Until a fortnight ago, Dulwich had scored in every one of their home league games this season.

Until Saturday, Dulwich had not been beaten at home in the league.

In an effort to increase the quality of the photographs available on this website and to try and avoid too many entries on Crap Photos of Non-League, my other half bought me a better camera for Christmas. In all the years of doing this blog, I’m yet to get a passable photo of a goal actually happening so my hopes were high as I trundled along to Champion Hill to see them take on fellow high-fliers Bognor in a top-of-the-table Super Saturday clash earlier this month. The game finished 0-0.

It was the first time Dulwich had played out a 0-0 draw at home for around 3 years so you’ll forgive me for feeling at least a little responsible.

I’m not a man of superstition though (I am) so there’s no way they’d fail to score two games in a row, especially when faced with mid-table mediocrity in the form of Godalming Town.

2.45pm. That was the time at which I left my house to get to the game. I love non league football.

Initial signs were good – Dulwich were playing their usual brand of free-flowing, passing football and chances were coming at nice, neat, regular intervals. New camera at the ready, it was surely only a matter of time? The Godalming goalkeeper had other ideas though. None shall pass.

At half time, I devoured Bovril. I love Bovril. I also moved to the other end of the ground and decided to take up a position in the stands for a bit of elevation on the shot of the eventual goal for the home side. Dulwich had other ideas.

Midway through the second half, Godalming broke away and scored. I missed it. I was at the other end.

Dulwich had no other ideas. They’d tried everything. Oh, there was huffing. There was even a bit of puffing. But houses were not in the mood for being blown down. And they lost. 0-1.

It can’t be me, can it? It can’t be.

I’ll be back.

Monday 5th September

Tuesday 6th September

Brockenhurst .v. Lymington
South Shields .v. Newcastle Benfield
Barton Town OB .v. Scarborough Ath
Egham .v. Merstham
Ashton Athletic .v. Maine Road
AFC Fylde .v. AFC BLackpool
Runcorn Linnets .v. Mossley
Ardley .v. Wembley
Thrapston .v. Shepshed Dynamo
Gornal .v. Rugby
Whyteleafe .v. Folkestone Invicta
Stone Dominoes .v. Stourport Swifts
Hall Road Rangers .v. Pargkgate
Wisbech .v. March
Harrogate Railway .v. Silsden
Burnham Ramblers .v. Hertford Town
Ramsgate .v. Whitehawk
Oadby .v.Quorn
Staveley Miners Welfare .v. Goole
Pickering .v. Liversedge
AFC Sudbury .v. St Ives
Thame .v. Newport Pagnell
AFC Wulfrunians .v. Castle Vale
Buckland Athletic .v. Taunton
Dunstable Town .v. Bethnal Green
Whitehaven .v. Hebburn
Hatfield Town .v. Enfield 1893
Bamber Bridge .v. Curzon Ashton
Boldsmere St Michaels .v. Coleshill
Woodford Utd .v. Daventry

Wednesday 7th September

Ilford .v. Waltham Forest
Eccleshall .v. Alvechurch
Shirebrook Town .v. Gresley
Glasshoughton .v. Ossett
Holbeach .v. Hucknall
Newport IoW .v. Portchester

—–

Unknown Dates

Southend Manor .v. Cheshunt
Didcot .v. Abingdon
Bishops Sutton .v. Shortwood
Haringey & Waltham Development .v. Biggleswade Town
Oxhey Jets .v. Great Wakering Rovers
Shirebrook .v. Gresley
Ely City .v. Walsham le Willows
Hanworth Villa .v. Bedfont Sports
Harefield Utd .v. Staines Lammas

The new season must nearly be here, for the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round fixtures are out. They are here >>>> FA <<<<

This season we’ll have the usual sloppily arranged previews/reviews/randoms, some attempted arty photos of ephemera and possibly some exciting new stuff that will no doubt please one or two people, annoy a few others and be met with significant indifference by the vast population of England, nay, the WORLD.

In short, we might do a podcast, because there has been a clamour (Ed: is two people really a ‘clamour’?) for some bite sized chunks of audio FA Cup waffle.  Ah well, if we don’t that’s all the more time to devote to promising much and delivering little in our very own dusty corner of that which no one speaks, the early rounds of the FA Cup before English football’s behemoths join in … having had byes for seven rounds … the massive cheats.

Or we might just sit back and chill with a Bud and see what happens. And there it is, the FA Cup’s new sponsor … regular FIFA/World Cup bedfellows and purveyor of adults’ fizzy pop … Anheuser Busch. A big thank you to the FA for inviting us along to the unveiling of the new supporters of the oldest knock out cup in the World. As defenders of the underdog we sould churlishly whine and moan about the choice but, frankly, they sponsor FC Dallas and I am nursing an embryonic crush thanks in no small part to the Polyphonic Spree.

Admin out of the way … first up this season is going to be a little thing for the bloggers out there, a curtain raiser if you like. More to follow on that.

Over the next few weeks there will be some tinkering because of groundsharing and we fully expect a game somewhere on Friday 19th August, most on the 20th August and possibly some on Sunday 21st.

Now we’re off to choose our first tie …

Our season has long been over, guided comfortably to anonymity by Jewell, as fans this derby was all about pulling our little Norfolk cousins back down to our level. Restoring the natural order of things was the aim of today, as fans of Ipswich knew, this should be the game where we take the wheels off their promotion hopes. Whilst we endured our poorest run of form on record under Keane over the last two terms, Norwich had sunk much lower than us to League 1 and bounced straight back, seemingly too high in our opinion and the freakish curve they are on would definitely be coming to and end this Easter in front of a bold and brash Portman Road crowd.

These were the salient points we ruminated on during the train journey from Halesworth to Woodbridge, across three or four pubs in the lovely market town before continuing our journey to Ipswich itself for a few more drinks by the Quayside. There were no real nerves amongst us, we all seemed fairly confident and anticipated avenging the insult and capitulation of the previous fixture.

Ipswich seemed to have other darker ideas. They didn’t take the wheels off Norwich’s promotion campaign, they knelt down, buffed them up and offered to valet park the bandwagon one game closer to the Premier League. Norwich had everything we didn’t on the field. And the embarrassment of riches at our disposal made our ill-equipped efforts and futile game plan all the more agonising.

Never did I think we’d see Norwich sink five past us, let alone on home soil. The day’s drinking couldn’t numb the pain, rarely do I wish I was drunker when watching a game, but this one broke all the rules. Fittingly the word ‘excruciating’ apparently comes from the act of crucifixion and tonight Ipswich received the footballing equivalent.

Town lined up with Scotland up front with a bank of five behind him as opposed to Norwich’s tight midfield diamond and big man little man combo of the bullish Holt and pacey Jackson. The Trinidadian front man has one thing in common with Holt in that a large chunk of Ipswich fans don’t like him and think he’s fat – unfair on Jason methinks. Unfortunately the Budgies talisman has procured goal after goal, including a hat trick against us to his name this term, while many would love Scotland to bag double figures.

Last night showed why even with one goal to go that seems unlikely. Immovable and not in a good way, lacking service and time on the ball Scotland predictably dropped deeper and deeper before coming off at half time with a largely fruitless display from the Old Farm derby. Likewise Holt was “quiet” tonight in the sense that usually everything Norwich do flows through him or ends with him. A tight marking job stopped him getting on the score sheet but leaving massive gaps for his colleagues to profit easily off every lay off and pass he made whilst luring in an extra man.

Norwich didn’t even need the space, cutting Town asunder the 3^rd choice-cum-regular keeper of late Arran Lee-Barrett handed the visitors a golden gift of a goal, palming tamely to Surman to smash home gratefully after only 13 minutes. Less than ten minutes later MacAuley who this week supposedly agreed a new deal at Town then put through his own net from a corner making the job seem impossible after only a quarter of the game was gone. Ipswich were broken.

The team as a whole was a group of individuals misfiring and meandering around against a team of workmanlike but efficient and effect units. The defence, the midfield and the front two all did their jobs for Norwich, again and again and ultimately it was this discipline that overcame the lacklustre and chaotic town side. By half term the contenders of Norwich were cantering to victory while Jewell seemed to let Audley Harrison do the half time team talk.

The second half saw Town continue to be frozen like rabbits in headlights as the game imploded into a full blown rout for the Budgies to circle above us like shrill mustardy vultures.

When Simeon Jackson smashed home a well worked third it was game over, but Bullard the magical midfield maestro defiantly produced the goal of the game. A vicious dipping drive that showed up the lack of quality between both sets of posts tonight. Equally matched sides could have produced a cricket score, but the last ten minute of the game saw Norwich produce fresh legs from the bench and bowl over a shattered Ipswich. Martin from full back restored the dominance of the visitors before Norwich’s classy loanee of their own Pacheco finished calmly from some shocking defending and goalkeeping hesitancy.

By this time most fans had left or a small minority found relief as they began fighting amongst themselves. Such things will really help convince police to go back to the soulless early Sunday morning kick-offs when these sides meet again – next season or not. My mates had left early and were back on the station long before I was held up in the crush at the barrier as the authorities again struggled to filter and manage the large crowds.

Topping off the misery of the night I managed to lose a brand new pair of sunglasses, perhaps a blessing in disguise as they would remind us of the pleasant and sociable atmosphere of drinks in the sun salivating over getting our own back. It all turned out to be hubris and misjudged bias – I blame the whiskey.

The train home left much to ruminate over and as we chewed the cud it became clear that this was perhaps the worst game and most crushing moment in over twenty years of following town. Losing is fine, losing heavily happens, to be outclassed by not just your rivals, but your rivals who “belong” and often are way below us in the order of things…..that shows just how rotten something is in the state of Ipswich. Even from the gutter there seems little point even glancing at the stars they certainly aren’t blue right now.

IPSWICH TOWN 1 NORWICH CITY 5

By Matt Townsend, Ipswich Town fan, martial artist and regular TWTDer.

Sparing us a few personal, honest and thought-provoking words on FC United and his relationship with the FA Cup is Ed Barrett. As a founding member of FC United, Ed has an equal share in the club and an equal say in running it, just as it should be.

Commercial or “modern” football are easy targets for criticism from matchgoing fans for all number of reasons; some more legitimate than others. One such criticism, and one where I must also hold myself accountable, is the decline in value of the FA Cup. For a brief period at the turn of the millennium, the almost impossible task of a British club progressing in the European Cup, meant I pined for matches versus the likes of Del Piero and Sammer and the FA Cup fell by the wayside. 1994 was the last time winning in the final for me held some all consuming importance. 1996 was just because of Cantona and the schadenfreude associated with effectively Ian Rush’s last touch in a Liverpool shirt being to divert the ball to Eric.

By the time the FA had persuaded MUFC to skip the FA Cup and head for Brazil, Id lost pretty much all interest. However with the creation of FC United, it gave me a new perspective on the football pyramid. Whilst our own participation in the cup was generally limited, bar a fine replay win versus Stalybridge, it re-awoke my love affair with the competition as a neutral, particularly the early rounds with its fine old grounds and unlikely match-ups.

This year, we progressed a little further. By now I was living in Germany, and my access to “FC” was limited to twitter (the celebration of beating Barrow took place in the car back from Amsterdam), FCUM Radio (the Norton and Stockton Ancients and the Brighton game) or luxurious illegal live streams through my home projector (the Brighton replay). But for one of our most defining moments as a club, I was there, and it was delivered by the FA Cup.

The top sides aren’t allowed access to the “romance of the cup”. They are used to expensive ticket prices to watch their team play some minnow, and are used to seeing their club in the papers in general. As soon as I touched down in the UK, the paper I picked up had a story on FC and it was a thrill. We were the underdogs, and bar the odd occasion, a team that doesn’t get much coverage in comparison to professional sides. Pre-2005 it would’ve seemed ludicrous to keep the clippings!

As a club we seek to represent the community that Manchester’s two premier sides have largely forgotten, yet often, outside of the odd gig or real ale festival where more kindred spirits are likely to congregate, you can be fairly anonymous as an FC fan in Manchester. The Rochdale game changed that. Walking through the streets and people approached me to wish me well, because of my scarf. They’d seen the coverage and knew that it wasn’t just a United scarf, but an FC one. After the match, the reaction was the same. Congratulations from strangers as we marched en masse through town having returned from Rochdale. Even the manager of a local bar, popular as a post-match/pre-night out hangout for FC fans, told us excitedly how much the other drinkers had celebrated as the final goal went in. The FA Cup had won us new fans and brought us a brief bit of fame.

Of course there were 4000 fans in that flare filled stand at Spotlands and now we are back down to the usual 2000 or so, but as other cup heroes might also be able to claim, one or two extras stick around. Then of course there is the money. Now we are back to the commercial gripes, uncomfortable territory. However those turnstiles clacking around and the prize money we gained, will be responsible for a few of the bricks laid when we get our own ground. And once that ground is there, we can work with and represent Manchester and our new neighbourhood for the long-term, not just for a few glorious days in November. Although if there is any chance of a repeat…

——————

You can read more of Ed’s thoughts via his TeddyFCUM Twitter feed and tumblr blog FCUM.AD featuring FC and St Pauli.

Photo courtesy of Andy Barker

Thanks also to Andy Hudson of Gannin’ Away who organised these words for us.

Back in the day the competition was treated with respect.  It was one of the biggest games in a clubs calendar and the fans came out in force.  I remember year after year in the 1980′s of West Ham playing in front of near capacity crowds in the 3rd and 4th round of the cup.  Yesterday, Everton welcomed Double winners Chelsea to Goodison Park in front of just 28,000 fans, almost 8,000 thousand below their average league attendance.  Worse still was the 12,000 who turned up at Molineux for the all Premier League clash with relative local rivals Stoke City.  The story was the same at Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday.  It wasn’t all doom and gloom though as crowds well in excess of averages went to Notts County’s Meadow Lane, Southampton’s St Mary’s, Plainmoor in Torquay for the visit of Crawley and Stevenage’s game against Reading.

In Germany they apply a rule that the lower ranked team will play at home, and there are no replays.  The merits of the latter have been discussed for years although if this would have been the case on Saturday/Sunday it would have avoided the chaotic situation of Chelsea, Wigan Athletic and Manchester City having to host replays on fifth round day due to the FA (the same FA who run the competition) arranging a pointless friendly for England in Copenhagen in the week of the replays.  The idea of the home team being the lower ranked would have had a major effect on attendances.  Stevenage’s 6,614 on Saturday was their best for many years despite playing a modest Championship opponents Reading.  Notts County’s 16,587 for the game against Manchester City will not be far off the crowd at the replay in three weeks time I wager.  In total eight ties out of the sixteen ties featured a lower league team playing away.  Three won, but would there have been more apart from Crawley Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and Leyton Orient if Hereford United would have hosted Sheffield Wednesday, or Huddersfield Town entertaining Arsenal.

One such game took place at Upton Park where West Ham United prepared to roll over against Nottingham Forest.  The 29,000 crowd was actually the second biggest of the round behind the 59,375 at The Emirates and some credit has to go to the club for extending their policy of cheap tickets for home cup games – as long as they are against Championship teams.  This was the second successive game in the FA Cup this season and in a bid to get a reasonable crowd through the doors tickets were offered to Members for less than £20.  Of course these tickets are relative limited, but being a member I snapped up a couple of seats in the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand, above the away fans who would undoubtedly fill their section and some more.

For some strange reason the game was moved to Sunday at 2pm.  Strange because the only games being held in London on Saturday were at Watford, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Barnet yet on Sunday Arsenal were at home as well as Spurs travelling to Fulham.  Perhaps it was to give the club time to recover from the disappointment of losing a two goal advantage three quarters of the way through the Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday night.  Perhaps it was to allow Sullivan, Gold and Brady more opportunities to be in the spotlight, as they rarely get the opportunity these days, or perhaps it was to allow the travelling Nottingham Forest fans to experience the “Rail replacement bus service” that had been reserved for the Brighton & Hove Albion fans the previous day on their way up to Watford.

It became obvious when the West Ham team was read out that Avram Grant had taken the opportunity to use his squad.  A back four of Jacobsen, Reid, Gabiddon and Ilunga would not have been his first choice, but based on the fact that the Hammers sit at the foot of the Premier League I don’t think they could do much worse that Faubert, Upson, Tompkins, Da Costa, Bridge et al but perhaps it was the opportunity to put them in the shop window on the miracle that someone will come in for them with just 24 hours left of the transfer window.  Scoring goals has been West Ham’s problem this season and Grant started with Obinna and the vastly over rated Piquionne upfront, with Freddie Sears, a product of the “Academy” who is still punching above his weight but needs must providing support out wide.

But blow me down with a feather.  Four minutes on the clock and Victor Obinna fortuitously stuck out a leg and diverted Mark Noble’s shot into the net past a stranded Lee Camp.  This was a rarity for West Ham this season – an early lead and as if no one on the team knew it had really happened they decided to change their game plan to protect the lead.  Being bottom of the Premier League gives you a clue that this is something West Ham are not very good at, and it was not surprise when veteran striker Dele Adebola pounced on David McGoldrick’s flick on to level the scored in the 18th minute.

Any neutrals who had pitched up in East London and taken advantage of the “cheap” tickets would have assumed that Forest were the Premier League team in the first forty minutes, with West Ham’s creativity coming from the numerous ways that they lost possession of the ball with such ease.  All too often the final ball landed perfectly in space for the ball boys sitting on the East Stand site of the ground rather than the man they were intended for.  Winston Reid in particular showed that one great performance in the World Cup can be deceptive.  Talking of the “Academy”, on forty minutes ex-West Ham trainee Chris Cohen’s free kick was poorly dealt with in the Hammers penalty area by defenders and goal keeper alike and McGoldrick poked the ball home to put the visitors into the lead.

Lady luck was obviously prepared to give the Hammers another couple of opportunities, first when Obinna’s cross floated over Lee Camp into the net to draw level and then when Forest missed two great chances to take the lead going into half time.  Fifteen minutes to try and queue for some overpriced, undercooked, disappointing food is all part of the highpoint of a trip to Upton Park.  After the club removed the amusing spectacle of the Hammerettes a few years ago there is little to do at half time anymore.  Sullivan and Gold had promised “half time entertainment beyond belief” at the start of the season, although so far the highlight of two fans playing Match Attax cards on the pitch against Chelsea had fallen well short of the mark.  But did we really believe them?  I was mildly disappointed to be honest that we didn’t have a multi-media presentation of how wonderful life will be at the Olympic Stadium … again.

The second half saw the quality on offer improve, which as a spectacle made it less interesting.  There is something fatalistic about being a West Ham fan at the moment, knowing that we are simply the twentieth best team in a division featuring clubs that fifteen years ago were in the lower tier of English football.  Part of me wants to see us put down, so we can rebuild as we did under Alan Pardew six years ago.  But the other part is a loyal fan so when Mr Oliver pointed to the spot after Forest’s Joel Lynch was adjudged to have pulled back Winston Reid I was up on my feet cheering the decision.  There was no doubt that Obinna would take the kick, although Noble who is the normal penalty taker was still on the pitch.  Who was he to deny the Nigerian a hatrick and he duly obliged, back flipping his way to the touchline in celebration.  Neither team seemed willing to push too many men forward after that as both seemed worried about conceding the next goal.

When the liability that is Luis Boa Morte came on for Mark Noble in the 75th minute it marked a turning point for the club. West Ham had just two Englishmen on the pitch.  A sign of the times maybe, but as a Hammers fan of thirty years and one brought up on the exciting sides of 1980 to 1986 where the only foreigners were Scots it makes me sad.  The so-called Academy is slowly being torn down, replaced by overseas journeymen who lined up on the pitch.  And with news filtering through that unused substitute and the nearest the fans had to a “hero” Scott Parker had been subject to a £10million plus bid from Tottenham Hotspurs you had to wonder how many more similar players would be lining up in a week’s time against Birmingham City.

So apart from the usual last minute scares that cup games throw up, West Ham were through into the fifth round.  A good omen perhaps that they were then drawn out of the hat first, to play Championship side Burnley in round five, and only two games from an appearance at Wembley.  However, few of the home fans could dare to think so far ahead with so many vital league games to play in the meantime.  My Forest supporting chum met me outside Upton Park.  With games in hand they could grab second spot and may well swap places with the Hammers come what May.  “How can you watch THAT every week?” he asked me.  “Well that is why I go to Lewes”….

Cheers to Stuart and thanks to his employers theballisround.co.uk for allowing us this brief loan spell. May we point you at least to this superb piece from the very start of this year’s FA Cup?

————

We have never seen West Ham or Forest as part of our cup journey but we did see the debut of Hammers starlet …

JUNIOR STANISLAS

From bumbling along to some games in the Extra Preliminary Rounds of the FA Cup we all of a sudden found ourselves writing itv.com’s FA Cup previews and reviews and appearing on the BBC Non League Football Show. A most odd turn of events.

Given the shambolic way we plan things and the sometimes erratic length of time we spend getting things up on the site, a huge amount of what’s happened this year can be put down to other people so we’d like to be both self-indulgent and say thanks. This is going to sound like a Mariah Carey acceptance speech for a bauble we didn’t win, so imagine us weeping while you read this.

Firstly, a huge thanks to those non-league sides who have thoroughly entertained us this year. Secondly, an even bigger thanks to those people who have contributed match reports and comment, most notably:

Graham Yapp of the superb blog Modus Hopper Random for his Sheffield match report;

Richard Knowles a kindred spirit who not only wrote about Runcorn Linnets but also helped spread the word via the medium of Twitter;

Simon Head of the Football Pubcast who not only had the miserable task of reporting his team Gillingham getting giant killed by Dover but also asked us to contribute a nomination for the Pubcast’s Man of 2010 Award;

Sam Ross who provided us a match report of Fleetwood Town v Walsall;

Simon Field whose relocation led to his search for a new team to support;

The Elusive Tangerine who has written two (and failed to deliver a third) Postcard from The Premier League from a Blackpool fan’s perspective; and

Matthew Craven, whose illustrations we love and whose copy from the Greenwich Borough v South Park game we have shamefully yet to use thanks to the firm hand of our legal team.

We’d also like to thank Mark Segal, James Appell and Luke McLaughlin at ITV, Caroline Barker at the Non League Show and the accommodating football clubs we’ve watched or spoken to, not least Gary Brigden at Mole Valley SCR, Ian Feeley at Sheffield FC, Adam Dennehy at Redbridge FC, Matt Lawrence at Gillingham and Gerard Mills at Sutton United

As well as our usual stuff we have drifted off piste and away from the FA Cup. The drift started during the World Cup with our tentative and erratic first podcasts when we got in Andy, Bruno, Ryan from The Half-Time Whistle, Nick from Last Seat On The Plane and Kiwi Jiff to ramble on about the lesser lights in the World Cup.

Simon has reported from Argentina and we’ve viewed a Benetton-like game among some lads on the playing fields of New Zealand. We tried to go to Spain to watch a game for the award winning EFW but the game was moved. Thanks also to the brilliant websites that have allowed us to contribute pieces, Equaliser, the72, the Football Pubcast Ipswich fanzine TWTD, a couple of appearances on the Two Footed Tackle podcast and several pieces in the Evening Star by Phil Ham. Not bad for a couple of blokes just going to football.

Last but by no means least, thanks to Dulwich Hamlet for kicking this all off. Visiting Champion Hill inspired therealfacup to begin and that non-league ethos was summed up by this season’s Non League Day. The football bible that is 200% listed us as one of the essential non-league websites to visit on that day and Damon finished his year off by actually playing a proper game with a proper ref at the home of football, Champion Hill, in a blizzard and won 4-3 but was clearly at fault for one of the goals. Oh well.

We’ve met some thoroughly decent chaps from other blogs, too many to mention, although we have bumped into Stu from theballisround and friend of all bloggers Jamie Cutteridge at A LOT of games. What a lovely place the football blogging community is.

Happy New Year to all of the above and everyone who’s had a peek at the blog.

“FA Cup – Manchester United get Liverpool in the FA Cup” screeches the BBC website, “Man Utd to meet Liverpool” says the ITV website, “Hodgson ‘sad’ about drawing United” notes the Guardian and The Sun seems to have missed the important news altogether. ESPN’s soccernet, though, gets to the crux: “Enemies Reunited: Manchester United will meet Liverpool at Old Trafford in what is the pick of the FA Cup 3rd Round”

Ahhh, ‘the pick’!! We had a check on theFA website and were surprised to see that there are actually 31 other ties in the 9th Round of the FA Cup and we haven’t gone straight to the final. Phew!

It’s pushing a mighty five years since these two last met in the FA Cup so I guess the significance of the game cannot be underestimated and all neutrals are gagging for another installment! Hmmm.  Is this the pick of the ties or is this just the easiest tie for lazy hacks to do some research on?

What else could they have focused on?  In the 4th Round in 1998 Stevenage took Newcastle to a replay thanks to some bald chap on that Match of the Day show. Not only that but there was an almighty gaff by Freddie Shepherd that ensures this tie will be hot. Neither Shepherd nor Dalglish fancied a trip to a non-league ground and made this plain by implying Broadhall Way wasn’t up to staging such a game and suggested it be switched to St James Park. Stevenage, quite rightly, got the hump and even Newsnight got in on the uproar by pronouncing Dalglish a wuss. Given it was 12 years ago, it shows that things haven’t got much worse when it comes to the big boys being too big for their boots.

What about Arsenal against Leeds? A decent illustration of how teams should and shouldn’t be run, these days. Also, it was the 1972 final and on several occasions has been a tie that has gone to several replays. The last of which was the 4th Round 3rd replay in 1991 that did a lot to convince the FA to extinguish multiple replays and bring in penalty shoot outs.

Sheffield United v Aston Villa is an interesting one. In the 19th Century years of the FA Cup Villa played two semi finals at Sheffield United’s neutral ground and one at Forest’s City Ground against Sheffield United. They went back again for semis three times and in 1920 actually won one of the games by beating Chelsea en-route to beating Huddersfield in the final. The Blades also knocked Villa out in 2005 so Brammal Lane isn’t exactly a welcome sight for the Villains.

Stoke against Cardiff and Millwall against Birmingham are noteworthy for non-footballing reasons, the police bills will be massive. Despite being regulars at the higher league levels and negotiating occasional FA Cup runs, Palace and Coventry have only met once in the FA Cup and that was 103 years ago when Palace won 4-2.

The last time Fulham played Peterborough at the Cottage was only 1992 but it was on the cusp of the new dawn in football. The game was in the old 3rd tier and Peterboro won 1-0 to complete a double. Also in that 3rd division were Stoke City, WBA, Birmingham, Bolton and Wigan.

Plenty of angles to be getting on with there and that’s without the remaining Real FA Cup teams. FC United of Manchester could yet be inviting another South coast club back to Gigg Lane if they beat Brighton, Dover have a tricky tie against 5 time finalists Huddersfield, Crawley could yet face a trip to former finalist Nigel Clough’s Derby, Droylsden could face Norwich City and … spare a final thought for fans of Carlisle. Aside from not getting the glamour tie both fancied, the Carlisle fans face a 732 mile round trip (or a 7 hour train journey) for their 9th Round clash.

So, come on chaps, use some imagination please!