home side's keeper could not be blamed for the second Cheltenham goal, which was a thing of beauty, and they sealed it with their third just before the hour, to assure their own progress and leave the home fans muttering about that bloody keeper, perhaps unfairly. But then, what do football supporters know about fairness, especially when their team has been knocked out of the FA Cup?
Result: Rotherham 1 - 3 Cheltenham Town
Scorer(s): Wilks (ROT), Colwill (2), Archer (CLT):
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: N/A
Predictions so far: R0 W 2
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/Barrow_AFC_logo.svg/300px-Barrow_AFC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Barrow v Doncaster Rovers
Home city or town: Barrow-in-Furness v Doncaster
Area: Cumbria v South Yorkshire
Nicknames: Bluebirds v Rovers
Match played at: Holker Street
Managers: Stephen Clemence v Grant McCann
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 2
Tier: 4 v 4
Expectations:* Very much an even match in terms of positions, with both teams playing their football in the EFL League 2, however from what I read Doncaster Rovers have never even qualified for the FA Cup prior to this, whereas Barrow have made it to the third round, also taking a major scalp in Brentford, back in 2009. So I'd actually go for the home side on this one.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Third round/Never qualified
Barrow could have taken the lead but for the heroics of the Doncaster keeper, and it was in fact Rovers who scored the first, and only goal, seven minutes from time, to send them through to the second round.
Result: Barrow 0 - 1 Doncaster Rovers
Scorer(s): Kelly (DON)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R0 W3
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/Worthing_FC_crest.svg/360px-Worthing_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Morecambe_FC_crest.svg/320px-Morecambe_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Worthing v Morecambe
Home city or town: Worthing v Morecambe
Area: West Sussex v Lancashire
Nicknames: The Rebels v The Shrimps
Match played at: Woodside Stadium
Managers: Chris Agutter v Derek Adams
Currently playing in: National League South v EFL League 2
Tier: 6 v 4
Expectations:* Morecambe would appear to have this. They've made it further in previous Cups, they have two giant killings under their belt (Cambridge United and Chesterfield, both in this century) and they play two tiers above their opponents.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Second round/ Third round
Another Delapesque long throw had the visitors ahead here in the seventh minute, but Worthing held them off gamely for another 81 before Morecambe took their second two minutes from time to confirm their qualification for the second round.
Result: Worthing 0 - 2 Morecambe
Scorer(s): Slew, Williams (MOR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: Right (first time!)
Predictions so far: R1 W3
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ea/Boreham_Wood_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Boreham_Wood_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Boreham Wood v Leyton Orient
Home city or town: Borehamwood v Leyton
Area: Hertfordshire v London
Nicknames: The Wood v The O's
Match played at: Meadow Park
Managers: Luke Garrard v Richie Wellen
Currently playing in: National League South v EFL League 1
Tier: 6 v 3
Expectations:* It would be quite a giant killing if Boreham Wood, playing in tier 6, beat the EFL's Leyton Orient, but then, the home side have an impressive collection of giant scalps in their bag, including Wimbledon, Bournemouth, Blackpool and Southend. Orient, however, are no slouches in that department either, having taken down Chelsea, Fulham, Norwich and Swansea, all teams that are playing, or have played in the Premier League. They've gone further in previous Cups, reaching the semi-finals whereas Boreham Wood have only ever made the fifth round. Orient have also been in the top tier of English football themselves, so on balance I'd have to go for them, but it may be tighter than expected.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Semi-finals
12 minutes on the clock and the League 1 team, who had been controlling the game from the off, struck, as Leyton Orient notched up their first goal of the tournament, giving the home side an even bigger mountain to climb. Boreham Wood kept them from adding to that score though until the second half, when it all began to happen, and the magic of the FA Cup was sprinkled around Meadow Park as a second goal for Orient three minutes into the half was suddenly looking not so secure on 68 when the minnows struck back to halve the deficit. Game on!
6 minutes to go and the National League South side equalised, leaving a stunned Leyton Orient looking at a comfortable two-goal lead having vanished and extra time looming. Orient went in search of the winner, their 87th minute strike only kept out by a powerful save by the Boreham Wood keeper, time creeping away. The Wood could have grabbed a famous win in extra time when they got a free, and scored, Meadow Park in delirium. Unfortunately, the man with the flag ruined the celebrations, and no VAR to turn to.
And so into extra time we went, Leyton Orient probably wondering how they had ended up here, and now fighting to take a tie which both should have been well won in the first 45, and had almost slipped away from them in the second. 10 minutes into extra time the Wood's chances seemed to have increased as the League 1 team had a man sent off. Surely the football gods were smiling upon them?
Three minutes to go and again Wood could have taken it, had it not been for the acrobatics of the Leyton Orient keeper. Penalties on the horizon? Surprising to think that a team playing so far behind them could have driven Orient to this extreme. However, not every ending is a happy one for the little guy, and not every small team can be a giant killer, and Orient settled it with a fine set of penalties, only one missed to Boreham Wood's three. Leyton Orient breathed a sigh of relief, but the National League South team can be proud of themselves. More than once there, it just looked possible.
Result: Boreham Wood 2 - 2 Leyton Orient (3-1 on penalties to Leyton Orient)
Scorer(s): Marsh, O'Connell (BOR), Perkins, Agyei (LEY)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R2 W3
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/Exeter_City_FC.svg/360px-Exeter_City_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Barnet_FC.svg/340px-Barnet_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Exeter City v Barnet
Home city or town: Exeter v Barnet
Area: Devon v London
Nicknames: Grecians v Bees
Home ground:
Match played at: St. James Park
Managers: Gary Caldwell v Dean Brennan
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League
Tier: 3 v 5
Expectations:* This is a hard one. Exeter are the team playing in League 1, yet Barnet, two tiers below, have four major giants killed, including Newport County, Sheffield United, Stockport County and Bristol Rovers, the last three of whom all fell to them as recently as 2019, so they're no stranger to taking down the big teams. Exeter spent wilderness years outside of the Football League, so may not be quite the formidable opposition they appear to be. For once, I'm going for the little guy on this one.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Third round/Fourth round
Exeter were ahead comfortably and must have thought this would be a doddle against a team two tiers below them, but Barnet shot back to level it before the break. Then, to the agony of the home fans, the Bees were ahead in the second, and it looked like Exeter might be going out. Enter a substitute, who won a penalty which the captain converted to level the tie.
But if the Grecians thought that was the game put to bed, Barnet woke them up with a late goal that allowed them to retake the lead, until Exeter got a second penalty, and we were all square again. Extra time? Not quite, as Exeter scored again to take the lead for the third time, in the sixth minute of added time, and set the seal on it with their fifth in the eleventh. I think this may, so far, be the highest-scoring game in round one! Who would have thought it?
Result: Exeter 5 - 3 Barnet
Scorer(s): McGennis (p) (p) (3), Bird, Doyle (EXE), Glover, Brunt, Kabamba (BNT)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R1 W4
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/Carlisle_United_FC_crest.svg/340px-Carlisle_United_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/360px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png)
Team name: Carlisle United v Wigan Athletic
Home city or town: Carlisle v Wigan
Area: Cumbria v Manchester
Nicknames: The Blues v The Latics
Match played at: Brunton Park
Managers: Mark Williamson v Shaun Moloney
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* Wigan have a massive pedigree in the FA Cup, having won it once and also kicked out the mighty Man City not once, not twice, but three times. Their other major scalp is... Carlisle United! Though this was way way back in 1934, you have to imagine this will be seen as something of a historic grudge match. In addition to those accomplishments, of course, Wigan have played in the Premier League, though not that recently. Carlisle, on the other hand, have no big names under their belt but did reach the quarter-finals themselves. I doubt it will be enough though, and I would imagine the sheer force of history and experience will tell. Wigan for the win.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals/Winners
Carlisle were already looking at a major battle against League 1 and former winners of the Cup Wigan when they were slapped with a red card and down to ten men. Not a good start, but they defended well and kept Wigan out, the match ending 0-0 and heading into extra time, where the man advantage finally paid dividends for the visitors, Smith scoring in the 105th minute and that seemed to be that.
Not so, as the ten men doggedly fought back, and could have levelled only for a spectacular save by the Wigan keeper, but with time running out Carlisle committed all remaining ten men for a last-minute corner, and when it came to nothing their goal was undefended. Smith (not the same one) won the race and bagged Wigan's second, slotting the ball into the empty net to ensure their progress, and leaving a battling Carlisle side somewhat red-faced, but that's the chance you take when you send your keeper up field.
Result: Carlisle United 0 - 2 Wigan Athletic
Scorer(s): Smith, Smith (two different ones) (WIG)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 3
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R2 W4
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/BrackleyTownFCBadge.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Braintreefc.png)
Team name: Brackley Town v Braintree Town
Home city or town: Brackley v Braintree
Area: Northamptonshire v Essex
Nicknames: The Saints v The Iron
Match played at: St. James Park
Managers: Gavin Cowan v Lennie Lawrence
Currently playing in: National League North v National League
Tier: 6 v 5
Expectations:* Two teams from the National League, though Brackley are a lower tier side, playing in the National League North. Overall I think they might cancel each other out.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Second round/ Second round
Brackley were the danger team here, it seems, their players twice going close but being denied, and Braintree clung on through extra time and into penalties, where the lower tier side won 5-4. A day for the underdogs, even if the other team were kind of over-underdogs, if you will.
Result: Brackley Town 0 - 0 Braintree Town (Brackley win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): None
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings total so far: 4
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R3 W4
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Curzon_Ashton_F.C._Logo_2018.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Mansfield_Town_FC.svg/300px-Mansfield_Town_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Curzon Ashton v Mansfield Town
Home city or town: Ashton-under-Lyne v Mansfield
Area: Manchester v Nottinghamshire
Nicknames: The Nash v The Stags
Match played at: Tameside Stadium
Managers: Craig Mahon v Nigel Clough
Currently playing in: National League North v EFL League 1
Tier: 6 v 3
Expectations:* There's a massive gulf between the teams here, three tiers, though both have taken major scalps, Curzon Ashton beating Exeter City in 2009, while Mansfield have to look back sixty years to their only big success, when they took down West Ham in the Summer of Love. The visitors have progressed further though, and again I would see experience telling.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Third round/Fifth round
The home side could have had a penalty early but the defender timed his tackle perfectly, and the ref saw nothing wrong with it. But on the quarter-hour it was Mansfield who were awarded a spot kick for handball, Ashton with a man sent off to compound their misery. Not much hope for the non-league team now. Atkins scored and put Mansfield ahead, to boos from the home crowd.
(https://y.yarn.co/b48f72bd-bee1-4539-8c8c-59135541a143_text.gif)
Quinn made certain on the half-hour, giving his team a pretty unassailable 2-0 lead for eleven men, never mind ten. Evans came close to tripling their tally in the first half, and the Nash must have been praying for full time as their goal was consistently battered by Mansfield. Ashton just couldn't get near the ball as Mansfield showed the difference in their standings, taking their third while the home team fumed over a free kick they thought they should have had. Quinn added a forth in the dying moments to give the Nash no chance, and the Stags march proudly on.
Result: Curzon Ashton 0 - 4 Mansfield Town
Scorer(s): Akins, Waine, Quinn (2) (MAN)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 4
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R4 W4
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/360px-Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/York_City_FC.svg/220px-York_City_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Wycombe Wanderers v York City
Home city or town: High Wycombe v York
Area: Buckinghamshire v Yorkshire
Nicknames: The Chairboys v The Minstermen
Match played at: Adams Park
Managers: Matt Bloomsfield v Adam Hinschelwood
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League
Tier: 3 v 5
Expectations:* Interesting. Though they're separated by two tiers, as we know, this often counts for little in the FA Cup, and a better guide to form is how each team did in that tournament. And both did well, each reaching the semis and each grabbing major giant killings on the way, York defeating West Brom, Middlesbrough and Arsenal, while their opponents took down Grimsby Town, Wimbledon, Wolves and Leicester. Could be a hard-fought match, and I would say perhaps another draw.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals
A penalty opened this match, awarded to Wycombe, who duly put it away to take the lead, and they were soon two up, but York, though playing two tiers below them, are top of their own league, and they hit back with a fine shot on the half hour. A free for the hosts in the second half re-established their two-goal lead, and though York pulled another back in the fourth minute of added time, it's Wycombe who go through.
Result: Wycombe Wanderers 3 - 2 York City
Scorer(s): Leahy (2), Kodua (WYC), Sinclair, Felix (YOR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 4
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R4 W5
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg/260px-Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/30/Aldershot_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Aldershot_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Bradford City v Aldershot Town
Home city or town: Bradford v Aldershot
Area: West Yorkshire v Hampshire
Nicknames: The Bantams v The Shots
Match played at: Valley Parade
Managers: Graham Alexander v Tommy Widdrington
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v National League
Tier: 4 v 5
Expectations:* A lot of pluses on Bradford's side here. Not only are they playing on a higher tier than the Shots, they have gone on to win the FA Cup and have defeated major league opposition such as Chelsea, Newcastle and Sunderland. The Bantams have also been in the Premier League. I don't see the visitors getting much out of this one.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Final/Fourth round
Aldershot took a shock lead in the first half, stunning Valley Parade, but this didn't spur the Bantams to any sort of response until the second half, when Oliver shot into an empty net after the keeper had gone walkabout. An easier goal than that he's unlikely to score in his life. Parity restored, but could Bradford hold that, and more to the point, get another to make themselves safe? Well, as it happened, yes they could, but they had a lot of help from the visitors, as the ball was turned into the Shots' own net by Maghoma, who could only lie face-down on the ground, probably unwilling to face his team mates.
Bradford made sure just after the hour when Kavanagh put the seal on what had been, after all, not the easy victory the Bantams had probably been anticipating. Still, they're through and Aldershot are out.
Result: Bradford City 3 - 1 Aldershot Town
Scorer(s): Oliver, Maghoma (og), Kavanagh (BRA), Barham (ALD)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 4
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R5 W5
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg/320px-Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Scarborough_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/330px-Scarborough_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Burton Albion v Scarborough Athletic
Home city or town: Burton-on-Trent v Scarborough
Area: Staffordshire v South Yorkshire
Nicknames: The Brewers v The Seadogs
Match played at: Pirelli Stadium
Managers: Mark Robinson v Jonathan Greening
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League North
Tier: 4 v 6
Expectations:* On paper, the advantage would seem to be with the home team, who have beaten Middlesbrough and advanced further in previous competitions. I feel they will win, but not by a huge margin.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Third round/First round
Just the one goal settled this, and it came from the home side, who had nevertheless to wait till the second half before Kalinauskas netted with twenty minutes to go, consigning the Northern Premier League side to a despondent drive back to the Yorkshire coast.
Result: Burton Albion 1 - 0 Scarborough Athletic
Scorer(s): Kalinauskas (BTN)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings total so far: 4
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R6 W5
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/55/Tranmere_Rovers_FC_crest.svg/300px-Tranmere_Rovers_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg/180px-Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg.png)
Team name: Tranmere Rovers v Oldham Athletic
Home city or town: Tranmere v Oldham
Area: Merseyside v Manchester
Nicknames: Rovers v Adics
Match played at: Prenton Park
Managers: Nigel Adkins v Micky Mellon
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League
Tier: 4 v 5
Expectations:* This could be hard to call. Oldham have gone further in the Cup, and both have killed giants, Oldham taking Liverpool and Tranmere defeating West Ham, Sunderland, Fulham, Everton and Southampton. It's also going to, I assume, be seen as a grudge match, Liverpool v Manchester as it were, and may be heavily contested. I see this as a draw, but not a nil-nil by any means.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals/Semi-finals
Tranmere were ahead on 9 minutes with what can only be called a ball rolled into the goal, seemed to move in slow motion, but it hit the far corner and the Merseyside team were one to the good. Oldham though scored themselves near the end of the half, and now it was really a case of who, if anyone, could score next, surely the goal that would win the game. It turned out to be the visitors, who took it on the hour, and progress to the next round.
Result: Tranmere Rovers 1 - 2 Oldham Athletic
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 5
Scorer(s): Jennings (TRA), Norwood, Uchegbulam (OLD)
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R6 W6
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Rochdale_AFC_crest.svg/360px-Rochdale_AFC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Bromley_FC_crest.svg/350px-Bromley_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Rochdale v Bromley
Home city or town: Rochdale v Bromley
Area: Manchester v London
Nicknames: The Dale v The Lillywhites
Match played at: Spotland Stadium
Managers: Jimmy McNulty v Andy Woodman
Currently playing in: National League v EFL League 2
Tier: 5 v 4
Expectations:* Given both the gulf in leagues and their superior performance in previous FA Cups, I would expect Rochdale to take this.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/First round
Another seven-goal thriller as National League side Rochdale played host to high-flying League 2 Bromley, the match hotly contested between the two. The visitors scored first, though it must be said they took their time. I mean, nineteen seconds. Come on lads, what were you doing for the first eighteen? Not a good start for the Dale, and it got worse two minutes later when the visitors were two ahead, Rochdale looking very naive in defence.
That naivete wore off though halfway through the first period when Rochdale struck back to reduce Bromley to a one-goal lead, wiping that out completely in the second half as they levelled the game. Surely the advantage was with the home side now and they would go on to push for a win? And so, it seemed, they did, as they scored their third, however in stoppage time Bromley did some levelling of their own, and then as extra time loomed Bromley put the finishing touches on their day, taking the lead, and the match, and dumping Rochdale out of the Cup.
Result: Rochdale 3 - 4 Bromley
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 5
Scorer(s): Beckwith, Gordon, Henderson (ROC), Whiteley (2), Cheek, Amantli (BRO)
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R6 W7
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/Walsall_FC.svg/370px-Walsall_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Bolton_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/340px-Bolton_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Walsall v Bolton Wanderers
Home city or town: Walsall v Bolton
Area: West Midlands v Manchester
Nicknames: The Saddlers v The Trotters
Match played at: Poundland Bescot Stadium
Managers: Matt Sadler v Ian Evatt
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* I would see Bolton taking this. Though both teams have seen off major opposition, the list of giants Bolton have killed is huge, including many of the clubs now at the top of the Premier League, like Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City. Also, Bolton have actually won an FA Cup, whereas the best Walsall have managed is the Fifth round.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Winners
Though they dominated the first half, it wasn't till the second that Bolton scored, Walsall replying quickly to equalise, and then, as extra time beckoned, the home side scored in the first minute of added time to take the tie and dump Bolton out of the Cup. Didn't see that coming.
Result: Walsall 2 - 1 Bolton
Scorer(s): Gordon, Jellis (WAL), Sheehan (BOL)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 6
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R6 W8
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Grimsby_Town_F.C._logo.svg/300px-Grimsby_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg/360px-Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Grimsby Town v Wealdstone
Home city or town: Cleethorpes v Ruislip
Area: Lincolnshire v London
Nicknames: The Mariners v The Stones
Match played at: Blundell Park
Managers: David Artell v Matt Taylor
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v National League
Tier: 4 v 5
Expectations:* Just looking at Cup form, I would expect Grimsby to take this.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Third round/Semi-finals
Another giant killing on the cards? National League side Wealdstone came to Blundell Park at a time when the home side were in something of a slump, having failed to win their last five games in League 2. Could they capitalise on this whatever the reverse of a purple patch is? Yes they could, as Grimsby missed a penalty which allowed Wealdstone to take the match in the last minute of normal time and dump the Mariners out of the Cup. Misery heaped upon misery for Grimsby, who are certainly feeling grim (sorry) but a stone cold (sorry again) performance from the National League side, who take down their own Goliath and go marching on into the second round.
Result: Grimsby Town 0 - 1 Wealdstone
Scorer(s): Reid (WEA)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 7
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R6 W9
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Weston-super-Mare_AFC_logo.svg/370px-Weston-super-Mare_AFC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Bristol Rovers v Weston-super-Mare
Home city or town: Bristol v Weston-super-Mare
Area: Bristol v Somerset
Nicknames: The Pirates v The Seagulls
Match played at: Memorial Stadium
Managers: Matt Taylor v Scott Bartlett
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League South
Tier: 3 v 6
Position (if available) or Form:++
Expectations:* You never can tell, of course, but on form I would see Bristol Rovers breezing past Weston-super-wotsit.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals/Second round
Seagulls attacking Pirates? You can usually assume the birds are going to come off worst in that match, and so it was when non-league Weston-super-Mare came to Bristol Rovers' home port. They didn't disgrace themselves, scoring at least, but Rovers took the lead three minutes before halftime, the Seagulls equalising just after the hour, no doubt seeing a giant killing in their sights.
And they nearly did it in normal time, Reed just shooting wide of the home side's net in the dying moments, but saved by the keeper and into extra time the game went. Rovers soon reestablished control when they scored in the first five minutes, and finished off a fine performance with the final kick of the match, dumping the Seagulls overboard and sailing on to their next target. Avast, me hearties! Or something.
Result: Bristol Rovers 3 - 1 Weston-super-Mare
Scorer(s): Lindsey, Taylor, Ward (BRR), Bastin (WSM)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 7
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R7 W9
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Milton_Keynes_Dons_FC_crest.svg/360px-Milton_Keynes_Dons_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg/290px-AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg.png)
Team name: MK Dons v AFC Wimbledon
Home city or town: Milton Keynes v Wimbledon
Area: Buckinghamshire v London
Nicknames: The Dons v The Dons. Um.
Match played at: MK Stadium
Managers: Scott Lindsey v Johnnie Jackson
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v EFL League 2
Tier: 3 v 4
Expectations:* Well who the hell knows? This will be the grudge match of the tournament, as already explained. Also the only match in which both the teams have the same Nicknames. Could get messy, and I am definitely NOT calling this one! Let the chips fall where they may. Note: I haven't filled in the Giant Killings/Best FA Cup Run categories, again for obvious reasons.
Giant Killers?** N/A
Best FA Cup run: N/A
Let's just say hands may not have been shaken before this match (though in fairness, they probably were) and I would expect some pretty crunching tackles. After all, apart from the sizzling rivalry between what are essentially now the two halves of Wimbledon F.C., this was the breeding ground for that spawn of the footballing devil, one Vincent Jones! I'm sure he'd have been glowering from Hollywood and urging on whichever half of the team he used to play for he supports now.
I had not expected a cagey affair, but that's what we got as it took some time for the match to come to life. When it did, it was the visitors (most would say the originals) who scored first, no doubt to the fury of the home fans. They had more reason to grind their collective teeth as the second half opened, when AFC Wimbledon grabbed a second, Vinny either grinning or smashing things, quite possibly loading up a shotgun and booking a ticket to Milton Keynes. If you see this man, do not approach: he is considered angry and dangerous!
But it wouldn't be any sort of a Wimbledon match without a red card, now would it, and true to form, the hosts had a man sent off for a second yellow, a tackle the Hollywood hard man would have been proud of probably. Down to ten now, it seemed about as likely that MK Dons would pull one back as their ex-player becoming a famous movie star. Wait, what? They didn't of course score, and in fact were lucky not to go three down, but in the end they were kicked out of the FA Cup just as, the visitors might say, they were kicked out of Wimbledon. Ah, revenge is sweet, even without the lock, stock, and one or more barrels, smoking or otherwise!
Result: MK Dons 0 - 2 AFC Wimbledon
Scorer(s): Stevens, Omar Bugiel (WIM)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 8
Prediction turned out to be: N/A
Predictions so far: R7 W9
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg/360px-Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/85/Forest_Green_Rovers_crest.svg/360px-Forest_Green_Rovers_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Stockport County v Forest Green Rovers
Home city or town: Stockport v Nailsworth
Area: Manchester v Gloucestershire
Nicknames: The Hatters v The Green
Match played at: Edgeley Park
Managers: Dave Challinor v Steve Cotteril
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v National League
Tier: 3 v 6
Expectations:* INteresting to see that Forest Green are the ones credited with a giant killing, this being Rotherham United, while the League 1 side has none. But then Stockport have got to the fifth round whereas Rovers have only managed the third. Somehow, for some reason, I think it might be the visitors' day though, and I'm going for them.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Third Round
Despite the disparity between the two teams, it wasn't till after the hour that Stockport broke the deadlock, Forest accepting the gift as County were caught in possession and Doidge did not waste the chance. That forced the game, which the home side should easily have won, into extra time, Stockport calming their jitters as they scored again to take the tie and assure themselves of a place in the second round.
Result: Stockport County 2 - 1 Forest Green Rovers
Scorer(s): Horsfall, Wooton (STO), Doidge (FOR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 8
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R7 W10
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/360px-Reading_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/Fleetwood_Town_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Fleetwood_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Reading v Fleetwood Town
Home city or town: Reading v Fleetwood
Area: Berkshire v Lancashire
Nicknames: The Royals v The Fishermen
Match played at: Madejski Stadium
Managers: Ruben Selles v Charlie Adam
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v EFL League 2
Tier: 3 v 4
Expectations:* On paper Reading should take this, but despite being a tier higher than Fleetwood, and advancing further, they haven't any major league scalps to boast of. Hell, I'm going to go for the little guy again.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals/Fifth round
Nothing of merit happened in the first half, but three minutes into the second and the game came to life as the home side scored, their second coming courtesy of a Fleetwood own goal. Players only love you when they're playing, eh? And Fleetwood were not, and so out they go and Reading march on.
Result: Reading 2 - 0 Fleetwood Town
Scorer(s): Bindon, Odobeku (og) (REA)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 8
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R7 W11
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Stevenage_FC_crest.svg/360px-Stevenage_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Guiseley_AFC_logo.png)
Team name: Stevenage v Guiseley
Home city or town: Stevenage v Guiseley
Area: Hertfordshire v West Yorkshire
Nicknames: The Boro v The Lions
Match played at: The Lamex Stadium
Managers: Alex Lavell v Mark Bower
Currently playing in: EFL League 1 v Northern Premier League
Tier: 3 v 6
Position (if available) or Form:++
Expectations:* Not so sure about this one. Both are giant killers, so once more I'll root for the underdog.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Second round
Another game that ended in a draw, went to extra time and the teams could still not be separated, leaving penalties looming. Pretty good for non-league Guiseley, to hold Stevenage from football's third tier to 120 minutes and then only lose by one spot kick. Stevenage struck first, halfway through the first period, and though there were vociferous calls for a handball by the opposing team and fans, the goal stood. Guiseley hit back through the hilariously-named Longbottom after a bad mistake by the Stevenage defender, and pushed the match into extra time.
Nothing further after the 30 minutes were up, so it was time to choose the players who might become heroes on either side. Guiseley missed one penalty of four, to make it sudden death, and their fifth was saved, so Stevenage scrape through on penalties, but it was a close run thing.
Result: Stevenage 1 - 1 Guiseley (Stevenage win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Red (STE), Longbottom (GUI)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 8
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R7 W11
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a3/Swindon_Town_FC.svg/360px-Swindon_Town_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Colchester_United_FC_crest.svg/300px-Colchester_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Swindon Town v Colchester United
Home city or town: Swindon v Colchester
Area: Wiltshire v Essex
Nicknames: The Robins v The U's
Match played at: The County Ground
Managers: Mark Kennedy v Danny Cowley
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 2
Tier: 4 v 4
Expectations:* A good pedigree from both teams. I think this may be a draw.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals/Quarter-finals
A level playing field, so to speak, as both teams play in EFL League 2,very much so. Swindon are third from bottom and looking at relegation, while Colchester are a mere place above them. It was the U's who scored first halfway through the first period and they held Swindon till eight minutes from time. The visitors must have thought they had done enough to earn a place in round two, but the pesky Robins pecked back and a late goal sent the game into extra time.
In the end, it was the home side who took the tie, 106 minutes on the clock before Swindon scored again, dumping out their league mates, and booking their ticket to the second round.
Result:Swindon 2 - 1 Colchester
Scorer(s): McGregor, Tshimanga (SWI), Anderson (COL)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 8
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R8 W10
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Salford_City_FC_crest.svg/260px-Salford_City_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/Shrewsbury_Town_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Shrewsbury_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Salford City v Shrewsbury Town
Home city or town: Salford v Shrewsbury
Area: Manchester v Shropshire
Nicknames: The Ammies v The Shrews
Match played at: Moor Lane
Managers: Karl Robinson v Paul Hurst
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* Both are giant killers, but I think Shrewsbury Town's further progress in the Cup may stand to them.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: First round/Quarter-finals
Salford were ahead in the first five minutes, but failed to capitalise on their strong start and let the Shrews in to level the game ten minutes later. The home side put the game to bed though just before half time, both goals scored by the same player, and assured their progress to the second round.
Result: Salford 2 - 1 Shrewsbury Town
Scorer(s): Lund (2) (SAL), Marquis (SHR)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 9
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R8 W11
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Crewe_Alexandra.svg/280px-Crewe_Alexandra.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg/300px-Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Crewe Alexandra v Dagenham & Redbridge
Home city or town: Crewe v Dagenham
Area: Cheshire v London
Nicknames: The Railwaymen v The Daggers
Match played at: Cresty Road
Managers: Lee Bell/ Ben Strevens
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v National League
Tier: 4 v 5
Expectations:* Going for Crewe on this one. They got to the semi-finals and have a giant killing under their belt, even if it was back in the sixties.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals/Fourth round
A penalty opened the scoring in this match, after both teams had tested each other and been unable to score for almost the entire match. In the end, it was the National League team who took the game with ten minutes of normal time remaining, dumping League 2 Crewe out of the Cup.
Result: Crewe 0 - 1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Scorer(s): Pereira (p) (DAG)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 10
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R8 W12
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Port_Vale_logo.svg/340px-Port_Vale_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Barnsley_FC.svg/350px-Barnsley_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Port Vale v Barnsley
Home city or town: Burslem v Barnsley
Area: South Yorkshire v Stoke-on-Trent
Nicknames: The Valiants v The Tykes
Match played at: Vale Road
Managers: Darren Moore v Darrell Clarke
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* Barnsley having already won this surely puts them in the driving seat?
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals/Winners
Barnsley arrived to play a Port Vale side who are very much in form, top of their league. The Tykes scored first, netting within 17 minutes and settling some nerves, but had a hard fight against Vale, who equalised on the half hour. In the second half Barnsley pulled ahead again, then made it certain when they were awarded a penalty eight minutes from time, which they duly converted. A good result for the Tykes, who dump the South Yorkshire side out of the Cup.
Result: Port Vale 1 - 3 Barnsley
Scorer(s): Curtis (PTV), Roberts, Keillor-Dunne, Philips (BAR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 10
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R9 W12
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg/310px-Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/HFC-Crest.png/400px-HFC-Crest.png)
Team name: Chesterfield v Horsham
Home city or town: Chesterfield v Horsham
Area: Derbyshire v West Sussex
Nicknames: The Spireites v The Hornets
Match played at: SMH Stadium
Managers: Paul Cook v Dominic di Paola
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v Isthmian Premier League
Tier: 4 v 7
Expectations:* Possibly the largest gulf between teams, as tier 4 plays tier 7. I'd be amazed if Horsham won here, so I will go with the path of least resistance and say Chesterfield will win this easily.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Semi-finals/Third round
A massive gulf, as I say, separating the teams here, three full tiers as League 2 Chesterfield welcomed Isthmian Premier League side Horsham to the SMH. The Spireites started as they meant to go on, Grigg scoring his eighth of the season in the first six minutes, adding another in the first minutes of the second half, with a third coming from Dobra just after the hour. Horsham pulled one back late on, but with 5 minutes of normal time to go, it was a bridge too far and the IPL team bow out.
Result: Chesterfield 3 - 1 Horsham
Scorer(s): Grigg (2), Dobra (CHF), Dickson (HRS)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 10
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R10 W12
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/Southend_United.svg/360px-Southend_United.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/370px-Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Southend v Charlton Athletic
Home city or town: Southend v Charlton
Area: Essex v London
Nicknames: The Shrimpers v The Addicks
Match played at: Roots Hall
Managers: Kevin Maher v Nathan Jones
Currently playing in: National League v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 3
Expectations:* Again, you can't ignore the fact that not only did Charlton win the Cup before, they were also in the Premier League, whereas Southend are struggling to maintain their position in a much lower league. Got to go for the Addicks.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Winners
Sometimes, the best you can hope for as a non-league team is not to disgrace yourself when you come up against league opposition, and this was certainly true of Southend, who battled hard and made it difficult for Charlton to see them off. A beautiful long shot on ten minutes had Charlton in the lead, doubling their lead and almost getting a third before half time, and the Shrimpers looked done and down, but in added time they won a penalty and then quickly wiped out Charlton's lead with a fine goal as the second half began.
The Addicks re-established their lead soon after, but Southend weren't finished yet and an own goal at the end of normal time pushed the game into extra time. Not going down easy, Southend, or, as they say, if they were going down they were going down swinging. Twice now they had levelled, and must have been anticipating penalties before Charlton broke their stubborn resistance, and Southend hearts, in the final minute of extra time. Still, the Shrimps can stand tall on their journey back to the Essex coast.
Result: Southend 3 - 4 Charlton
Scorer(s): Bridge, Coker (p), Edwards (SOU), Leaburn, Mitchell, Godden, Yahyai (CHA)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 10
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R11 W12
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/Notts_County_Logo.svg/280px-Notts_County_Logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/Alfreton_Town_FC_logo.svg/280px-Alfreton_Town_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Notts County v Alfreton Town
Home city or town: Nottingham v Alfreton
Area: Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire
Nicknames: The Magpies v The Reds
Match played at: Meadow Lane
Managers: Stuart Maynard v Billy Heath
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v National League North
Tier: 4 v 6
Expectations:* Okay, Notts County did win the thing, but way way back when, so I don't know what they're like now. Given that I've recently been researching Saxon England, and that I like their logo, and for no other reason, going to go for Alfreton.
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: Winners/Second round
Within fifteen minutes it looked like an upset could be on the cards, as non-league Alfreton Town scored to give themselves a real chance, much of the credit must be due to the keeper's long ball which caught the striker perfectly in position. Sixty seconds later their lead was gone as Notts County scored, and from there on in it was all the League 2 team as they went for the win, two more goals in the second half ending Alfreton's hopes of progressing, with a penalty awarded to County five minutes from time heaping further misery on their shoulders.
The home side didn't seem to think that was enough punishment for the team from the Northern Premier League though, as they added insult to injury by bagging a fifth in the final minute, a real statement of their intent to go on and make a name for themselves in this FA Cup.
Result: Notts County 5 - 1 Alfreton Town
Scorer(s): Platt, Jatta (2), Brown (p) (NCO), Waldock (ALF)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 10
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R11 W13
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg/360px-Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Wrexham_A.F.C._Logo.svg/280px-Wrexham_A.F.C._Logo.svg.png)
Team name: Harrogate Town v Wrexham
Home city or town: Harrogate v Wrexham
Area: West Yorkshire v Wales
Nicknames: The Sulphurites v The Red Dragons
Match played at: Wetherby Road
Managers: Simon Weaver v Phil Parkinson
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* Given the impressive list of scalps the Welsh team has, and also given their Hollywood cash injection recently, I can't see Wrexham losing this.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Third round/Quarter-finals
Okay well I just have to say it, and you know I will: does sulphur work against a dragon? Not for the first shot on target, which the Harrogate keeper saved anyway, nor the second or third, the League 1 side keeping out the Welsh high-flyers. Mind you, defending was all the Sulphurites were doing, as they had not yet had a shot on goal themselves. They corrected this in the 24th minute, after a wasted corner resulted in a second, which itself resulted in the first goal. Dragon slain? Well, a long way to go yet for the knights of Harrogate Town.
In the second half, Wrexham powered forward, through with only the keeper to beat, but unable to complete that task, and 1-0 it remained. Another fine shot with 17 minutes to go brought an equally fine save out of the Harrogate keeper, then the home side were denied a penalty and it looked like the tie might be swinging in the favour of the Welsh. Five minutes to go and they scored, but the offside flag saved Harrogate and gave them the match, a fine giant killing and no doubt upsetting a certain Mr. Reynolds.
Result: Harrogate Town 1 - 0 Wrexham
Scorer(s): Muldoon (HAR)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R11 W14
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/de/Woking_FC_logo.svg/360px-Woking_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8f/Cambridge_United_FC.svg/300px-Cambridge_United_FC.svg.png)
Team name: Woking v Cambridge United
Home city or town: Woking v Cambridge
Area: Surrey v Cambridgeshire
Nicknames: The Cardinals v Nothing (!)
Match played at: Laithwaite Community Stadium
Managers: Michael Doyle v Garry Monk
Currently playing in: National League v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 3
Expectations:* Again, though Cambridge reached further in the Cup I wonder if the large amount of giant killings Woking amassed will work in their favour?
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round/Quarter-finals
Cambridge's first goal was ruled out for handball, not by the ref, who didn't see it, but by an alert linesman, and nil-nil it remained. Woking didn't lie down, but the only team in the FA Cup without a nickname took the only goal of the tie in the 73rd minute, ensuring their own progress to the second round.
Result: Woking 0 - 1 Cambridge United
Scorer(s): Brophy (CAM)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R11 W15
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/FC_Gillingham_Logo.svg/280px-FC_Gillingham_Logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Blackpool_FC_logo.svg/360px-Blackpool_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Gillingham v Blackpool
Home city or town: Gillingham v Blackpool
Area: Kent v Lancashire
Nicknames: The Gills v The Seasiders
Match played at: Priestfield Stadium
Managers: Mark Bonner v Steve Bruce
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* Given that it seems this is Gillingham's first foray into the FA Cup, and that they're facing one of the winners, I don't give much for the home side's chances.
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: Never qualified/Winners
Gillingham had the early chance but spurned it, while the Tangerines knew how to put the ball in the net, and did so on taking the lead. In the second half it was as you were until added time, when Blackpool made it safe, Carey racing down field and scoring his and Blackpool's second. The League 1 side move on, while Gillingham are left to perhaps rue those missed chances.
Result: Gillingham 0 - 2 Blackpool
Scorer(s): Carey (2) (BLP)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R12 W15
(https://www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk/images/new-badge-2023/3786-360.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Harborough_Town_F.C._logo.png)
Team name: Tonbridge Angels v Harborough Town
Home city or town: Tonbridge v Market Harborough
Area: Kent v Leicestershire
Nicknames: Angels v Bees
Match played at: Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium
Managers: Jay Saunders v Mitch Austin
Currently playing in: National League South v Southern League Premier Central
Tier: 6 v 7
Expectations:* Honestly, I can't see much to choose between these two very lower-ranked teams, neither of whom have been in the FA Cup before. Purely on the name, I'm going for the Angels.
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: Neither have qualified before
Harborough, who in this match would be seen as the minnows, with one tier between the two teams, struck first and were ahead on 41 minutes, adding a second on the hour, a long shot from the back releasing their top striker Stephens, and putting them in a commanding lead. Stephens was among the goals again 12 minutes later, Harborough now three to the good. Angels looked dumbfounded, but they found (sorry) the net themselves, but only once, in extra time and only after the Bees had stung them for a fourth time, leaving it in no doubt who was going through, the first time Harborough Town have ever qualified, never mind progressed to the second round.
Result: Tonbridge Angels 1 - 4 Harborough Town
Scorer(s): Malone, Stephens (2), Forbes (HAR), Shields (TON)
Giant killing? Yes
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R12 W16
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Sutton_United_FC_crest.svg/320px-Sutton_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg/300px-Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team name: Sutton United v Birmingham City
Home city or town: Sutton v Birmingham
Area: London v West Midlands
Nicknames: The U's v The Blues
Match played at: Gander Green Lane
Managers: Steve Morison v Chris Davies
Currently playing in: National League v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 3
Expectations:* I just can't do anything other than give this to Birmingham. And no, I don't hate them because I'm a Villa fan, only when Steve Bruce was managing them, and he's not any more. I just don't see Sutton United getting past them, despite a pile of big scalps in the Cup.
Giant Killers?** Yes/No
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Final
The U's faced the Blues, and who would have seen a giant killing in this match? Birmingham play two tiers above Sutton United, and have the additional pedigree of having got to the final back in 1956. Not only that, but they're currently at the top of their league, which I'm told makes them the highest-ranked team in this first round, so the signs did not look to favour the National League side. 9 minutes in and Birmingham had a free kick outside the box, though they argued it was in and so should have been a penalty. No VAR to arbitrate, so the ref's decision was final and the Sutton wall lined up and certainly played its part in keeping out the first goal.
The blue wave continued breaking on the yellow shore, so to speak, as Birmingham surged forward, finally netting with 10 minutes to go in the first half. Sutton had a great chance to level but shot wide, wasted chance. They kept pressing though and missed a sitter two minutes from time, spurning a golden opportunity to force extra time, and Birmingham took the match to progress to the second round.
Result: Sutton United 0 - 1 Birmingham City
Scorer(s): Willumsson (BIR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R13 W16
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/44/Newport_County_AFC_crest.svg/360px-Newport_County_AFC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Peterborough_United.svg/360px-Peterborough_United.svg.png)
Team name: Newport County v Peterborough United
Home city or town: Newport v Peterborough
Area: Wales v Cambridgeshire
Nicknames: The Port v The Posh
Match played at: Rodney Parade
Managers: Nelson Jardim v Darren Ferguson
Currently playing in: EFL League 2 v EFL League 1
Tier: 4 v 3
Expectations:* I hate Ferguson's son, perhaps unfairly but I do, so I wish Newport County all the luck in the world.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fifth round/Quarter-finals
The Port met the Posh at Rodney Parade, and didn't the visitors feel like right plonkers when they went behind after just five minutes! Newport doubling their lead two minutes later wouldn't have helped, but Peterborough halved the deficit just before the half hour and levelled halfway through the second half. Kushty! The Posh took it with two late goals, one two minutes from time and one deep in injury time to secure their progress and no doubt have the lads singing "God bless Hookey Street" on the way back to London Road.
Result: Newport County 2 - 4 Peterborough United
Scorer(s): Glennon, Whitmore (NPT), Odoh, Randall, Jones (2) (PET)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Wrong
Predictions so far: R13 W17
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Hednesford.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/Gainsboroughtrinityfc.png)
Team name: Hednesford Town v Gainsborough Trinity
Home city or town: Hednesford v Gainsborough
Area: Staffordshire v Lincolnshire
Nicknames: The Pitmen v Trinity
Match played at: Keys Park
Managers: Steve v Russ Wilcox
Currently playing in: Northern Premier League Division West v Northern Premier League
Tier: 8 v 6
Expectations:* Two teams playing in the very lowest reaches; hard to say who will be better. Let's give it to the Trinity, because why not?
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Fourth round/ Second round
You certainly would not have expected to be have been an eight goal thriller, with both teams playing in among the lowest rank tiers of English football, but that just proves maybe that there are some really good teams down there, or at least that they turn it on for the Cup. It only took four minutes for the game to spring to life, as Hednesford's Duku slotted in the first goal, Gainsborough almost replying instantly but the ball popping off the top of the bar. A fine shot which deserved a goal. It took another 17 minutes before the home side added to their tally, Holness getting on the end of a throw in and sending a beautiful curling shot into the back of the net, the game surely beyond Trinity now?
Certainly beyond them four minutes into the second half, when Hednesford scored their third, this time it was McHale on the volley, but Trinity came back after having gone close when Howe did he do that? 65th minute and Trinity on the scoresheet. But was there time to equalise? Howe came close again with the keeper off his line but the ball went wide, but he made sure on 77, bagging his second of the night and leaving his team looking at a three-goal lead having been cut to just the one. Could they do it?
In extra time they did indeed do it, Lancaster smashing the ball in to level the match. And that was that, surely. But of course draws won't do any more, and into extra time we went, both teams trying to score the winner and avoid the dreaded penalty shoot-out. Before the game could be decided though, football thuggery raised its unwelcome head as so-called fans from both sides invaded the pitch and began having a punch-up, the ref having to remove the teams until order had been restored. Hopefully those idiots will get what's coming to them, and will never see a match by either of their teams live again.
Normal service, as such, resumed, the game restarted and it was Trinity who went closest first, Howe going for the hat-trick, but unable to beat the Hednesford keeper. It was in fact the home team who broke the deadlock first, Hednesford surely looking a safe bet for booking their spot in the second round now. Not a bit of it: in the second half of extra time Trinity levelled it again, and it was time for those players to step up to the spot to decide this most topsy-turvy game.
Unbelievable. Even on penalties these two teams could not be separated! EIGHT spot kicks taken, four of each missed by both teams! The match was on a knife-edge as Rowe stepped up for the home side - and missed, his penalty saved! Could Helliwell be the hero then, the Trinity titan who would take them into the next round? This penalty was crucial, and if he scored, that was it, and he did. Gainsborough Trinity went through on penalties, after what must have been one of the absolute best matches in the FA Cup this year. Stunning, and great kudos to both sides, neither of whom gave up. But only one can go through, and Hednesford, after a valiant, battling performance, go out.
Result: Hednesford Town 4-4 Gainsborough Trinity (Gainsborough win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Duku, Holness, McHale (2) (HED), Howe (2), Lancaster, Clarke (GTR)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R14 W17
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg/360px-Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Maidstone_United_FC_crest.svg/300px-Maidstone_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Solihull Moors v Maidstone United
Home city or town: Solihull v Maidstone
Area: Warwickshire v Kent
Nicknames: The Moors v The Stones
Match played at: Moor Park
Managers: Andy Whing v George Elokobi
Currently playing in: National League v National League South
Tier: 5 v 6
Position (if available) or Form:++
Expectations:* Neither team are exactly high-flying, but the home side play in tier 5 while Maidstone are a tier below them, so if there was to be a giant killing of sorts, it would only come with a victory for the visitors. I have no idea what to think so not calling it.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Second round/Fifth round
Solihull were bent on keeping Maidstone from repeating their record feat of being the lowest-ranked team to get into the last 16 of the previous FA Cup, and they set about their work methodically, though they had to wait till the second half, when Clarke forced the ball into the Maidstone net despite two attempts by the keeper to keep him out, and Solihull were on their way. The difference in leagues told as Maidstone gave away possession, compounding the error by taking down a Solihull player in the box. From the resultant penalty, Stephens doubled the Moors' lead with two minutes to go.
The victory was sealed in the seventh minute of extra time as Wilkinson was presented with a tap-in for the home side's third. There will be no records made this year for the Stones, and no further progress in this year's FA Cup.
Result: Solihull Moors 3 - 0 Maidstone United
Scorer(s): Clarke, Stephens, Wilkinson (SOL)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: N/A
Predictions so far: R14 W17
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Maidenhead_United_FC_crest.svg/360px-Maidenhead_United_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Maidenhead United v Crawley Town
Home city or town: Maidenhead v Crawley
Area: Berkshire v West Sussex
Nicknames: The Magpies v The Red Devils
Match played at: York Road
Managers: Alan Devonshire v Rob Elliot
Currently playing in: Northern League v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 4
Expectations:* Crawley play on a higher tier than do Maidenhead, and have a slew of giant killings under their belt, but the Northern League side have them beaten in terms of progression in previous FA Cups. I would still expect the visitors to win here.
Giant Killers?** No/Yes
Best FA Cup run: Quarter-finals/Fourth round
Maidenhead hit the ground running and were ahead within minutes, setting this up for a giant killing of pretty epic proportions, but then Crawley showed their mettle and drew level in the final minutes of the game, dashing the hopes of the Magpies and forcing the game into extra time, where Maidenhead were duly despatched, again in the dying minutes.
Result: Maidenhead 1 - 2 Crawley
Scorer(s): McCoulsky (MAH), Mallarkey, Showunmi(CRW)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions so far: R15 W17
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Rushallolympicfc.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team name: Rushall Olympic v Accrington Stanley
Home city or town: Rushall v Accrington
Area: West Midlands v Lancashire
Nicknames: The Pics v The 'Owd Reds
Match played at: Dale Lane
Managers: Adam Stevens v John Doolan
Currently playing in: National League North v EFL League 2
Tier: 6 v 4
Expectations:* No idea
Giant Killers?** No
Best FA Cup run: First round/Fourth round
Things did not start well for tiny Rushall, who had a man sent off in the first half, leaving them not with a mountain but a stairway to Heaven to climb, this burden added to when League 2 Accrington scored twice within 9 minutes, but at least the Northern Premier League side can console themselves with the fact that they held Stanley for 73 minutes with ten men, no mean feat.
Result: Rushall Olympic 0 - 2 Accrington Stanley
Scorer(s): Woods, Walton (ACC)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings so far: 11
Prediction turned out to be: N/A
Predictions so far: R15 W17
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Chesham_United_F.C._logo.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/39/Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg/240px-Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg.png)
Team name: Chesham United v Lincoln City
Home city or town: Chesham v Lincoln
Area: Buckinghamshire v Lincolnshire
Nicknames: The Generals v The Imps
Match played at: The Meadow
Managers: James Duncan and Michael Murray v Michael Skubula
Currently playing in: National League South v EFL League 1
Tier: 5 v 3
Position (if available) or Form:++
Expectations:* Give it to the men in green, as they have made it further in previous FA Cups.
Giant Killers?** Yes
Best FA Cup run: Second round/Quarter-finals
This was the final match of the first round, played last night (Monday) and in a way both Chesham and Lincoln City must have felt a little like the last to leave the party, having sort of outstayed their welcome. By the time both teams walked out onto the Meadow, every other tie had been played and every other team matched up for the second round. Reminds me of that scene in Clockwise, where an irate and increasingly unstable John Cleese frowns at yet another person who has arrived to his speech - late - and groans "Yes, we're all waiting for you!" in the highly condescending voice he does so well as Basil Fawlty.
At any rate, Chesham were essentially shouldering and carrying the hopes of National League South, the only - only? Yes, checking I see a National League North team in the round two draw but none from the South - team yet left in it, and hoping, no doubt, to join their northern neighbour, Brackley Town, and take the final place for a chance to play League 1 Crawley Town. At home, and in front of a packed stadium, they may indeed have fancied their chances against the boys in green.
Unfortunately, the only videos I can find of highlights of the match are sans commentary, and I just can't figure out what's going on, showing how much we rely on those unsung heroes of televised sport. Where's a Steve Bauer when you need him, or a Vicky Sparks, which I believe is some sort of combustion vehicle. All I can, then, tell you is that Chesham gamely held the visitors off almost to half-time, but a minute before the break it was local hearts who broke as Jack Moylan put it in the net, to give Lincoln a one-nil lead going into the second half, after which it wasn't long before they were two up, five minutes into the second half. Looking to be an impossible task for the Generals now, who seemed to have lost all sense of strategy.
A third on 66 sealed it for the Imps, and Chesham's cause, already lost by now, was not helped when Adebiyi helped himself to a goal with three minutes to go, unfortunately down the wrong end. 4-0 then to Lincoln, who smash aside their lower tier competition and knock them out of the FA Cup, and go on to face Crawley Town, who should hopefully prove more worthy opponents.
Result: Chesham United 0 - 4 Lincoln City
Scorer(s): Moylan, Makama, McGrandles, Adebiyi (og) (LIN)
Giant killing? No
Giant killings grand total: 11
Prediction turned out to be: Right
Predictions final result: R17 W17
(https://media.tenor.com/v2E1sFyKAMsAAAAM/terminated-the-apprentice.gif)
So that's it. The famous FA Cup winnowing process has begun, and those who fell at the first fence no longer get a chance to redress their performance in a replay, since the FA have, in their wisdom, put a stop to that process, and everyone gets one chance now to make it to the second round. This didn't stop quite a few matches ending in draws, and in a few that draw continued even after extra time had been played, with the result that this FA Cup must have featured the most penalty shoot-outs of any in its history, and is likely to serve up more as we go into the second and further rounds.
Teams eliminated
For now, here are the teams that did not make it, and how they were eliminated from the competition, in alphabetical order.
Aldershot Town fell to Bradford City 3-1
Alfreton Town were defeated by one of the bigger scores of the round, 5-1 to Notts County
Barnet were beaten by Exeter City by the joint highest score of the first round, taking them 5-3
Barrow fell to Doncaster Rovers 1-0
Bolton were kicked out by Walsall 2-1
Boreham Wood held Leyton Orient to a 2-2 draw after extra time, but lost 3-1 on penalties
Braintree Town and Brackley Town fought out a 0-0 draw into extra time and could only be separated by penalties, which Brackley took 5-4
Carlisle United fell 2-0 to Wigan Athletic
Chesham United fell 4-0 to Lincoln City
Colchester United went out 2-1 to Swindon Town
Crewe Alexandra went out to Dagenham & Redbridge 1-0
Curzon Ashton were defeated by Mansfield Town by the largest score without reply, 4-0
Fleetwood Town went out on a 2-0 defeat to Reading
Forest Green Rovers went down 2-0 to Stockport County
Gillingham fell to Blackpool 2-0
Grimsby were sent home by Wealdstone for 1-0
Hednesford Town and Gainsborough Trinity fought out a dogged 4-4 draw, Trinity winning the penalty shootout 5-4
Horsham went down 3-1 to Chesterfield
Huddersfield Town fell to Tamworth 1-0
Maidenhead went down 2-1 to Crawley Town
Maidstone United went out 3-0 to Solihull Moors
MK Dons were dumped out by AFC Wimbledon 2-0
Newport County fell to Peterborough United 4-2
Northampton Town fell to Kettering Town 2-1
Oldham Athletic dumped Tranmere Rovers out by 2-1
Port Vale fell to Barnsley 3-1
Rochdale were beaten 4-3 by Bromley
Rotherham were taken by Cheltenham Town 3-1
Rushall Olympic lost 2-0 to Accrington Stanley
Scarborough Athletic were sent out by Burton Albion 1-0
Shrewsbury went down 2-1 to Salford City
Southend United were beaten 4-3 by Charlton Athletic
Stevenage and Guiseley fought out an unlikely 1-1 draw into extra time and Stevenage won 5-4 on penalties
Sutton United went out 1-0 to Birmingham City
Tonbridge Angels went down 4-1 to Harborough Town
Weston-super-Mare fell to Bristol Rovers 3-1
Woking went out to Cambridge United 1-0
Worthing went down to Morecambe 2-0
Wrexham fell to Harrogate Town 1-0
York City went out to Wycombe Wanderers 3-2
Giant Killings
In all, we've had eleven teams knocked out by ones below them. You can bet there'll be statistics to back this up, but for now, here's the list, again in alphabetical order.
Braintree Town
Bolton Wanderers
Crewe Alexandra
Grimsby Town
Huddersfield Town
MK Dons
Northampton Town
Rotherham United
Shrewsbury Town
Tranmere Rovers
Wrexham
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/b3/13/d3b3130e9badf32693956295ade7979f.gif)
That's right: it's that section you all love, the dry, boring statistics.
(https://media.tenor.com/4qwZgZhtxr8AAAAM/suicide-family-guy.gif)
Out of 80 teams, naturally only 40 remain, but what's interesting is that there have been 11 major teams eliminated, i.e., 11 giant killings, which is almost 14%, but is actually larger because if you count up the teams from the two divisions of the EFL, 47 in all, there have been 10 of them knocked out. In other words, all but 1 of the giant killings have featured teams from League 1 or 2 being dismissed. So slightly over 20% of the EFL teams have been knocked out. That's a lot.
In terms of scores, we've had some pretty high scores, but a few have been draws.
Highest to lowest then:
5-3 (1)
5-1 (1)
4-4 (1)
4-3 (3)
4-2 (1)
4-1 (1)
4-0 (2)
3-2 (1)
3-1 (5)
3-0 (1)
2-2 (1)
2-1 (7)
2-0 (6)
1-1 (1)
1-0 [8]
0-0 (1)
So it's quite interesting to see that a grand total of one match ended in a nil-all draw (before going to extra time/penalties), and in fact only three other matches ended in any sort of a draw, so four in all, including that 4-4 thriller between Harborough Town and Gainsborough Trinity. The most common score was 1-0, 8 matches ending with one team winning by just the one goal, the next highest being 2-1, where seven matches either ended in a turnaround for the winning team, or had them ahead 2 before being pegged back but still winning. 2-0 is next, with six matches resulting in the winning team putting two past the losers without reply, and the next highest is 3-1, with five matches ending with a two-goal lead by the winners on the losers.
It's fairly evenly split then between the rest of the scores, the highest being 5-3 and 5-1, both only occurring once in this first round, but interestingly, the next highest, 4-3, happened in three matches.
Here's the table then showing the draw for the Second Round. Yellow denotes giant killers.
(https://i.postimg.cc/bJC55BCB/FA-CUp-2md-round.png)
Matches will be played from November 29 to Dec 2. So I'll meet you back here after that.
(https://www.stockportcounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Image-resize.png)
We go again!
As most of the information on each team is given in the posts for the first round I'm not going to repeat them here, so there'll be a lot less detail before the match report. In these, "giant killing?" refers ONLY to this match. In other words, did the team get through by taking down a team from a higher league or not?
As before, all matches must be won tonight, so any draws go to extra time and then, if necessary, penalties.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/360px-Reading_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Harborough_Town_F.C._logo.png)
Team names: Reading v Harborough Town
Match played at: Madejski Stadium
Reading had the early shot on 8 minutes but kept out by the 7th tier side, and again on 12 minutes, Harborough's keeper stopping the Royals from opening the scoring. It was 17 minutes before the minnows got a shot, but a corner came from it - and then a goal! Robinson to stun the Madejski and send the Southern League team ahead. Not for long though, as Camara equalised three minutes later, bit of a scrappy goal, but they all count. One minute later Harborough were ahead again! Not too many people would have expected a scoreline of 2-1 at the break, or if they did, they would have imagined the home team to be on the higher side of that score, but it was Harborough who went in ahead.
Reading were off the blocks quickly as the second half got going, the opposition keeper equal to the shot, a fine save, but there was nothing he could do about Savage's shot on the hour which drew Reading level again. But Harborough weren't lying down, and a few minutes later they came close to going ahead for a second time, the ball just clipping the crossbar on its way past the Reading net. Exciting stuff! Reading seemed to have settled it as the 70th minute approached, but then the home side had a man sent off for a second yellow with 15 minutes to go, and did the visitors make the extra man advantage pay! Tonge scored four minutes from time to level the match for the third time!
With extra time ticking away Reading gave away a corner which almost resulted in the winner, but it went wide, then the home side could have won it but the keeper saved it. In the end it was ruled offside anyway. So into extra time we went, nothing to separate these two teams with four divisions between them, then in the third minute Campbell broke the deadlock for Reading, but there were still another 27 minutes to go, and who would bet against the minnows coming back again? Well three minutes later Campbell was at it again, scoring his second and now leaving Harborough with a three-goal deficit, which in the end, despite their heroics, was too much to surmount and they go out after a historic run.
Result: Reading 5 - 3 Harborough Town
Scorer(s): Robinson, O'Sullivan, Tonge (HRB); Camara, Savage, Akande, Campbell (2) (REA)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg/320px-Burton_Albion_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Tamworth_FC.svg/300px-Tamworth_FC.svg.png)
Team names: Burton Albion v Tamworth Town
Match played at: The Pirelli Stadium
Thomas the Tank Engine, sorry Tonks was instrumental in Tamworth's shock defeat of Huddersfield Town in the first round. Could he help his team push past Burton Albion and progress to the all-important third round? Well the home side had the first shot two minutes in but blazed over the bar, then on 18 minutes back they came, but shot at the keeper this time. Tamworth didn't seem to have had a shot on goal all through the first half, and in the second they almost made the breakthrough when they got a corner, but another too high.
Into added time as extra time beckoned, Tamworth almost able to snatch it at the death, but during extra time it was Burton who took command, scoring in the second minute. Back came the visitors though two minutes later to equalise. Burton Albion had the chance to take it right at the very end, but a great save from the Tamworth keeper meant we were headed for penalties. Albion had their first shot saved, which must have given the Lambs hope, which increased as they scored. 1-0 to the visitors. The next two were scored but then Albion missed again, Tamworth surely looking at a third round place now if they could only hold their nerve. But then they had their fourth shot saved, so if Albion could score it would cut the Lambs' lead to just the one goal. Tense stuff.
Burton scored their next one, which left Tamworth needing the next goal, which they got, then Albion scored, but Tamworth scored the next, which put them through to the third round.
Result: Burton Albion 1 - 1 Tamworth (AET) - Tamworth win on penalties 4-3
Scorer(s): Bennett (BTN); Maher (TAM)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Kettering_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team names: Kettering Town v Doncaster Rovers
Match played at: Latimer Park
18 minutes in before Rovers came close, but the ball just hit the crossbar, then 3 minutes later even closer, this time saved by the keeper. That great save stood to the home side, as on the half-hour it was they who were ahead, another giant-killing on the menu? Just after the hour Doncaster nearly levelled but another great save by the Kettering keeper, then fifteen minutes from full time they did just that, the appropriately-named Billy Sharp getting the equaliser.
A hopeful long shot from Kettering failed to trouble the Rovers keeper, then in the last minutes of added time the visitors could have sealed it but for excellent blocks and saves, and into extra time the game went. It was almost the end of the first half when Rovers got a corner, from which they scored, looking like they had crushed any chances of Kettering knocking them out, and so they had. Doncaster go through.
Result: Kettering Town 1 - 2 Doncaster Rovers
Scorer(s): Noel-Williams (KET); Sharp (2)(DON)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg/290px-AFC_Wimbledon_%282020%29_logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg/300px-Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: AFC Wimbledon v Dagenham & Redbridge
Match played at: Plough Lane
Having knocked bitter rivals MK Dons out of the first round, AFC Wimbledon must have wanted to rub it in and go as far as they could, but that plan took a knock just after the 30-minute mark when Dagenham scored, then as the first half drew to a close Wimbledon were unable to equalise, the shot straight at the keeper. They had another chance before the end of the half, and this time made no mistake, level at the break. A scrappy goal 13 minutes from time gave Dagenham the lead again, but could they hold on? Yes they could, and Dagenham & Redbridge took down the League 2 side and go on to the third round.
Result: AFC Wimbledon 1 - 2 Dagenham & Redbridge
Scorer(s): Morias, Rees (DAG); Stevens (WIM)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg/180px-Oldham_Athletic_AFC_%28emblem%29.svg.png)
Team names: Leyton Orient v Oldham Athletic
Match played at: Brisbane Road
Nothing much to report until after the half-hour when Oldham really should have taken the lead but missed a sitter. Would they have cause to regret that later? As the lower league side, the expectation was on them to lose, but then as the game restarted it looked like a throw-in had gone directly into the Orient net! Was that allowed? Had anyone touched it? I guess so, as it was allowed and Oldham had the lead. And that was how it remained till the very last minute, when Leyton Orient's keeper even came up for the corner, the home side with one last desperate throw of the dice, on the verge of going out to lower opposition, and literally all to play for. And in it went! And... scored by the keeper! Unbelievable. Oldham hearts broken, Orient forcing the match into extra time.
A penalty for the home side should have sealed it at the end of the first half of extra time, but the shot went wide. Not even saved, just a total miss! Were the football gods now turning against Orient, having provided them a lifeline? It seemed so, as in the last minute of extra time Oldham scored the winner. But it had been ruled offside, by the linesman. Would the ref agree? With no VAR at the FA Cup, the man in black would have the final word, and could ensure the National League side went through to the third round, or crush their hopes. What would be his decision?
It was to concur with the linesman, and then to make matters worse for the Latics, and adding insult to injury, Orient scored in the last minute to replace them in the third round. Heartbreaking.
Result: Leyton Orient 2 - 1 Oldham Athletic
Scorer(s): Monthe (OLD); Keeley, Agyei (LEY)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg/360px-Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/BrackleyTownFCBadge.png)
Team names: Stockport County v Brackley Town
Match played at: Edgeley Park
The home side took the lead early, leaving Brackley Town chasing the match against a far superior opponent, and on 18 minutes they had doubled their lead, Brackley surely with no chance now? Well, this is the FA Cup, remember. A rush of blood to the head led to an over-exuberant backpass to the Stockport keeper, who, not expecting such venom in the shot, missed it and it rolled into his own net! Own goal halving the deficit for the visitors. Perhaps this was not over after all. Brackley fought back, scoring to equalise... until the flag went up. Four minutes from time their luck ran out as County scored again, this time down the right end, to take the match and any hope the non-leaguers had of progressing.
Result: Stockport County 3 - 1 Brackley Town
Scorer(s): Collar, Wootton, Olaofe (STK); Connolly (og) (BRK)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg/360px-Wealdstone_FC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/360px-Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team names: Wealdstone v Wycombe Wanderers
Match played at: Grosvenor Vale
Battle of the triple W as Wealdstone hosted Wycombe Wanderers, and it was the home team who were nearly ahead early on, but over the bar the ball went, while Wycombe got a free kick on the half-hour and dispatched the ball into the Wealdstone net. From then on the visitors were in total control, scoring another six minutes from time to send the National League team out of the competition.
Result: Wealdstone 0 - 2 Wycombe Wanderers
Scorer(s): Lubala, Kone (WYC)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Blackpool_FC_logo.svg/360px-Blackpool_FC_logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg/300px-Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg.png)
Team names: Blackpool v Birmingham City
Match played at: Bloomfield Road
An equal contest, perhaps, with both teams playing in EFL League 1, Steve Bruce perhaps a little confused as to which dugout to go to, since he used also to manage Birmingham City. Six minutes in and he might have wished he had been in the other end, as his former team took the lead, Blackpool insistent that the ball had gone over the line before the opposition scored, but with no goal-line technology and no VAR, no appeal possible. Blackpool one down already. 15 minutes later they had even more cause to gripe, as they were down two-nil, and looking at an early exit.
They pulled one back in the 55th minute, but Birmingham held on to their lead to make it through to the third round, while Blackpool go out.
Result: Blackpool 1 - 2 Birmingham City
Scorer(s): Dykes, Jutkiewicz (BIR); Rhodes (BLA)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8f/Cambridge_United_FC.svg/300px-Cambridge_United_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/360px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png)
Team names: Cambridge United v Wigan Athletic
Match played at: Abbey Stadium
First ever meeting between the two League 1 sides, this was a cagey affair until Cambridge broke away and took the first goal with fifteen minutes to go, Wigan equalising five minutes from time, to send the match into extra time. In the final minute, as penalties loomed, the visitors scored the winner, to send Cambridge out in surely the most heartbreaking and depressing fashion possible.
Result: Cambridge United 1 - 2 Wigan Athletic
Scorer(s): Njoku (CAM); Aasgaard, Smith (WIG)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Stevenage_FC_crest.svg/360px-Stevenage_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Mansfield_Town_FC.svg/300px-Mansfield_Town_FC.svg.png)
Team names: Stevenage v Mansfield Town
Match played at: The Lamex Stadium
Stevenage tried hard but got nothing for their efforts, Mansfield scoring the only goal of the match just after the restart.
Result: Stevenage 0 - 1 Mansfield Town
Scorer(s): McLaughlin (MAN)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Barnsley_FC.svg/350px-Barnsley_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Team names: Barnsley v Bristol Rovers
Match played at: Oakwell
Nothing to separate the teams after 120 minutes, though the home side had the best of the chances, just couldn't convert them. And so to the penalty spot, where four players all shot past the keeper on both teams, until Barnsley nerves faltered and their fifth one was saved, Rovers going through on penalties.
Result: 0 - 0 (AET) - Bristol Rovers win 4-3 on penalties
Scorer(s): None
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg/360px-Crawley_Town_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/39/Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg/240px-Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Crawley Town v Lincoln City
Match played at: Broadfield Stadium
Crawley were ahead on ten minutes and added a second three minutes later, cruising to victory and into the third round? The Imps weren't having that, and they struck back on 19 to halve the deficit and give themselves hope, the more so as they equalised six minutes before the break, the first half ending all square. And they were ahead two minutes into the restart, completing the turnaround with a fourth two minutes later, to ensure that they would be the ones going through, despite Crawley managing to get one late on. Maybe the Devil does, after all, smile on Lincoln.
Result: Crawley Town 3 - 4 Lincoln City
Scorer(s): Roles, Showunmi, Kelly (CRW); O'Connor, Makama, Ring, Moylan (LIN)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg/360px-Solihull_Moors_FC_crest.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Bromley_FC_crest.svg/350px-Bromley_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Solihull Moors v Bromley
Match played at: Damson Park
A long shot from Bromley caught out their keeper but the Moors could not capitalise on the mistake, firing the shot wide of the net, a golden opportunity missed. In the 12th minute though they had another chance, this time from a long throw-in, this time not missed, the home side ahead. Their lead didn't last long though, as Bromley equalised three minutes later. Suspicion of offside, but the ref said nothing and VAR was not here to spoil things, so the goal stood. On the hour the keeper missed the ball and Bromley were ahead. Solihull nearly pulled level in the final minutes but the ball smacked off the bar and it's Bromley who go through.
Result: Solihull Moors 1 - 2 Bromley
Scorer(s): Wilkinson (SOL); Sowunmi, Imray (BRO)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Peterborough_United.svg/360px-Peterborough_United.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/Notts_County_Logo.svg/280px-Notts_County_Logo.svg.png)
Team names: Peterborough United v Notts County
Match played at: London Road
Ten minutes was all it took for the home side to open the scoring, cutting through the County defence, but three minutes later that lead was gone as the visitors equalised. Things got even better for County as they went ahead after another three minutes, and could begin looking at a place in the third round, until a wayward pass from the keeper 17 minutes from time let in the home team, who shot right through the keeper's legs to tie the match. Four minutes after that the Posh turned it around, scoring again to shoot in front, and three minutes after that they made it safe with their third. County pulled one back in added time, but too little too late, and from a winning position Notts County saw their chances of progressing evaporate in the cold winter Cambridgeshire air. A pity, as the goal was an absolute cracker. But when you lose the match it kind of doesn't matter how stunning a goal you score; as they say, in the end, it's the result that counts.
Result: Peterborough United 4 - 3 Notts County
Scorer(s):Jones (2), Randall, Odoh (PET); Scott, Platt, Abbott (NCO)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/Exeter_City_FC.svg/360px-Exeter_City_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg/310px-Chesterfield_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Exeter City v Chesterfield
Match played at: St. James Park
It took all of the first half before Exeter scored, taking the lead in added time, and sealing the win with a second on 70 minutes to send the home side through to the third round.
Result: Exeter City 2 - 0 Chesterfield
Scorer(s): Crama, Magennis (EXE)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a3/Swindon_Town_FC.svg/360px-Swindon_Town_FC.svg.png)
Team names: Accrington Stanley v Swindon Town
Match played at: The Crown Ground
Stanley were first past the post with the opening goal, but the visitors levelled just before the break, despite having had a man sent off. Swindon went ahead in the second half and looked to have booked their place in the third round, until stoppage time, when the home side equalised, to send the game into another thirty nervy minutes. Nothing happened to separate the teams during either half, and so another penalty shootout. Stanley won this one convincingly, scoring 4 of the spot kicks to Swindon's single conversion, and the home team march on to face third round opposition, while Swindon can concentrate on staying in the league, where both teams are fighting for survival.
Result: Accrington Stanley 2 - 2 Swindon Town - Stanley win 4-1 on penalties
Scorer(s): Walton (2) (ACR); Hall, Cotterril (SWI)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Morecambe_FC_crest.svg/320px-Morecambe_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg/260px-Bradford_City_AFC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Morecambe v Bradford City
Match played at: Mazuma Mobile Stadium
Morecambe missed a sitter, failing to take the opportunity to open the scoring, but took heart when Bradford had a man sent off for violent conduct, and capitalised on the extra man advantage when they scored 9 minutes from full time to take the match. I guess you could say they "slew" the competition! Sorry.
Result: Morecambe 1 - 0 Bradford City
Scorer(s): Slew (MOR)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg/320px-Cheltenham_Town_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Salford_City_FC_crest.svg/260px-Salford_City_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Salford City v Cheltenham Town
Match played at: Moor Lane
Bidding for a first ever place in the third round, Salford took the lead in the 20th minute, then from a penalty two minutes later the home side made sure that this would be a historic appearance in the FA Cup for them.
Result: Salford City 2 - 0 Cheltenham Town
Scorer(s): Okoronkwo, Stockton (SAL)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/Walsall_FC.svg/370px-Walsall_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/370px-Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Team names: Walsall v Charlton Athletic
Match played at: Poundland Bescot Stadium
Charlton were two ahead before the break, the first coming in the 16th minute, followed by one just before the half-hour, stunning the home side. Worse was to come for Walsall, who failed to get on the scoresheet at all as the visitors added a third five minutes from time, and then twisted the knife (or maybe that should be the sword?) with a fourth in injury time. Charlton through to the third round, Walsall out.
Result: Walsall 0 - 4 Charlton Athletic
Scorer(s): Yahyai (2), Godden, Campbell (CHA)
Giant killing? No
So with all matches in the second round played, who are the
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Survivors_2008_Screenshot.jpg)
left to go through and face higher league opposition?
In alphabetical order:
Accrington Stanley
Birmingham City
Bristol Rovers
Bromley
Charlton Athletic
Dagenham & Redbridge
Doncaster Rovers
Exeter City
Harrogate Town
Leyton Orient
Lincoln City
Mansfield Town
Morecambe
Peterborough United
Reading
Salford City
Stockport County
Tamworth
Wigan Athletic
Wycombe Wanderers
These teams now have the chance to go forward and meet some serious opposition, as the third round is where, if you will, the "real" teams come into it, the ones from the Championship and the Premier League. A match against a huge team like Chelsea, Newcastle or Liverpool (for example) could be a massive cash injection for any of these smaller teams, especially if they get a home tie.
The draw for the third round follows.
And here it is.
(https://i.postimg.cc/C549MMbk/FACUPROUND3.png)
Let's look then at what that means. Quite a few ties between teams in the same league (Championship v Championship or Premier League v Premier League) but a few interesting ones. Although it is Premier v Premier, Arsenal v Man United is one of those interesting ones. The Gunners will have the advantage, being at home, and they're well above Man United in the league, six points and seven places above them, challenging for the title, while United have just managed to struggle into the top half of the table for the first time this season. There are, as we know, no two-legged ties, so if Arsenal win then United are out, and of course vice versa.
Another all-Premier League tie is Aston Villa, who are at home to West Ham. The Hammers are really floundering at the moment, though we can't exactly be said to be shining ourselves. Hopefully the home advantage will work for us; would be a shame to go out in what would for us be the first round. One of the big stories of the round though is Manchester City playing host to League 2 Salford. City are surely in crisis now, having failed to win any of their last seven games in all competitions. Is it possible the team three tiers below them might be able to capitalise on their loss of confidence and sneak a win, knocking them out of the Cup? City at home, you would think, should help them, but their fans must be getting restless now, and the pressure could even tell against them. Salford, of course, would have loved to have been at home, but you can't have everything and it's a great opportunity for them to pull off one of the giant killings of the tournament.
Speaking of giant killings, there's a fantastic chance for already giant killers Dagenham & Redbridge, now one of the the lowest-ranked teams left in the Cup, to take on the Championship's Millwall and add another scalp to their collection. Three tiers between them, can the Daggers enter the Lion's Den and slay the beast? Another huge game is Liverpool at home to Accrington Stanley. The league leaders appear unbeatable everywhere at the moment, and I couldn't see the League 2 side having any chance, but then, this is the FA Cup, and all it takes is a moment of magic. At any event, it will be a day their players and supporters will remember forever, when they entered the forbidding gates of Anfield to take on the almost-champions-elect.
Chelsea are another Premier League team facing EFL opposition as Morecambe travel to Stamford Bridge for their all-important tie, the Shrimps hoping no doubt that they can fell the blue colossus. But Chelsea are making short work of their competition in the league, currently sitting at third, level on points with Arsenal and, like them, 9 points behind Liverpool, so they're certainly not going to be easy to beat.
Lucky Tamworth! Even if they don't beat Spurs, they have a home tie, which means ching ching ching cash in their coffers as probably thousands of Tottenham fans stream through their gates to watch the team currently in 7th place in the Premier League take on the other National League side still left in the competition. All the pressure will be on Spurs, and who knows, with the Lambs Ground behind them, Tamworth could yet pull off one of the surprises of the tournament, and make history.
Bromley might well fancy their chances against Newcastle, who have been misfiring in the Premier League this season, but then again the Magpies are at home, and like at Anfield, St. James is often the twelfth man. A long long trip for fans of the The Ravens, all the way "oop north" from London. Talk about north and south! But if they can win, the drive down will seem like a holiday excursion, and of course they'll be going from the freezing cold and rain back to the relatively sunny climes of London.
Everton v Peterborough? You'd have to imagine the Posh would have a chance here. Everton are stuck near the bottom of the lower half of the table, and haven't won any of at least their last five matches. How funny would it be if both Merseyside teams ended up being kicked out by lower league teams? Not very, probably, also file under not likely. But Everton should not take this one for granted, I would think. Harrogate Town get a draw against Leeds for their heroics, but it's not at home. Still, it will be the classic "day out" for the fans, and who knows what might happen? Also a classic Yorkshire derby, west versus north.
Even if Ipswich Town do end up getting relegated, which at the moment seems more likely than not, they would end up in the Championship, and still be a division above League 1 side Bristol Rovers. By the time they meet though at Portman Road, the hosts will still be a Premier League side, so two tiers will separate them. Perhaps this will be where Ipswich turn it on. Conversely, it could be an embarrassing defeat for them, to add to all the other embarrassing defeats they've suffered in the top flight so far.
That leaves the last tie in which a Premier League side takes on one from the second round, and that's Crystal Palace who welcome Stockport County to Selhurst Park. If you know me, you'll know I'll be rooting for the League 1 side.
All matches will be played early in January, so that's where I'll leave this till then.
FA Cup Third Round
This is where it starts to get interesting, as teams from the first and second tier of football join the competition, and the opportunity for serious giant killings are there, but also the opposition is a lot more professional and harder to beat, which can lead to the smaller teams being played off the pitch and sent out of the Cup. It doesn't always happen that way though, and we could see major teams from the Championship, or even the Premier League go out this weekend. That is, after all, the magic of the FA Cup.
As I'm not about to go recounting the history of each Championship or Premier League side in the third round, I've just written a quick "state of play" note before the match report. Not making any real predictions, but some of them predict themselves. Whether those predictions turn out to be right or wrong we shall see.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/FC_Southampton.svg/380px-FC_Southampton.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Swansea_City_AFC_logo.svg/380px-Swansea_City_AFC_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Southampton v Swansea City
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: St. Marys
Usually, Premier League v Championship is heavily weighted with expectation on the side of the top tier team, yet in the case of Southampton that may not be at all the case, given their piss-poor performance all season in football's top flight. Southampton have hardly been off the bottom of the table since they were promoted, and not even Paddy Power would take a bet on them not going straight back down at the end of the season, which almost makes this a case of Championship v Championship. Swansea look to be floating around the middle of the lower half of their table, so even at that, I would tend to fancy the Welsh for this, but maybe the Saints can salvage some pride for their season and kick off 2025 with a rare win and remain in the FA Cup.
I mean, I'm all for politeness and gentlemanly conduct in football, but really: constantly giving the ball back to the opposition, especially when they play a league above you (just) is asking for trouble, and Swansea got it when Southampton, in a rather rare display of dominance in a game, scored three against them with no reply. A shot early on from Sulemana showed the Welsh team what they could expect, and he was only just wide of the post. Swansea did not take heed, and the next time he had the goal in his sights the Saint lobbed the keeper and chipped it into the net. All too easy, and not something Southampton have been used to this season. They made the most of it, adding a second ten minutes from the break when Dibling stole in unmarked, though at least the Swansea keeper made a game of it, keeping out a corner that would certainly have ended any slim hope the Welsh had of progressing.
Not that they had much of a chance anyway, with not a shot on goal nor even on target as Dibling helped himself to his second, and Southampton's third, to wrap up the tie just after the hour mark without hardly breaking a sweat. It could have been four or five really, but for the Swansea keeper, but Southampton allowed the poor form that has seen them spend most of their promoted season at the bottom of the Premier League to seep through, as they gave the ball away, Swansea almost getting one but it hit off the bottom of the far post and bounced across the face of goal without going in. It was in the end though an easy victory for the Saints: they may as well savour it, as they won't see many more of them!
Result: Southampton 3 - 0 Swansea City
Scorer(s): Sulemana, Dibling (2) (SOU)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Arsenal_FC.svg/360px-Arsenal_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg/400px-Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Arsenal v Manchester United
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: The Emirates
Nobody will need to be told that this is one of the fixtures of the round, with two Premier League giants (well, one giant and one ex-giant) coming up against each other. Manchester United did well to hold Liverpool to a crucial draw last week, but Arsenal are flying and challenging for the title again. United of course are bidding to retain the FA Cup, having won it last time. Can Ruben Amorim's fallen idols turn it on against Mikel Arteta's Gunners? The smart money would say Arsenal will win, especially with home support, but you just never know.
Eighteen minutes gone and Arsenal thought they had scored first, but it was chalked off for being offside, no VAR to check that, so the decision stood and scoreless it remained, Mainoo coming closest for Man United but straight at the keeper. Chances for both teams then, one of whom had the ball in the net but had the goal disallowed, but nobody had taken the advantage as we headed for the break. Not the most exciting match of the weekend, that's for sure.
Would the second half be any better? Well it couldn't be much worse could it? Raya falling on his arse from the very first kick-out wasn't a good omen, nor was his team giving away the ball, though United didn't do anything with it. Then they did it again, and this time the Cup holders took full advantage as Fernandes opened the scoring. Maybe that would wake Arsenal the fuck up? Kind of: Havertz should have equalised but scooped the ball over the top, wasting a golden opportunity to settle his team down. Poor. Heading into the hour and Manchester United still in front, and another case of a ref not holding the taking of a corner until an injured player was back on the field; seems to be becoming a habit now.
Things began to turn against Man United when they had a man sent off for a second yellow, that one-goal lead going to be very hard to protect now! In fact, it was only minutes after Dalot had walked before Arsenal levelled, Gabriel netting just after the hour mark. The Gunners then missed a chance to go ahead, then United nicked the ball but the missing man told and they were unable to do anything with their possession. A penalty awarded to Arsenal saw tempers flare in the box, and had VAR been in operation it's likely at least one player would have walked, but the ref can't be everywhere at once, so a yellow was all that resulted. Odegard stepped up to take the spot kick but after all that it was saved! Had the furore just prior put him off? Possibly; the upshot was that it remained 1-1, and that was certainly more to United's advantage than that of Arsenal.
Another great chance went begging as Rice had a free header, but knocked it over the bar, with a little help from the United keeper's fingers. 10 minutes of normal time to go then, and neither team able to settle it, United hanging on despite being a man down. Still, you would have to think that if it went to extra time the extra man would pay dividends for Arsenal. It was in fact United who had the best chance to win it, four minutes from time, with a classic breakaway that almost ended in a goal, and could have seen Arsenal dumped out of the FA Cup by a team with ten men playing, but on the game went, Arsenal missing a gilt-edged opportunity to settle it two minutes from full time.
Seven extra minutes to be played though before we got to the dreaded extra time, Rice almost settling it in the fourth of those minutes but barely squeaked wide, then they gave it away but Raya came out to smother the ball. Offside anyway, but it would have definitely raised a cheer from the United fans had it gone in. For a few seconds anyway, till the flag was raised. As time ticked away, Arsenal got a corner, but too deep.
And so into extra time, another 30 minutes of eleven men against ten, but who would bet against Man United scoring again? Arsenal were certainly squandering their chances and not taking advantage of the extra man. If they lost this, they had only themselves to blame. No further goals in extra time so it was down to penalties, the extra man no use to Arsenal now as it was a case of man against goalkeeper to settle this, a case either of individual brilliance or catastrophic error, whether on the part of the strikers or the keepers that would decide who would go through. Some great penalty takers on both teams, and one keeper had already stopped a spot kick, so no way to know how this would go.
First up was Man United, and Fernandes technically scored his second goal in the match, opening the penalty count for his team. Never in doubt really. Odegaard was next, to face the man who had already stopped his penalty during the match, but this time he scored, all square after two penalties. Man United's next one went in too, but Arsenal's did not. Advantage United! They scored their next, meaning Arsenal really had to score to keep in with a chance, and Rice made sure they did. 3-2 now to Manchester United. Another penalty converted for the Cup holders put additional pressure on the Gunners, who simply could not afford to miss the next one. They didn't, and remained in the running as United's fifth player strode up to the spot. The ball rippled the net and United took the tie. You'd have to say they deserved it more.
Result: Arsenal 1 - 1 Manchester United (United win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Fernandes (MNU); Gabriel (ARS)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/71/Exeter_City_FC.svg/360px-Exeter_City_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3e/Oxford_United_FC_logo.svg/330px-Oxford_United_FC_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Exeter City v Oxford United
Play in: League 1 v Championship
Match played at: St. James Park
Oxford United are only five points clear of the relegation zone in the Championship while Exeter sit comfortably mid-table in League 1, so on the face of it this may not be the clash of leagues that it seems. Or, you know, it may be.
Oxford were in fact ahead on 14 minutes, a fine breakaway goal that turned defence into attack, but Exter showed that fighting spirit which saw them beat Chesterfield 2-0 away in the second round, and eight minutes later they were level, then before half-time Mitchell scored again to put the League 1 side ahead before the break. Oxford came close early in the second half but shot wide, then Exeter sealed the victory just after the hour with their third.
Result: Exeter City 3 - 1 Oxford United
Scorer(s): Philips (OXF); Mitchell (2), Harper (EXE)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Reading_FC.svg/360px-Reading_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6d/Burnley_FC_Logo.svg/360px-Burnley_FC_Logo.svg.png)
Teams: Reading v Burnley
Play in: League 1 v Championship
Match played at: Madejski Stadium
Another match between League 1 and Championship opposition, but Reading will have their work cut out for them, as they face second in the Championship Burnley. Both teams have spent time in the Premier League, so both have the skill and experience to take this; Reading currently sixth in League 1 and on an impressive winning streak, though they struggled against seventh tier Harborough Town to get this far, eventually beating them 5-3. They'll have to be on their "A" game, as the Americans say, this time out.
It took all of the first half and twenty minutes of the second before Burnley were ahead, then all their good work was undone as six minutes later Reading shot literally through the arms of the keeper, who made a total mess of gathering the shot, to allow the teams to draw level. As the match moved into extra time Burnley restored their lead, and went on to make it certain with a third to take the match deep into injury time.
Result: Reading 1 - Burnley 3
Scorer(s): Wing (REA); Foster, Flemming (2) (BUR)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg/300px-Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c2/West_Ham_United_FC_logo.svg/350px-West_Ham_United_FC_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Aston Villa v West Ham United
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Villa Park
Though Villa's form has stuttered of late, at least they're in the top half of the table, if only barely, while West Ham are still struggling in the lower reaches of the other half and have lost their last two matches. Claret and blue v Claret and blue: who will emerge victorious?
Playing under a new manager, Graham Potter's West Ham scored within 9 minutes at Villa Park, but the home side came back strongly to equalise as time began to run out, then Rogers gave them the lead, and the game, the whole match turned around in a five-minute spell of class. Villa march on, West Ham are out.
Result: Aston Villa 2 - 1 West Ham United
Scorer(s): Paqueta (WHU); Onana, Rogers (AST)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/17/Norwich_City_FC_logo.svg/320px-Norwich_City_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://scd.community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F%5Bimg%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fthumb%2Fd%2Fd0%2FBrighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg%2F380px-Brighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg.png&hash=54855088305993c5ebebee2565aed7017a706f16)
Teams: Norwich City v Brighton & Hove Albion
Play in: Championship v Premier League
Match played at: Carrow Road
Norwich have known life in the Premier League, and are currently 11th in the Championship, with a good if not perfect win record, while Brighton have entered a period where they don't seem to be able to win a game, and are just on the fringes of the top half of the table.
Nothing happened till eight minutes from the end of the first half when Brighton struck to take the lead, Rutter adding his and Brighton's second before the half-time whistle to put the visitors in control of the game. More of the same, then, in the second half, as the Seagulls went three up on the hour mark, and rounded that victory off with a fourth 16 minutes from time.
Result: Norwich City 0 - 4 Brighton & Hove Albion
Scorer(s): Rutter (2), Enciso, March (BHA)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg/380px-Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Salford_City_FC_crest.svg/260px-Salford_City_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Manchester City v Salford City
Play in: Premier League v League 2
Match played at: The Etihad
Man City are desperate to get their season back on track, and if they can no longer challenge to retain their title, they will want to avoid going out of the FA Cup this early. It's Manchester against Manchester, with three divisions between them. Who would give Salford City, higher in League 2 than Man City are in the Premier League, a chance? Or could it be a chance for a famous giant killing?
It only took 8 minutes for class to tell, as Man City went ahead through Doku, 20 minutes and it was two, the Premier League team looking unlikely to even have to break a sweat here. Salford came close to halving the deficit near the end of the first half but wide, then Man City made it safe with a third before the half-time whistle. Salford doomed to once again fall at the third round, and when Manchester City had a penalty 5 minutes into the second half, there was no doubting the result as Grealish took their fourth. Not finished yet, and perhaps with something to prove, Man City took a fifth, the game still less than an hour old.
A second penalty may have seemed unfair, but it was handball, and it did result in Man City's sixth goal. Cricket scores, as they say? Well, the Premier League team made it seven, and still 20 minutes to go. With half of that left, it was eight, as McAtee scored his hat-trick to round off what can only be called a pounding of the League 2 side.
Result: Manchester City 8 - 0 Salford City
Scorer(s): Doku (2) of which 1 (p), Mubamba, O'Reilly, Grealish (p), McAtee (3)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Millwall_FC_crest.svg/300px-Millwall_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e0/Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg/300px-Dagenham_and_Redbridge_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Millwall v Dagenham & Redbridge
Play in: Championship v National League
Match played at: The Den
Into the lion's den for one of the lowest-ranked team still left in the competition, as National League side Dagenham & Redbridge, having defeated AFC Wimbledon in a famous giant killing to earn their place in the third round, and a match against feared Millwall away. Can the minnows survive another match in which they will need to punch above their weight and claim a second higher-tier scalp, or is this the end for their FA Cup journey?
Dagenham held the Championship side for half an hour, before Ivanovich opened the scoring for Millwall, literally heading while flat on the ground, having missed the initial rebound. It was however no walkover, and a late late show at the Den as De Norre scored on 70 to double the home side's lead, then five minutes from time Bangura-Williams, substitute on for his debut game for the club, set the seal on it with his first goal and Millwall's third, ensuring they march on to the fourth round, leaving the last National League side in it to face Spurs.
Result: Millwall 3 - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge
Scorer(s): Ivanovic, De Norre, Bangura-Williams (MIL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0c/Liverpool_FC.svg/360px-Liverpool_FC.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Accrington_Stanley_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Teams: Liverpool v Accrington Stanley
Play in: Premier League v League 2
Match played at: Anfield
Surely one of the most mismatched meetings of the round! Will anyone expect Premier League leaders Liverpool to stumble against lowly Accrington, sitting 19th in League 2? Of course, it could happen, but will it? Would you bet on it?
12 minutes saw Liverpool take their first shot on goal, but the Stanley keeper saved it and from the rebound Nunez sent it over the bar, Stanley already hanging on in the face of the red army. Just before the half-hour Liverpool were expectedly ahead through Jota, a fine breakaway goal from defence as they left the Accrington defenders in their wake. Just before the break it was two as Alexander-Arnold shot from distance to make the mountain Stanley had to climb Everest-like in the second half. They had their chances, two corners almost resulting in a goal that would have halved the deficit but smacked off the bar. 14 minutes from time it was all over as Danns scored Liverpool's third to assure them of progression to the fourth round. Chiesa's fourth for the league leaders in the final minute was just the icing on the cake.
Result: Liverpool 4 - 0 Accrington Stanley
Scorer(s): Jota, Alexander-Arnold, Danns, Chiesa (LIV)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Bristol_City_crest.svg/370px-Bristol_City_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg/400px-Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Bristol City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Play in: Championship v Premier League
Match played at: Ashton Gate
May not be such a difference after all, with Wolves struggling in the relegation zone and Bristol City 8th in the Championship.
Wolves had a glorious chance to open the scoring but the Bristol City keeper made a fantastic save to keep them out, but ten minutes was all the home side could manage before the team from the Black Country scored, to silence the home fans. A second came ten minutes later, Wolves surely delighted to be able to display the skills they have in abundance but which have been letting them down against Premier League opposition. City had a chance to get back into it though when Hwang gave away a free kick just before the break, and the Championship side did not waste the opportunity, Twine scoring to halve the deficit. Not stringing it out then. Sorry.
Wolves only missed making the match safe due to the crossbar, then a penalty appeal for Bristol City was turned down and Wolves stormed forwards again but could only hit the post. Five minutes to go and City were on the attack, determined to equalise and force extra time. They almost made it, too, but it came off the underside of the bar and Wolves hung on for the win to go through to the fourth round.
Result: Bristol City 1 - 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Scorer(s): Ait-Nouri, Gomes (WOL); Twine (BRC)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/Chelsea_FC.svg/380px-Chelsea_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Morecambe_FC_crest.svg/320px-Morecambe_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Chelsea v Morecambe
Play in: Premier League v League 2
Match played at: Stamford Bridge
Chelsea are on a losing streak at the moment, but even so they are 4th in the Premier League and you would imagine would have no trouble seeing off League 2 relegation-threatened Morecambe and progressing to the fourth round.
15 minutes in and the game came to life as Chelsea got a corner, from which they did not score but were awarded a penalty, while Morecambe believed the ball had gone out of play, but with no VAR to stick its nose in, the ref's decision was the only one, and so penalty for handball was the outcome. Amazingly, the Morecambe keeper pulled off an incredible double save to keep Chelsea out, and perhaps justice was done after all. The Premier League side piled on the pressure, Morecambe's man between the sticks having to be alive to the threat constantly as they tried to get the opening goal, he denying them, but would the pressure tell? Morecambe hadn't even been near the Chelsea goal.
As the half wound down Chelsea got their goal, which had been coming, and the visitors must have expected it. A sharp deflection wrong-footed the otherwise superb Morecambe keeper and he dived despairingly to see the ball hit the back of his net with six minutes of the half to go. Almost another double save in the first five minutes of the second half, but the rebound flashed past the keeper and Chelsea were in control, two to the good. Twenty minutes from time and it was all over for Morecambe, who only got their first shot on goal near the death, as Chelsea broke away and made it four to progress to the fourth round with ease. A fifth on 77 minutes might have been rubbing it in a little, but Chelsea were showboating in front of their fans now
Result: Chelsea 5 - 0 Morecambe
Scorer(s): Tosin (2), Nkunku, Felix (2) (CHE)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2c/Middlesbrough_FC_crest.svg/380px-Middlesbrough_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0f/Blackburn_Rovers.svg/350px-Blackburn_Rovers.svg.png)
Teams: Middlesbrough v Blackburn Rovers
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Riverside Stadium
Potentially a very even match, with Blackburn 7th in the Championship and Middlesbrough two places ahead of them at 5th, though neither team has been winning their games lately.
A comedic mix-up between the Middlesbrough keeper and his defenders almost had Blackburn in for the opening goal in the second half, but unexpected as it was, the striker could not settle himself properly and it shot over the bar, saving the keeper's blushes. No such escape when Weimann had his second chance and this time buried it in the Boro net. His goal proved to be the difference between the teams, as Rovers head on into the fourth round.
Result: Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Blackburn Rovers
Scorer(s): Weimann (BLA)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg/300px-AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8b/West_Bromwich_Albion.svg/310px-West_Bromwich_Albion.svg.png)
Teams: Bournemouth v West Bromwich Albion
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: The Vitality Stadium
Bournemouth are flying high in the Premier League at the moment, with victories against Arsenal and Man City, while West Brom sit 6th in the Championship. Could be a hard-fought match!
It was West Brom who took the lead after fourteen minutes from a rebound, but the Cherries came back just before the half-hour and levelled through Kluivert. They then went ahead when Outtara scored twice, his goals ten minutes apart, giving Bournemouth a three-goal lead before the break. In the second half it was all the home team as Semenyo scored two minutes in to give them a comfortable four-goal cushion, Jebbison wrapping up a great performance in extra time, West Brom well beaten.
Result: Bournemouth 5 - 1 West Bromwich Albion
Scorer(s): Kluivert, Outtara (2). Semenyo, Jebbison (BOU); Taylor (WBA)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Tamworth_FC.svg/300px-Tamworth_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Tottenham_Hotspur.svg/240px-Tottenham_Hotspur.svg.png)
Teams: Tamworth v Tottenham Hotspur
Play in: National League v Premier League
Match played at: The Lamb Ground
Win or lose (most likely lose) Tamworth will benefit from having to face Spurs at their own home ground, filling up the coffers of the Lambs. The only remaining side in the competition from the National League, Tamworth have earned their place in the third round with two giant killings, the last coming only after a penalty shoot-out. But surely facing Spurs will be a bridge too far for the Lambs?
Both teams had their chances to win it but neither managed to get the ball in the net, and so it went to extra time, which has to be a testament to Tamworth, to hold the Premier League side that long. Their resistance was finally broken though 10 minutes into extra time as Spurs managed to break the deadlock, worse for the Lambs as it was one of their own who inadvertently put it into the net. A very unfair way for one of the bright stars of the tournament to exit, but that's football for you. Spurs though wanted to make it certain and Kulesevski's goal on helped make the scoreline look a bit more respectable for Tottenham, while a game which had been so lacking in goals for over 100 minutes suddenly came to life as Johnson scored Spurs' third, giving them a win which somewhat flattered the Premier League team, Tamworth bowing out after a great run.
Result: Tamworth 0 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur
Scorer(s): Tshikuna (og), Kulesevski, Johnson (TOT)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Hull_City_A.F.C._logo.svg/320px-Hull_City_A.F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Teams: Hull City v Doncaster Rovers
Play in: Championship v League 2
Match played at: MKM Stadium
This however is one where the gulf may indeed be too wide. Or will it? Championship team Hull are barely hanging on there in the relegation zone, whereas Rovers are 8th in League 2. It may balance out.
After what must have been an uneventful first half the League 2 team took the lead six minutes into the second, Molyneaux scoring to put Doncaster ahead. Hull were level ten minutes from the 90 at the second time of asking, all square and heading for extra time. Still level after 30 minutes, we all knew what was coming and Rovers took the penalty shoot out 5-4 to progress on to the fourth round.
Result: Hull City 1 - 1 Doncaster Rovers (Rovers win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Molyneaux (DON); Puerta (HUL)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/77/Logo_Sunderland.svg/500px-Logo_Sunderland.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/32/Stoke_City_FC_new_crest.svg/340px-Stoke_City_FC_new_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Sunderland v Stoke City
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Stadium of Light
Another all-Championship tie, but quite a difference in the placings of the teams. Sunderland are rampant at 4th place while Stoke City are near the end in 19th.
Stoke took an early lead through a penalty after only four minutes but Sunderland were level just after the hour, to force the game into extra time, during which Stoke raced free and took the tie, progressing to the fourth round and dumping the Black Cats out.
Result: Sunderland 1 - 2 Stoke City
Scorer(s): Cannon (p), Ennis (STO); Aleksic (SUN)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Leicester_City_crest.svg/380px-Leicester_City_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Queens_Park_Rangers_crest.svg/370px-Queens_Park_Rangers_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Leicester City v Queens Park Rangers
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: The King Power
A chance for struggling Leicester to try to win some silverware, or to underline how poorly their season is going by exiting in the third round? QPR are 11th in the Championship, so should provide decent opposition, and home advantage may not favour the Foxes, or they may turn it on at the King Power.
Leicester were in a fog, though it's fair to say QPR were too, as a real "pea-souper" descended on the King Power, making it difficult at times to make out the teams. Shades of Christmas, but it was the Foxes who got the present eight minutes in, then ten minutes later they gave away the ball and were punished as QPR levelled. They were quickly back in front though, Mavadidi putting them ahead just after the half-hour and Leicester making it three before the break. QPR weren't done though and came back in extra time at the end of the half to cut Leicester's lead to a single goal, and make the second half much more interesting than it had looked like being.
In the second half the fog began to clear, and Leicester's path to the fourth round became clearer too as they were awarded a penalty for handball, Vardy stepping up to re-establish their four-goal lead. Justin's second on the hour made it five, and as he went in search of his hat-trick it was Faes who hit QPR for six.
Result: Leicester City 6 - 2 Queens Park Rangers
Scorer(s): Justin (2), Mavididi, Buonanotte, Vardy (p), Faes (LEI); Verane, Kelli (QPR)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2a/Brentford_FC_crest.svg/360px-Brentford_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Teams: Brentford v Plymouth Argyle
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: The G-Tech Community Stadium
Brentford's fortunes have taken a dive recently, so this may be a chance to show the home fans that they still have it, as they face bottom of the Championship Plymouth Argyle.
It was the Championship club who went closest in the first five minutes, but unable to beat the keeper as their new manager-in-waiting watched from the stands, then four minutes later a decent shot almost had Brentford ahead, but the Plymouth keeper equal to it. It was on 17 that Plymouth again just missed opening the scoring as a lovely pass in the box forced the Brentford keeper into a sharp save or his team was down one goal. Plymouth not making it easy for the London side. That was it for the first half, and Argyle kept up the pressure as the second half opened, another shot that could have gone into the net but bounced luckily for him into the Brentford keeper's arms. A second shot ballooned over the bar, then a frantic block was all that stood between Brentford taking the first goal, and possibly the match, with only 14 minutes to go.
Back came the home side, threatening the Plymouth goal but still unable to make the net ripple, time ticking away, the first team to score now surely to take the game. And with 8 minutes of normal time that turned out to be Plymouth, the away fans going mad as their team, destined for relegation to League 1, took the lead against the Premier League high-flyers. Some staunch defending was still needed to keep Brentford out though, but they did, holding on for the win and pulling off a classic giant killing.
Result: Brentford 0 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
Scorer(s): Whitaker (PLY)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Coventry_City_FC_crest.svg/280px-Coventry_City_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/Sheffield_Wednesday_badge.svg/260px-Sheffield_Wednesday_badge.svg.png)
Teams: Coventry City v Sheffield Wednesday
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Coventry Building Society Arena
Coventry have won the FA Cup once, but that was way back in 1987 when they beat Spurs, and the glory days are far behind them. They take on a team six places above them in the Championship.
Coventry took an early lead from a corner, and held onto that lead till the last moments of the match, when Wednesday won a corner, and from that scored to level the game and force extra time. The home side furious that, once again, as the corner was being taken, the ref would not wait for their injured player to get seen to by the medical staff and so they had to defend the corner with ten men, which proved their undoing. Is this some new directive from the FA, or are refs just being extra-obnoxious about it? Extra time however saw the teams still unable to be separated, and so to the dreaded penalty shootout, which Coventry won 4-3, perhaps feeling justice had been done in a match they should and could have won in normal time.
Result: Coventry City 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 1 (4-3 to Coventry on penalties)
Scorer(s): Kitching (COV); Musaba (WED)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Newcastle_United_Logo.svg/400px-Newcastle_United_Logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Bromley_FC_crest.svg/360px-Bromley_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Newcastle United v Bromley
Play in: Premier League v League 2
Match played at: St. James Park
Newcastle should surely be the favourites, riding high in the Premiership and playing at home against a League 2 side who are 12th and barely scraped through against National League side Solihull Moors to take their place in the third round.
But...
A giant killing in the wind? Only eight minutes into the game, Bromley took a shock lead against the Magpies at St. James Park, a real rocket from the edge of the area after Barnes had taken a rather ambitious shot, to say the least, which cannoned into the side netting. The League 2 side could have doubled their lead had Imraim's shot been a little better placed. As it was, his fine run ended with the ball whizzing past the far post, a real scare for the Toon. Bromley were to rue that miss as Newcastle came back to equalise eight minutes later, the shot from Miley quite similar to the one scored by the visitors, a real screamer from a long shot. Order restored, Newcastle went about winning the game. Barnes tried again after some great build-up play, but high this time, and a third effort where he passed but the striker missed the ball - but not the post. Ow! Now that looked painful!
A penalty for the home side five minutes into the second half when Targett was, well, targeted and went down in the area, Gordon converting with the skill of a man who is in fine form this season, giving Newcastle the lead. After that, they weren't letting Bromley back in, and Osula's goal on the hour made it safe for the Magpies, though the man who had won the penalty could have made it four late on, but shot wide. Can we say he was off-Targett? Heh.
Result: Newcastle 3 - 1 Bromley
Scorer(s): Congreve (BRO); Miley, Gordon (p), Osula (NEW)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7c/Everton_FC_logo.svg/400px-Everton_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Peterborough_United.svg/360px-Peterborough_United.svg.png)
Teams: Everton v Peterborough United
Play in: Premier League v League 1
Match played at: Goodison Park
Everton have a lot to prove, struggling at the lower end of the Premier League and flirting with relegation, while the Posh have not won a single game in their last five and aren't doing so well either, 19th in League 1.
Everton took the field under the cloud of the sudden, but perhaps not unexpected departure of Sean Dyche, but this did not stop them taking the lead at Goodison Park a few minutes before halftime. Peterborough fought hard in the second half but a penalty given away in stoppage time meant Everton, who await the return of David Moyes as their new manager, make it through to the next round. Something to smile about for the Toffees anyway.
Result: Everton 2 - 0 Peterborough United
Scorer(s): Beto, Ndiaye (EVE)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/360px-Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/Portsmouth_FC_logo.svg/370px-Portsmouth_FC_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Wycombe Wanderers v Portsmouth
Play in: League 2 v Championship
Match played at: Adams Park
League position may again count for nothing here. Wycombe are second in the table while Portsmouth are struggling to hold on to Championship status in 21st.
Two goals ten minutes either side of each other in the first half sealed the win for Wycombe, as Portsmouth go out at the third round. A major scalp for the Wanderers to take on their way to the next phase of the FA Cup.
Result: Wycombe Wanderers 2 - 0 Portsmouth
Scorer(s): Hanlan, Bradley (WYC)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg/300px-Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/39/Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg/240px-Lincoln_City_FC_2024_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Birmingham City v Lincoln City
Play in: League 1 v League 1
Match played at: St. Andrew's
Lincoln had a hard-fought match against Crawley Town, the home side going two up before the Imps came back to take the match 4-3, but there's an eleven-place and over twenty point gap between them and Birmingham, sitting top of League 1. They'll need help from the Devil again if they're to make it past the champions and into the fourth round.
The fastest-ever goal scored in the FA Cup? In the third round, surely, at least. Maybe I'll check. Maybe I won't bother. But either way, thirty-two seconds has got to be some sort of a record, as Birmingham made the earliest of early starts at St. Andrew's. Surprisingly perhaps, Lincoln held on till 13 minutes from the end, when the home side made it certain with their second. Even a late late penalty in the last minute of normal time for the Imps couldn't change the outcome, and Birmingham march on into the fourth round.
Result: Birmingham City 2 - 1 Lincoln City
Scorer(s): Yokoyama, Dykes (BIR); Makama (p) (LIN)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Leeds_United_F.C._logo.svg/356px-Leeds_United_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/40/Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg/360px-Harrogate_Town_AFC.svg.png)
Teams: Leeds United v Harrogate Town
Play in: Championship v League 2
Match played at: Elland Road
Top of the Championship and ready for a return to the Premier League, Leeds should easily be able to see off League 2 Harrogate, who fought hard against Wrexham and Gainsborough Trinity to secure their place. This could be the end of their run though.
Harrogate could have had a penalty in the first 13 minutes but the ref said no when one of their men was brought down in the box, and no VAR to double-check, so perhaps Leeds were lucky there. In the closing minutes of the half they came close to opening the scoring, but the Harrogate keeper beaten, the post stopped it, so scoreless at the break, perhaps to everyone's surprise, the fans more than a little disgruntled: there are after all 68 places separating these two sides! Ten minutes into the second half Leeds tried to take the game by the scruff, the shot just clipping the crossbar, then they were lucky not to go behind when Harrogate had a chance.
On the hour Leeds finally put it in the back of the net, but could they hold on, or even extend that lead? No pun intended. 9 minutes to go, the Leeds keeper fluffed the ball but was lucky not to face a Harrogate shot, while the home side tried to get their second but were unable to beat the keeper, the one goal enough in the end to allow the Championship table-toppers to go through to the next round.
Result: Leeds 1 - 0 Harrogate
Scorer(s): Ramazami (LEE)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Nottingham_Forest_F.C._logo.svg/220px-Nottingham_Forest_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Luton_Town_logo.svg/360px-Luton_Town_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Nottingham Forest v Luton Town
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: The City Ground
Couldn't give much for struggling Luton's chances against suddenly-title-challenging Forest here. The Nottinghamshire team are on fire recently, surprising everyone and surely making the fastest and most amazing progress since their promotion since Leicester started bottom of the table in 2015 and historically won the title at the end of the season. Luton's fortunes have crashed badly, having been promoted out of the Championship last season, to now find themselves back there and facing relegation.
No surprise to anyone to see Forest take an early lead through Yates, and add a second to that with 22 minutes of normal time to go. Wouldn't have mattered, really, had there been 122 minutes: Luton got nowhere near the ball and Forest march on into the fourth round.
Result: Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Luton Town
Scorer(s): Yates, Sosa (FOR)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9c/Sheffield_United_FC_logo.svg/380px-Sheffield_United_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3c/Cardiff_City_crest.svg/380px-Cardiff_City_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Sheffield United v Cardiff City
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Bramall Lane
Bottom of the Championship, Cardiff won't fancy their chances against the Blades, riding high in third and heading for promotion to the Premier League next season.
Again, but...
The other Sheffield team had the same result as their cousins from the Steel City, as Cardiff breezed past them to score in the 19th minute, the Blades unable to provide a reply and the Welsh side marching on into the fourth round, leaving Sheffield with no representative now in the FA Cup.
Result: Sheffield United 0 - 1 Cardiff City
Scorer(s): Ashford (CAR)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Ipswich_Town.svg/312px-Ipswich_Town.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Bristol_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Teams: Ipswich Town v Bristol Rovers
Play in: Premier League v League 1
Match played at: Portman Road
Another team floundering in the relegation zone, Ipswich may find it a tougher match than they anticipate against Bristol Rovers, who took a penalty shootout against Barnsley to book their place in the third round.
Ipswich had an early chance to go ahead from a corner, but flicked over the bar, then the home side denied a penalty for what looked like a blatant trip in the box; didn't look like it was going to be Town's day! Some pinball then from another corner gave the Tractor Boys another chance to open the scoring, but the keeper gathered it. Ipswich getting closer though, Rovers without a shot on goal yet. They'd hardly even been down the opposition end. An unmarked Philips was able to pick his spot and take the first goal for Ipswich, Clarke making it two when the Ipswich pressure just proved overwhelming for Bristol Rovers.
Ipswich just cut through the Rovers defenders for their third, the ball literally rolled past them and slotted into the net. But offside. But the ref didn't catch it, and with no VAR to say otherwise or make him go to a screen that wasn't there, the goal stood. Ipswich on the treble, Rovers furious but unable to do anything about it. Showing perhaps why they're doing so badly in the Premier League, the Ipswich keeper passed sloppily to a Bristol player, who was, luckily for the home side, unable to make it count. But an example of how a three-goal lead could very easily have turned into a two-goal one against better opposition. Still, luck was with the team stuck in relegation, and they got a penalty late on when handball was the verdict, though it looked harsh. Honestly, how the ref could give that and miss the offside is a conversation that needs to be had. In the end justice of a sort was done as the spot kick was, frankly, terrible, the Rovers keeper hardly even having to work to stop it as the shot was sent well wide. Awful penalty.
In fact, Rovers almost got one of their own, the player straight through but kept out by a defender. Ipswich tried for a fourth, but it wasn't to be, and three will do it for them, one of their best results surely this year, and one that takes them into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Result: Ipswich Town 3 - 0 Bristol Rovers
Scorer(s): Philips, Clarke, Taylor (IPS)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg/300px-Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Watford.svg/360px-Watford.svg.png)
Teams: Fulham v Watford
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: Craven Cottage
A league apart, literally, both teams occupy the same place in their respective tables, 9th, so this could be an interesting one.
Fulham took the lead just before the half-hour but Watford stormed back seven minutes later to set up an intriguing second half. A penalty for Fulham five minutes in allowed Jiminez to restore their lead, and they added a third just after the hour before making it safe with a fourth five minutes from time.
Result: Fulham 4 - 0 Watford
Scorer(s): Vata (WAT)' Muniz, Jiminez, Andersen, Castagne (FUL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg/350px-Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg/360px-Stockport_County_FC_logo_2020.svg.png)
Teams: Crystal Palace v Stockport County
Play in: Premier League v League 1
Match played at: Selhurst Park
Palace are moving away from the relegation zone in the Premier League, but County are 7th in League 1 so it may be a harder match for the Premier League side than they imagine.
A single goal was all that was required in the end for Palace to progress, and they got it in the fourth minute, when Eze shot past the County keeper. Stockport had not managed a single touch of the ball up to then, and unbelievably the visitors had EIGHT men in the box (I counted) but not a single one could stop the Palace striker's shot. They went about making up for that, and indeed came close to doing so after seven minutes, the defender nicking the ball off Wooton's toe. Stockport kept up the pressure, and it began to look like Palace's lead was getting shakier as Bailey shot straight at the keeper.
County could not be faulted for their effort, but their finishing needed some work as they constantly shot wide, over or at the keeper. Palace then had a great opportunity to double their lead just before half-time, but the keeper saved it and Munoz unable to profit from the punch that sent the ball his way. A header was again right at the keeper, as Palace fought to go 2-0 in before the break, then it could all have gone wrong as County robbed the ball from Palace in their own area, again the finish just not there. A long throw gave the home side the chance once again to extend their lead, but over the top this time, Stockport not giving up as they charged forward again, and this time it was the visitors who were relieved of the ball, Lerma missing a gilt-edged opportunity to wrap it up for his side, but again, showing that neither team were that great in the box, over the bar it went. With time ticking away Palace had yet another chance, this time saved by the keeper, but in the end the single goal did it and the London team move on into the fourth round.
Result: Crystal Palace 1 - 0 Stockport County
Scorer(s): Eze (PAL)
Giant killing? No
That leaves us with three games which were postponed from the weekend (presumably due to the fog?) and were played tonight. I haven't had a chance to see reports on these yet, so I'll probably do them later and upload them tomorrow. The remaining fixtures were:
Leyton Orient v Derby County
Mansfield Town v Wigan Athletic
Preston North End v Charlton Athletic
And here they are, in order.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Derby_County_crest.svg/380px-Derby_County_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Leyton Orient v Derby County
Play in: League 1 v Championship
Match played at: Brisbane Road
Leyton Orient would have to be thanking their lucky stars, in a very real way, to be here at all. You may remember they only equalised against Oldham Athletic in the previous round by virtue of their goalkeeper scoring, and then Oldham had a penalty turned down near the end which would have won it for them, knocking Orient out. But it was in the end the League 1 side who scored to go through. Now they face Derby County, whose fortunes in the Championship appear to have taken something of a dive, leaving them just four points from relegation. Still, it's Championship opposition, so they may need the footballing gods to be smiling upon them again!
And perhaps they were, as Orient scored first to give themselves the advantage at home, Derby trying to come back quickly but shooting straight at the keeper, but pressure told four minutes later, and at the second time of asking it was the Leyton Orient net that rippled, all square before the break. The home side tried to restore their lead but the ball sailed just over the net, Derby with ideas of their own of progressing to the fourth round, but the keeper was down to save it. More pressure coming now from the visitors, as another shot hit the bar, but no breakthrough for either team, and so into extra time the match went.
Things began to fall apart for Orient in the second half of extra time as they had a man sent off for a second yellow. Could the Championship team capitalise on the extra man advantage and win the game? Well, almost, but again the net failed to bulge as this time the shot went just a whisker wide of the far post.
Nothing then to separate the teams after thirty minutes of extra time, and it was another penalty shoot-out. Derby were the first to blink, missing their sixth spot kick, leaving Orient needing to convert their next to take it. They did, and it's the League 1 team who go through to the fourth round.
Result: Leyton Orient 1 - 1 Derby County (Orient win 6-5 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Kelman (LEY); Brown (DER)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Mansfield_Town_FC.svg/300px-Mansfield_Town_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/360px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png)
Teams: Mansfield Town v Wigan Athletic
Play in: League 1 v League 1
Match played at: Field Mill
9th plays 17th in an all-League 1 clash, could go either way. Mansfield secured their place in the third round by beating Stevenage by a single goal, while Wigan scored late to send their match against Cambridge United into extra time, then took it when they were awarded a penalty.
Mansfield had their chances but couldn't take them, but were doing all right up to the half-time whistle. Their luck seemed to have run out though three minutes in as Wigan broke away to score a fine headed goal and take the lead. A touch of the "twilight of the gods" for the home side as Aasgaard scored both Wigan's goals, the second only six minutes later, to put them comfortably through into the fourth round. Manchester City have their Norwegian goal machine, so it seems do Wigan, the striker's tenth of the season slamming into the back of the Mansfield net. In fact, it could easily have been three, but this shot was saved, and then Mansfield hared (or, if you prefer, stagged) up the pitch and almost grabbed one back late on, but the Wigan keeper, who hadn't been all that busy, truth to tell, during the match, came alive and smothered the ball, keeping Wigan's clean sheet.
Result: Mansfield Town 0 - 2 Wigan Athletic
Scorer(s): Aasgaard (2) (WIG)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Preston_North_End_FC.svg/400px-Preston_North_End_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg/370px-Charlton_Athletic_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Preston North End v Charlton Athletic
Play in: Championship v League 1
Match played at: Deepdale
Apart from league, fairly evenly matched, with Charlton 11th in League 1 and Preston North End 15th in the Championship. The London club sailed through against Walsall in the second round, beating them 4-0, but this may prove a tougher match.
The League 1 side had the better of the early chances, but the Preston keeper equal to their efforts, then when his opposite number made a mess of a poor back pass Osmaiic was on hand to tap it past him for Preston's first, just a half-hour gone in the match. Charlton were quick to respond though, Berry netting eight minutes later for them to equalise and, perhaps, do something to spare his keeper's blushes. All square at the break then. In the second half there were chances aplenty, and two came from corners. Had Charlton's gone in then things might have been different, but it was blocked and when the home side had their chance from a corner down the other end, it was Osmaiic again who made it count, regaining the lead for his team. Only two minutes into the second half and the home side had the advantage. An acrobatic shot by Charlton could have had them level again and forced extra time, but it sailed high over the bar, a chance missed certainly, and one they would rue, as Preston went on to take the game and knock Charlton out of the fourth round.
Result: Preston North End 2 - 1 Charlton Athletic
Scorer(s): Osmaiic (2) (PRE); Berry (CHA)
Giant killing? No
Let's have a look then and see who's been knocked out at the third round stage.
Premier League
Arsenal
Brentford
West Ham
Championship
Bristol City
Derby County
Hull City
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Norwich City
Oxford United
Portsmouth
Queens Park Rangers
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Sunderland
Swansea City
Watford
West Bromwich Albion
League 1
Bristol Rovers
Charlton Athletic
Lincoln City
Mansfield Town
Peterborough United
Reading
Stockport County
League 2
Accrington Stanley
Bromley
Harrogate Town
Morecambe
Salford City
National League
Dagenham & Redbridge
Tamworth
Sad to see both the National League teams go out, but they were drawn against far superior opposition, and did well to get as far as they did. They didn't make it easy for their final opponents either, Tamworth taking Spurs to extra time before they were soundly beaten, Dagenham could walk out of the Den with their heads held high.
Some lower-ranked teams did come out on top though. Let's check in on the giant killings this round.
League 1 side Exeter City beat Championship team Oxford United, to take their place in the fourth round. On the face of it, not the biggest giant killing, as Oxford are barely hanging on there in the relegation zone, but still a great achievement for the team from the lower tier.
Also League 1 v Championship, Leyton Orient had a thrilling penalty shootout against Derby County, coming out on top. Again, though, they were facing a team struggling with relegation in the Championship. Take nothing from them though: Leicester are mired in the drop zone in the Premier League and still won their game, as did Ipswich and Wolves, so kudos to Orient.
After scoring first, League 2 team Doncaster Rovers saw Championship side Hull City come back at the death to force extra time and penalties, which Rovers won to advance to the next round. Again though it must be said, Hull are also in a relegation dogfight. Again, take nothing from Doncaster's famous victory.
Perhaps the biggest scalp taken though was Premier League team Brentford, who fell to Championship Plymouth Argyle, just the one goal in it. And to be entirely equitable, this time it was a team bottom of the Championship who beat a mid-table one from the Premier League.
Second from top of League 2, Wycombe Wanderers beat another team ranked low in the Championship as they took Portsmouth to progress.
Last thing to do then for now is look at the draw for the fourth round.
And here it is.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JnknLZJh/FACup4thround.png)
Sad to see that it's almost exclusively Premier League and Championship teams left in it, with just five from League 1 and a single representative of League 2. Yellow indicates a giant killing in the third round.
In order as they are on the table then:
Man United v Leicester: once upon a time this would have been a done deal, Leicester falling to the red wave, but though United have pride to play for, being the Cup holders from last year, you wouldn't really bet on them getting past the Foxes, even at home.
Leeds v Millwall: Bound to be a nasty, dirty match. Both teams have history with each other and Elland Road doesn't take kindly to opposing teams, but they didn't play very well this time and were lucky really not to have gone out, so who knows?
Brighton v Chelsea: Another all-Premier League tie, but with the Seagulls at home they may very well have the advantage against a Chelsea side who have somewhat lost their way in the league.
Preston North End v Wycombe Wanderers: Can the League 1 side progress past Championship opposition to make it into the fifth round? They've done very well so far, but away from home it may be a different story.
Exeter City v Nottingham Forest: Another League 1 side who will have home advantage, but will that really matter against a rampant Forest side who are suddenly, and very unexpectedly, challenging for the Premier League title?
Coventry City v Ipswich Town: Though this is Championship v Premier League, and though Ipswich did well against Bristol Rovers, can they turn it on again against the once-winners of the Cup? They had the advantage of having their fans behind them this time, next time it will be away.
Blackburn Rovers v Wolves: Another struggling Premier League team, playing away will they be able to hold Championship side Blackburn, who are in seventh place while Wolves hang on to the bottom rungs of the Premier League? They had a hard enough time against the eighth-placed team, Bristol City, now they're going to be facing a team one place above them. Will it be too much for Vitor Pereria's side?
Wigan Athletic v Fulham: Wigan have been in the Premier League before, and may very well have faced Fulham there, I don't know. But now they're in League 1 and while they breezed past higher-placed opposition in their own league, they'll be up against a Premier League team making waves.
Birmingham City v Newcastle United: Eddie Howe's team are charging up the table, even being spoken of as challengers for the Premier League title, so while Birmingham are top of League 1, that's still a hell of a gulf, even with home advantage. Could be one of the ties of the round.
Plymouth Argyle v Liverpool: The Championship team has already beaten one Premier League team, but that was Brentford. Even at home they're going to find the league leaders a tougher proposition.
Everton v Bournemouth: An all-Premier League meeting, can the new boss (same as the old boss, if a few seasons back) encourage his team to rise to the occasion, or will the Cherries batter them?
Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs had a hard time against Tamworth, and Villa were kind of lucky against West Ham, so hard to say which way this will go, but another all-Premier League tie, and Villa have home advantage, which may count for something.
Southampton v Burnley: The Championship team may not find it easy against the Saints, who, though at the very foot of the Premier League, easily saw off Swansea. However they are 12th in the Championship while Burnley are second, so this could be where the Saints go marching out.
Leyton Orient v Manchester City: The Premier League team made a statement victory, scoring the highest number of goals in the FA Cup this year. Orient will have to be on top of their game, even at home, to get past the ex-Premier League champions.
Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace: The sole remaining League 2 team will have a hard game against Palace, who have successfully avoided the relegation zone and now look safe in the Premier League.
Stoke City v Cardiff City: The only other all-Championship tie, two of the bottom teams meet and who knows how it may go?
FA CUP FOURTH ROUND
The smaller clubs are falling now, and we're being left with really Premier League and Championship teams, though there are a few League 1 and even one League 2 club left in. Could they overcome major league opposition and progress on to the fifth round?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg/400px-Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Leicester_City_crest.svg/380px-Leicester_City_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Manchester United v Leicester City
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Old Trafford
An ex-player leading his new team into the Theatre of Dreams against his old team, while this would not be a giant killing as both are in the same league, it would be a real feather in van Nistelrooy's cap if he could take Leicester to the fifth round at the expense of the team who let him go as assistant coach. And it was the Foxes who took the lead at Old Trafford, three minutes before the break, to stun the Man United fans. Just after the hour United thought they had equalised, but the ball ruled not to have crossed the line. Eight minutes later though there was no doubt as the home side did draw level, a real test now for the team trapped in the relegation zone. Could they hang on? Garnacho nearly put his team through but side netting, then a free to United in extra time gave them the victory. A refreshingly honest interview with Amorim where he agreed the goal was offside, but without VAR nothing could be done.
Result: Manchester United 2 - 1 Leicester City
Scorer(s): De Cordova-Reid (LEI); Zirksee, Maguire (MNU)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Leeds_United_F.C._logo.svg/356px-Leeds_United_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Millwall_FC_crest.svg/300px-Millwall_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Leeds United v Millwall
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Elland Road
Millwall took the lead against Leeds (no pun intended) and could have been two up but for unkind bounces of the ball. Leeds tried to pull level but the Millwall keeper was equal to the shot, then the visitors went two up, to take the game away from the Championship leaders, even a late penalty no use to them as it was saved.
Result: Leeds United 0 - 2 Millwall
Scorer(s): Azeez (MIL)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d0/Brighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg/380px-Brighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/Chelsea_FC.svg/380px-Chelsea_FC.svg.png)
Teams: Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: The Amex
Chelsea on the attack in the first four minutes could have been ahead but for the Brighton keeper, but it was in fact a poor error by him which allowed Palmer to slide the ball past and under him, Chelsea ahead. That lead lasted eight minutes, Brighton equalising through Rutter, and Palmer could have restored the visitors' lead on the half hour but just over the bar. Level at the break then, and Mitoma put the Seagulls ahead on the hour, handball but not seen by the ref and no VAR so the goal stood. In extra time Chelsea had two chances to draw level but Brighton hung on for the win, Chelsea out.
Result: Brighton & Hove Albion 2 - 1 Chelsea
Scorer(s): Verbruggen (og) (CHE); Rutter, Mitoma (BHA)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg/300px-Birmingham_City_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Newcastle_United_Logo.svg/400px-Newcastle_United_Logo.svg.png)
Teams: Birmingham City v Newcastle United
Play in: League 1 v Premier League
Match played at: St. Andrews
The gulf in divisions may not count for much here, with Birmingham top of their league and Newcastle, with a victory under their belt already as they booked their place in the EFL Cup, are flying high in the Premiership, so you could say both teams, despite being two leagues apart, are at the top of their game. And within one minute the hosts were ahead, surely one of the fastest opening goals in the FA Cup. Almost two on 15 minutes but the Newcastle keeper able to keep it out this time, then the Magpies went on the attack and drew level on 21, although the goal looked very much to have been saved by the keeper. But given by the ref, and without VAR his word is law, so one each for five more minutes before Wilson gave the Premier League team the lead. Birmingham City nearly drew level again on 33 but wide, not that it mattered as a rocket five minutes from half-time restored parity in a real end-to-end game, no way to predict how this one was going to turn out.
On the hour the home team had a man stretchered off, which is never good to see, then eight minutes from time Willock got his second and Newcastle took the lead, surely the game too? City weren't giving up though, and a single minute later could have again drawn level from a corner, but then they gave the ball away, only failing to go another down due to a last-gasp clearance from the defender. In the end though it was the Magpies who won, knocking out the League 1 leaders and marching on into the fifth round.
Result: Birmingham City 2 - 3 Newcastle United
Scorer(s): Laird, Iwata (BIR); Willock (2), Wilson (NEW)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Preston_North_End_FC.svg/400px-Preston_North_End_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg/360px-Wycombe_Wanderers_FC_logo.svg.png)
Teams: Preston North End v Wycombe Wanderers
Play in: Championship v League 1
Match played at: Deepdale
A match which saw no goals, either in normal or extra time, and so to the first penalty shootout of the round, as Wycombe missed their third penalty, 2-1 to Preston, who then sealed it with the last kick, 4-2 on penalties.
Result: Preston North End 0 - 0 Wycombe Wanderers (Preston win 4-2 on penalties)
Scorer(s): N/A
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Coventry_City_FC_crest.svg/280px-Coventry_City_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Ipswich_Town.svg/312px-Ipswich_Town.svg.png)
Teams: Coventry City v Ipswich Town
Play in: Championship v Premier League
Match played at: Coventry Building Society Arena
If we had the fastest goal (possibly) in the Cup when Birmingham played Newcastle, surely the earliest ever penalty was awarded to Ipswich. Only twenty seconds in and the visitors had a spot kick, Hirst converting to put the relegation strugglers ahead in the first minute. Their lead did not last long; seven minutes later a Coventry corner gave them the equaliser, then on the half hour Clarke cut through the defence to put Ipswich ahead again, and a third before half-time. Coventry thought they had pulled one back early in the second half but the goal was ruled offside, Ipswich surging forward to take their fourth just after the hour, the outcome in no doubt now.
Result: Coventry 1 - 4 Ipswich Town
Scorer(s): Hirst (p), Clarke (2), Philogene (IPS); Latibeaudiere (COV)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0f/Blackburn_Rovers.svg/350px-Blackburn_Rovers.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg/400px-Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Blackburn Rovers v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Play in: Championship v Premier League
Match played at: Ewood Park
Was it offside? It was close, but Blackburn's goal was ruled out and with no VAR the decision stood. Just after the half-hour this dubious decision took on extra significance for the home side as Wolves scored, the ball just squirming in under Rovers' keeper. Two minutes later the Premier League side, struggling with relegation, were two up, but Wolves have been known to lose 2-0 leads in the Premiership: could they hold on here? Yes they could, and they make it through to the fifth round.
Result: Blackburn Rovers 0 - 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Scorer(s): Gomes, Cunha (WOL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/360px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg/300px-Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg.png)
Teams: Wigan Athletic v Fulham
Play in: League 1 v Premier League
Match played at: Brick Community Stadium
Fulham opened the scoring halfway through the first half and remained ahead at the break, but Wigan fought back to level the match, but only for five minutes as the Cottagers scored again just before the hour, to confirm their progress to the fifth round.
Result: Wigan Athletic 1 - 2 Fulham
Scorer(s): Amith (WIG); Muniz (2) (FUL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0c/Liverpool_FC.svg/360px-Liverpool_FC.svg.png)
Teams: Plymouth Argyle v Liverpool
Play in: Championship v Premier League
Match played at: Home Park
Penalty to Plymouth just after the restart gave the home side the lead, Jota nearly pulling Liverpool level but for a great save, Nunez unable to do it either, his shot being clawed over the bar, the keeper literally keeping the Championship side in it as Plymouth Argyle pulled off one of what must surely be the biggest giant-killings of the Cup this year, knocking out the Premier League leaders and booking their place in the fifth round. Who saw that coming?
Result: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Liverpool
Scorer(s): Hardie (p) (PLY)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7c/Everton_FC_logo.svg/400px-Everton_FC_logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg/300px-AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg.png)
Teams: Everton v Bournemouth
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Goodison Park
Penalty on 20 minutes for Bournemouth, who went ahead at Goodison, then two minutes from the end of the half Everton gave it away and the Cherries were not slow to capitalise on the error. A comfortable lead then for the visitors as we went into the break, that lead coming close to being extended on the hour, Pickford able to keep the ball out of the net. Everton surged forwards but were unable to make anything out of the break, a free almost pulling one back for them but just wide, then a corner for the home side resulted in some pinball play but no goal.
Result: Everton 0 - 2 Bournemouth
Scorer(s): Semenyo (p), Jebbison (BOU)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg/300px-Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Tottenham_Hotspur.svg/240px-Tottenham_Hotspur.svg.png)
Teams: Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Villa Park
Another goal scored in the very first minute of the match, and Villa were ahead at home, keeper definitely at fault, should have stopped the shot. Villa had the best of the chances in the first twenty minutes, and really should have been at least two more up, but 1-0 it remained before Son almost drew Spurs level with a rare attack forward. Again Villa could have been two ahead on the half-hour, two bites of the cherry, but unable to convert. Spurs living on their nerves a little now, but even at this early stage 1-0 was too thin a lead to be preserving; Villa needed some of those chances to go in.
Comfortable at the break then, but not comfortable enough to just sit back on a one-nil lead, Villa needed to add to that score and not give any silly goals away either. Tottenham began to play in the second half, Villa finding it harder to contain them, but finally the home side struck again to double their lead just after the hour mark. Villa seemed to run into trouble in extra time when Tel scored to pull one back for Spurs, but in the end it wasn't enough and they go out while Villa go through to the next round.
Result: Aston Villa 2 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Scorer(s): Ramsey, Rogers (AST); Tel (TOT)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/FC_Southampton.svg/380px-FC_Southampton.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6d/Burnley_FC_Logo.svg/360px-Burnley_FC_Logo.svg.png)
Teams: Southampton v Burnley
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: St. Marys
One Premier League bottom team had already showed they can do it against lower opposition; could the Saints go marching in to the fifth round too? The Championship team were the first to go on the attack, but no goal and Southampton came back strongly, also unable to break through. On the half-hour the visitors tried again, but straight at the keeper, scoreless at the break. Southampton began to turn the screw in the second half, but with 13 minutes to go it was Burnley who took the lead, and the game. Southampton out; more misery in their season as they exit in the fourth round.
Result: Southampton 0 - 1 Burnley
Scorer(s): Edwards (BUR)
Giant killing? Yes
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Leyton_Orient_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg/380px-Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg.png)
Teams: Leyton Orient v Manchester City
Play in: League 1 v Premier League
Match played at: Brisbane Road
This would be one of the giant killings of the Cup, if Orient could dump out Pep's Manchester City, and the hosts have done well to get this far, but you would have to wonder, even with City's recent poor form, if this might be a bridge too far for Orient. Two smart attacks almost proved me wrong in the first ten minutes, then on 16 minutes they did it! What an amazing long shot lob and hopped off the City keeper to give Leyton Orient the lead! The visitors, stung to action, began to play in the last ten minutes or so of the game, but unable to get past the Orient keeper as we broke for half-time. He kept them in it during the second until just before the hour when City drew level, finally. Would they now go on to win it, or could Leyton Orient take the lead again? A free a few minutes later nearly had them in for their second but the City keeper alive to it, then with ten minutes to go the Premier League team seemed to have won it as De Bruyne scored their second. A free in the final minute saw the Orient keeper come up, but blasted over the bar as City took the game, a lucky escape really.
Result: Leyton Orient 1 - 2 Manchester City
Scorer(s): Ortega (og) (LEY); Khusanov, De Bruyne (MNC)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c5/Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg/400px-Doncaster_Rovers_F.C._logo.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg/350px-Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg.png)
Teams: Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace
Play in: League 2 v Premier League
Match played at: Eco-Power Stadium
Could the lowest-ranked team remaining in the Cup make it past the Premier League team from London and go on to the fifth round? Well, no. It was a big ask and they could not answer it, as Palace scored just after the half-hour to open the scoring, Mateta making a nuisance of himself, though he didn't score either of Palace's two goals, his first rebounding off the post and being slotted in by Munoz, while the second goal came in the second half, as Devenny scored to put the Eagles comfortably through to the fifth round. Rovers had their chances but were unable to convert, and so exit the competition, but kudos for getting this far.
Result: Doncaster Rovers 0 - 2 Crystal Palace
Scorer(s): Munoz, Devenny (PAL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/32/Stoke_City_FC_new_crest.svg/340px-Stoke_City_FC_new_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3c/Cardiff_City_crest.svg/380px-Cardiff_City_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Stoke City v Cardiff City
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: bet365 Stadium
Seven minutes and Cardiff were ahead after a fine solo run, and 13 minutes later the Welsh team had their second. Stoke pulled one back and then drew level in the last five minutes of the first half. Worse was to come when the home side got a penalty just before the hour and Stoke turned the game around, until Cardiff got their third eleven minutes later to equalise again. That was how it stayed until the end of extra time, and penalties again beckoned. 2-1 to Cardiff, then Stoke missed their next penalty and in a repeat of the game between Preston North end and Wycombe Wanderers, Cardiff won 4-2 on penalties to go through.
Result: Stoke City 3 - 3 Cardiff City (Cardiff win 4-2 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Koumas (2), Baker (p) (STO); Colwill (2), Salech (CAR)
Giant killing? N/A
Shit all over Spurs. Knew it would be no problem. Shit team, shit manager. Shit fans. Weird club. Owner is a massive tit as well.
Cardiff at home next round, happy with that. Then should we get through it really begins to get juicy.
Think our Ange is long for the post? He certainly looks the epitome of the grumpy old man, doesn't he?
(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2025/02/10/TELEMMGLPICT000411598544_17391936539180_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq-yH56KoVVPVIYQ9mRUC1JQnYQG8D1dUb8xb_sibOI9A.jpeg?imwidth=680)
(https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/09/21/056f7e7ad13167935ab2e04ebad1c8e0Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM5MjIxNTg2-2.78964343.jpg)
Have to say, I've a lot of respect for Amorim for that comment about their winning goal being offside. Which it was. He didn't have to say that, and was basically shrugging "We were lucky. VAR gets into that, we have a draw and extra time/penalties."
100%
I'm surprised he hasn't been sacked already. It must be the owner not wanting to pay his contract up. The league is over, they're not finishing in the top half. They're in diabolical form. They've won 2 games in 14.
He will be gone before the season is over because they aren't winning the Europa League.
I'm sure I saw a headline a couple of days ago that Liverpool lost to a lower division side. Did they not put out a strong team or was it a great performance by the opposition?
Lower division is right! Plymouth Argyle are a Championship side, so a full division below Liverpool. AND they're right at the bottom of the Championship, so due for relegation and really then it's almost two divisions between the two, seeing as Liverpool are top of the Premiership. A bad, bad loss. Doesn't look like Liverpool even tried, from what I saw.
Yeah it looks to have been a weak team: no Salah, no Alexander-Arnold, no McAllister, no Allison and no Robertson. Nunez only on the bench. Reckon old Arne thought they'd breeze past Plymouth and didn't need a full-strength team. Possibly his first major miscalculation, unless he wanted to concentrate on Europe and the Premier League?
Jeez, but well played Plymouth Argyle. :)
That reminds me when I lived in Sutton in South London, and Arsenal turned up for an FA Cup tie. I went to watch with the wife as the Sutton ground was just round the corner. Probably around 2012. Arsenal whopped Sutton, but irrc the Sutton coach started scoffing a pie at half time and it got in all the national newpapers.
Maybe I got the wrong year and the "pie incident" was more recent, but I do enjoy when the big teams come to little-town.
The players Liverpool put out were still quality.
Kelleher has been immense for them in goal when Allison was out and is a full internstional. Their front three was Chiesa, Díaz and Jota, all top players. Only really Nyoni and McConnell were inexperienced.
Teams like Liverpool have two teams worth of international players so when they field a changed team it's still a very strong team and good enough to beat 99% of other teams.
Perhaps, but they didn't. If Slot wanted to remain in the FA Cup I don't see why he didn't play Salah and Nunez, they've been the backbone of the team recently. Going out is one thing, going out to the bottom team in the Championship is quite another. I think he was overconfident and paid the price. Whatever team they fielded, the fact remains they didn't play well (though of course I only saw the highlights) and Argyle deserved their victory.
I was just making the point that a few rested players doesn't mean it was a weak team when Liverpool could play two separate teams both capable of wining the PL.
I know, and I bow to your superior footy knowledge, as usual.
But any way you slice it, that's an embarrassment for the league leaders/potential champions of both England and Europe. Argyle fans must be pissing themselves laughing, as must Everton fans.
Newcastle out.
Fucking hell we've got to give this a really good go.
Fuck.
We have a chance 😭
Man Utd out.
The fucking draw 😭
Fulham vs Palace
Preston vs Villa
Bournemouth vs 115
Brighton vs Ipswich or Forest
COME ON!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg/300px-AFC_Bournemouth_%282013%29.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg/400px-Wolverhampton_Wanderers_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Bournemouth v Wolves
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Vitality Stadium
An all-PL clash, but between two teams at very much opposite ends of the league, with Wolves struggling to avoid falling into the relegation zone, and Bournemouth flying high in 7th place. The Cherries also had home advantage, so would this be a walkover? Well not quite: half an hour before the first goal was scored, and it was indeed the home team who took it. Five minutes later and things were looking black for the team from the Black Country as Bournemouth doubled their lead to give them a commanding position going into the break. Oh but wait, not so. After more than five minutes of checking, VAR cleared a possible handball but then ruled the goal offside. Apparently there's an army of cameras set up around the goals now to catch what they're calling "Automated Offside". Are they trying to suck all the joy out of the game? Well possibly, because in extra time at the end of the half, another goal ruled out for handball, though this one was clear and obvious by Bournemouth.
On the hour, a goal to light up any FA Cup tie as Cunha levelled for his team, nothing VAR could do to disallow that one! Bournemouth were pushing to retake the lead minutes later but unable to break through, then the Cherries could have had a man sent off for a straight red, which would have changed the complexion of the whole game, but yellow was the decision. 1-1 then after 90 minutes and into extra time we went, the home side almost getting the winner as time ticked down towards penalties, only two amazing saves by the Wolves keeper saving the visitors, then some handbags at fifty paces broke out in the final minute. Not a time you want to lose one of your best players just before the spot kicks, but that was exactly what happened to Cunha, sent off for a straight red and now not available for the penalties, which looked to be the inevitable outcome.
And so it was. But before we go into the result, a word about Matthias Cunha. With his team floundering just outside of the relegation zone in the Premier League, and he himself their main scorer, the man who has pulled it out of the bag for them time and time again, how stupid to lose it in the final minutes and end up getting sent off? Now it's at least a three-match ban (may be more, as there was scuffling in the dugout as he went off) which is the very last thing his team needs. Very unprofessional, and he may have condemned Wolves to the Championship after that hissy fit.
But back to the match, and to the penalties. First up were Wolves, scored, then Kluivert for Bournemouth was never going to miss. Second Wolves one went in too, and a contemptuous kick from Outtara made it 2-2. Both Wolves and Bournemouth scored their third, all square, then Bournemouth's fourth was saved, advantage the visitors, who missed their next, a terrible penalty, back to honour even. But Bournemouth needed to score their fifth, which they did, to take it now to sudden death at 4-4. Wolves then missed the next one, meaning if Bournemouth could score they were through. And so they did.
Result: Bournemouth 1 - 1 Wolves (Bournemouth win 5-4 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Evanilson (BOU); Cunha (WOL)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg/350px-Crystal_Palace_FC_logo_%282022%29.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Millwall_FC_crest.svg/300px-Millwall_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Crystal Palace v Millwall
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: Selhurst Park
Six minutes in and there was a decision for the ref, as Mateta was the recipient of a very high kick - the kind Eric Cantona would be proud of - by the Millwall keeper. VAR said yes, and the keeper was walking, Mateta stretchered off. Never a dull moment with Millwall, eh? Palace came close to opening the scoring, but the replacement keeper able to keep the various attempts out. The visitors had not yet had a shot on target. Until they scored in their own net, to give Palace the lead they had in fairness deserved, and looked likely to take. 5 minutes from the end of the first half the home side looked to have doubled their lead, but ruled offside, till VAR checked and decided the goal was good. In extra time at the end of the half Millwall finally came into it, halving the deficit.
Determined to give Palace a game in the second half, the Lions came close to drawing level, but nine minutes from time Palace made it certain with their third to progress into the quarter-finals, though they will probably do so without their top scorer, who was rushed to hospital. We wish him well. Even if he is a Palace player.
Result: Crystal Palace 3 - 1 Millwall
Scorer(s): Tanganga (og), Munoz, Nketiah (PAL); Harding (MIL)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg/380px-Manchester_City_FC_badge.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a8/Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg/360px-Plymouth_Argyle_F.C._logo.svg.png)
Teams: Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: The Etihad
Having already shocked the footballing world and pulled off a real FA Cup giant killing upset by knocking Premier League champions-elect Liverpool out of the competition, could lowly Plymouth Argyle add another high-value Premiership scalp to their collection by also dismissing Pep Guardiola's somewhat struggling Manchester City at home? Surely a bridge too far for the team hanging on at the bottom rung of football's second tier? Well, it took City half an hour to have a shot on goal, and it rapped back off the post, then Argyle had their own attack, and from a corner the underdogs were ahead! It couldn't last of course, and at the very end of the half City pulled one back. You'd have to imagine they would go on and take control now, and in the second half that was just what they did, hemming Plymouth in and not allowing them anywhere near their goal while they bombarded the Argyle net.
And yet, it took them till the 76th minute before they could take the lead, through the same player, suspicions of offside but the goal stood. Plymouth tried, but when the third one went in thanks to DeBruyne, that was the end of Plymouth Argyle's incredible journey in the FA Cup.
Result: Manchester City 3 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
Scorer(s): Talovierov (PLY); O'Reilly (2), DeBruyne (MNC)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Preston_North_End_FC.svg/400px-Preston_North_End_FC.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6d/Burnley_FC_Logo.svg/360px-Burnley_FC_Logo.svg.png)
Teams: Preston North End v Burnley
Play in: Championship v Championship
Match played at: Deepdale
Not only a meeting of two Championship sides, but a derby of sorts too, as both are from Lancashire. It was in fact an Irishman who opened the scoring just after the half-hour, Robbie Brady netting for his team with a fine free kick. With four minutes of the half to go Burnley had a chance to draw level but shot wide of the post, three minutes later Preston were down their side and doubled their lead, and again the visitors squandered a chance to pull one back in extra time.
Preston missed a gilt-edged opportunity to make it three though just before the hour, Burnley continuing to apply pressure but getting no reward for their efforts as the home side took their third, and booked their place in the quarter-finals 14 minutes from time.
Result: Preston North End 3 - 0 Burnley
Scorer(s): Brady, Osmajic, Keane (PNE)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg/300px-Aston_Villa_FC_new_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3c/Cardiff_City_crest.svg/380px-Cardiff_City_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Aston Villa v Cardiff City
Play in: Premier League v Championship
Match played at: Villa Park
After our woeful display against Palace during the week, this was our chance to get through to the quarter-finals against a Championship team feeling the strain. Beautiful shot from Bailey on the half-hour but the Cardiff keeper able to tip it over, then one minute later Rashford could have been in, but wide of the post. Cardiff tried for a penalty but there was minimal contact, no deal, then Villa swarmed upfield again and this time it was Watkins' turn to try, and miss. Scoreless at the break then, multiple efforts by Villa but nothing troubling the keeper.
Cardiff had a shot on goal just after the hour, but Martinez able to smother it, then finally Asensio did what no other Villa player had been able to do, found a way past the keeper with 20 minutes to go. Ten minutes later and the Spaniard had his and Villa's second, the game finally won, though not as easily as perhaps it should have been.
Result: Aston Villa 2 - 0 Cardiff City
Scorer(s): Asensio (2) (AST)
Giant killing? No
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/56/Newcastle_United_Logo.svg/400px-Newcastle_United_Logo.svg.png)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d0/Brighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg/380px-Brighton_and_Hove_Albion_FC_crest.svg.png)
Teams: Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: St. James Park
Penalty for Newcastle gave the returning Isak the chance to take the lead for his team, not wasted, but then a minute before the end of the half Brighton levelled, so all square at the break. After a deliberate push on a Brighton player in the second half Gordon was dismissed, leaving the advantage now surely with the Seagulls. That advantage did not last long though; in a fairly bad-tempered match, a Brighton player also saw red, parity restored. Scharr then went on to win it for the Magpies, or did he? VAR, annoyed at being excluded from the first four rounds it would seem, got involved and ruled the goal offside. To add insult to injury then, Brighton took it in the second half of extra time to knock the Toon out.
Result: Newcastle 1 - 2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Scorer(s): Isak (p) (NEW); Minteh, Welbeck (BHA)
Giant killing? N/A
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg/400px-Manchester_United_FC_crest.svg.png)(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg/300px-Fulham_FC_%28shield%29.svg.png)
Teams: Manchester United v Fulham
Play in: Premier League v Premier League
Match played at: Old Trafford
The walls of Old Trafford, so dependable in decades gone by, have begun to crack and show signs of falling. Worrying at those cracks today were Fulham, who used to be something of a joke team (anyone remember Citizen Smith?) but who have scaled the heights of the Premiership and currently stand 9th, while United are looking up enviously from 14th, with a 9-point gap between the teams. Nevertheless, theoretically, Man United should have home advantage, but that would all depend on how well they responded to their recent failures and how much they want to keep their history in the FA Cup alive.
Lots of chances for both sides, more of them for the home team really, but still scoreless halfway through the opening period. Great chance for Fulham with 8 minutes of the half to go, but just over the top, then five minutes from the half-time whistle United had a decent shot at opening the scoring, but Zirksee shot wide. The home side definitely piling on the pressure in the last few minutes though. Shearer noted that the teams were equally poor in the final third, and I'd agree: chances were wasted, possession lost cheaply, and neither team looked that likely to score, until the very last seconds of the half, when Fulham scored from their second corner.
Twenty minutes from the end it was once again the Man United captain who came up trumps to level the match, and possibly force extra time. Eight minutes of that had to elapse first though in the normal course of play, which surely gave either team the chance to go for the winner. United almost did it, breaking away from a pretty solid Fulham attack down their end, but the keeper was able to keep it out. And so to extra time, another thirty minutes to decide the tie, which, though it had come alive eventually, had been less than a classic for most of the game.
Nothing to separate the two teams after extra time either, and so it was another penalty shoot-out, so would it be a repeat of when United met Arsenal in the third round and kicked the Gunners out of the competition, or would this be revenge by proxy for the other London team? First up Man United, scored, then Fulham who also scored. 1-1. All square after two penalties each, and again after three, then United's fourth was stopped. If Fulham could score now they'd have a real advantage. And they did. 4-3 to the visitors. United simply had to score their next penalty or it was all over for them. And they missed! Well, credit where credit is due: the penalty wasn't missed but saved by the keeper. Either way, the result is still the same: United out!
Result: Manchester United 1 - 1 Fulham (Fulham win 4-3 on penalties)
Scorer(s): Bassey (FUL); Fernandes (MNU)
Giant killing? No, but the holders are kicked out.
The draw for the quarter-finals then is as follows:
Fulham will play Crystal Palace
Preston North End will play Aston Villa
Bournemouth will play Manchester City
Brighton will play either Ipswich or Nottingham Forest, who play each other tomorrow.