The FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round – Now some decent business starts.  This is when the fans start turning up, this is when hints of giant killers start to manifest.  South Park, thus far have shown pedigree above their station in the Cup.  As have London Colney. This round sees the prize money leap to a most welcome, indeed necessary, £3000 fillip.

Redbridge v London Colney
Our Saturday game this round sees us traipse over to East London, somewhere we haven’t really been yet. Redbridge started life as Ford United and Ford Motors, quite logically linked to the massive car plant that enveloped Dagenham and its surrounding area for decades. Much needed jobs and a lot of the plant has since disappeared so the club took the decision in 2004 to rename the team to reflect the local community rather than the dying industry behemoth.

In the mid 90s Ford Utd were going through some tricky financial times when relatively new and cutting edge football broadcaster Sky Sports bought up a lucrative and very late sponsorship deal that saved the club. Yep, you read that right, Sky Sports saves non-league football club. No, we couldn’t quite believe it either. Although we did believe it more than we believed Alan Pardew was Palace’s party animal ring leader.

In recent years Redbridge have been sliding down the football pyramid with two recent relegations.  Former Wimbledon and Bolton striker Dean Holdsworth cut his managerial teeth at the Oakside stadium and stopped that slide by taking the Motormen to 3rd in the Ryman 1st Division North. He’s since gone on to much acclaim at a resurgent Newport County and Redbridge have slipped back again.

London Colney are two steps lower on the pyramid and should be put to bed. BUT, the FA Cup isn’t like that and Redbridge’s Adam Dennehey acknowledged that they noted the Blueboys away win at Southern League side Marlow 2-1 in the previous and so will not be underestimating them.

Adam is well aware this could be a tricky tie, especially given Colney’s 7-0 midweek league win and that Colney beat Marlow despite having their keeper Mark Whittamore taken to hospital with a ruptured spleen. With no other keeper available Whittamore was replaced by an outfield player for remainder of the game. Ironically, and bafflingly, the Colney manager Julian Robinson was sacked after the game!  We’re led to believe this was down to a disagreement with the club’s hierarchy about the quality of close season signings but, on the evidence of the last couple of weeks, the signings seem to have done pretty well.

Yeah, yeah, we’re showing some favouritism here, we’ve featured Sutton twice already this season. But we have some photos and want to use them. A cracking time was had by us and the Sutton fans on Wednesday night when they hosted U’s FA Cup legend Tony Rains, Palace hero Geoff Thomas, football dad Ray Stubbs and the FA Cup itself. All shiny it was. Whether it was the real one we’ll never know but it was well polished and large men in black suits told us not to touch it. We did though. Fuck you, AUTHORITY!!

Anyway, the football match … Sutton are firing on many cylinders, striker Richard Jolly, one of our favourite Tweeting footballers, is bashing in the goals (4 in 6 games) and Sutton are top of the Ryman Premier League. Alton, on the other hand are sieve-like and two tiers lower in the pyramid. This could be a mauling but this is the FA Cup and in the previous round Alton, without a win in the league managed to beat a Ryman team half way up the league above. So, beware. We must give a quick mention for the lovely Jenny The Giraffe, Sutton’s mascot.

Tadcaster Albion v Shildon
If the mighty viaduct isn’t enough to drag you along to Tadcaster, maybe the oldest independent brewery in Yorkshire will?  If not that, then what about the fact that said brewery, and two others, flog their wares in the local pubs at about half the price you’ll buy them in your own local?  Sold?  Good! But if that’s still not enough then how about popping along to watch the current Northern Counties East Division 1 champions who have scored nine goals in their last two home games? Shildon sit atop Northern League Division 1 so not only could this be a cheap day out, it could also be a cracking one. And Lee Chapman plays for Shildon. Sadly not THAT one.

West Auckland Town v Bradford (Park Avenue)
As we’ve said in our ITV preview, West Auckland, believe it or not, were the ‘First World Cup Winners’ . The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was, technically, neither the first international tournament (that was the year before and only happened once) nor did it feature worldwide teams. The teams were only from Europe, there were only four of them and they weren’t exactly European behemoths in the first tournament in 1909.  However, two years later, in the second and final tournament, West easily won through against FC Zurich and then hammered Juve 6-1 in the final.

There are a few clubs in the competition who can claim to be former league clubs but Park Avenue are and possibly the only ones to have finished 9th in the First Division. Yeah, yeah, back in the day anyone could be in the first division but this wasn’t quite the dusty old times of football’s pre-history, it was in 1915 after they event of professionalism and PA had to gain promotion from Division 2 to achieve it.

One of the stars of that 1915 team, Donald Simpson Bell, left his cosy life behind to become the first professional footballer to enlist for the Great War. Within a year, Simpson Bell was bogged down in the Somme in gun to hand combat with the Bosch. In July 1916 he led an audacious/brave/foolish charge across no man’s land to take an enemy machine gun post by force, shooting the gunner, blowing up 50 soldiers and destroying the gun with grenades. For this wanton act of near suicide Simpson Bell received the Victoria Cross for ‘Conspicuous Bravery’. We’re not remotely belittling Donald’s bravery but you’ve all read of the perils of unprotected no man’s land and, after another spun of Russian roulette five days later, he was sadly but inevitably gunned down.

Glossop North End v Mossley AFC
Any regular readers and Twitter followers will be more than aware of GNE’s fantastic award winning pies and probably of legendary blagger and blogger Haggis In Ponderland. Mr Haggis is a deep cover insider at Glossop and his position, combined with fortune, opportunity and (I hope he doesn’t mind me saying) some massive bollocks, meant he could pencil his name into the final line on Glossop’s under strength team so he was officially a sub in a recent FA Cup game. He’s far more eloquent than us so read his account of it here.

GNE themselves have  made very hard work of the FA Cup this season. Having been effectively out of the Cup at 90 minutes in both of their games, it’s perhaps little surprise that with so many late goals, the vast majority of goals they’ve scored have been by subs – 6 out of 7 and the other one was in extra time so obviously doesn’t count. SO, ALL of GNE’s FA Cup goals this year have been scored by subs.

Mr Haggis, or Jonathan Haggart to give him his undercover pseudonym, not only entertains us with his blog but also proved exceptionally helpful to us Southerners with no idea about Vodkat. He gave us the lowdown on Glossop a bit of history of local rivalries and some good links to bloggers of all the local sides. Top notch – and for that simple reason GNE get our backing this weekend.

North End’s natural, historical rivals are over the hills a few miles and are New Mills. Until recently they’ve had quite a lean … errr … half a century and Mossley briefly took their place as GNE’s derby day excitement. They’ve never faced each other in the Big Ol’ Jug but form and history is firmly on the home side. Having bigged up GNE and Jonathan’s blog we have to spare a thought for poor Mossley fans, never more amusingly led than by the increasingly downtrodden Mossley80. Well worth a read for the sometimes  miserable existence of non-league, or indeed any, fans.

Curzon Ashton v New Mills
With an unusually Northern bent to this week’s preview, we now include the other GNE rival, New Mills.  We’ll start with Curzon, though, because they have some quality, recent previous when it comes to Giant Killing.  Just two years ago Gambian international James Ogoo scored the winner for Ashton when they beat League 2 side Exeter 3-2. He’ll need to have visited his beanstalk on Saturday though because New Mills have started the season in as good form as any team in the country. Their phenomenal early season record is: won every game they’ve played, five points clear at the top of the Vodkat North West Counties Premier League and in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup they thumped Alsager 10-2. Eek!

Cray Wanderers v South Park
We’re off to this game on Sunday, assuming the frickin’ trains allow us. If not, the Zeitgeist cycle method of football transport will have to be dragged out of the shed. South park are still on ITV’s Road To Wembley and, as we predicted last week , they travel to Cray Wanderers, one of the old ladies of the FA Cup. This year historic Cray celebrate 150 years of existence and are the 2nd oldest club in the world. South Park are three tiers below chocolate-shirted Cray in the football pyramid but completely annihilated Ryman League (Div 1 Sth) Horsham YMCA in the last round so who knows what will happen here. Maybe South Park are this year’s Paulton Rovers or Havant & Waterlooville?

As a post-script to today’s preview we’d like to take a moment to reflect. After the massive buzz non-league football got out of Non-League Day, it was brought crashing down to earth with two pieces of bad news. There are others but these two the only ones that directly affect the FA Cup.

RIP Rams & Robins
The clouds descended over Croydon Athletic’s owner Mazhar Majeed when he was honeytrapped by the News of the World and embroiled in cricket’s latest match fixing scandal. A side issue to the cricket hordes, it was then noticed he’d boasted of laundering money through his football club. Oh dear. Croydon has resigned from the FA Cup, postponed all games and appear, at worst, to be heading for football’s exit door.

After all that misery we were hoping that a team we saw last year, Ilkeston Town, would be given the benefit of the doubt and have a stay of execution over the money troubles. The courts had other ideas and they were wound up over a £50k tax debt which effectively terminates their 116 year  history.  Very sad. Spare a thought for fans of these teams and maybe rein in the expectations you have for your own club. Stretch too far and the elastic snaps. Some people just haven’t got a clue.

Check us out on the ITV website and go to the FA site for the full fixture list.

If you have any questions comments or ephemera give us a Tweet.

Roll on the weekend!

The Real FA Cup Awards 2010.

The Nominations Are: Click Link For All Polls

Best Player:
Sanchez Ming – Dulwich Hamlet
Marcel Jones – Enfield 1893
Ryan Ashe – Wealdstone
Jack King – Farnborough
Danny Forrest – Crawley
Danny Kedwell – AFC Wimbledon
Sam Duncum – Ilkeston

Best Game:
Broxbourne Borough V&E 1 Enfield 1893 4
Ashford Town (Mx) 2 Hendon 2 (9-8 on pens)
Farnborough 2 Hastings 1
Dartford 1 Chelmsford City 4
AFC Wimbledon 2 Crawley Town 1
Wealdstone 2 Rotherham 3

Best Ground: This one is not easy either.
Champion Hill – Dulwich Hamlet
Princes Park – Dartford
Beveree Stadium – Hampton & Richmond Borough

Most Helpful Club:
Wembley
Basildon United
Wealdstone
AFC Wimbledon
Sevenoaks

Team Of The Tournament:
Lowestoft Town
AFC Wimbledon
Tooting & Mitcham United
Aylesbury
Wealdstone
Enfield 1893
Forest Green

Only the third least offensive match this round, according to voters in our poll for Round One ‘Proper’ of the FA Cup. In aesthetic terms, however, this should have been the winner. Weeping willows, dreaming spires, the smack of leather on willow and the wake of a million oars on the Cam.

First port of call, a functional footy pub on a main road, we could have been in any provincial town. Paulton Rovers 0 Norwich City 3 when we left. Second port, after crossing the wrong bridge, the Green Dragon, a fine establishment. Busy too. A riverside venue, ducks, boats, tourists … and a more ‘English’ pre-match setting you’d struggle to find, it would only have been more English if we’d been off to watch cricket or whichever blue hue is popular on the river in this part of Oxbridge.

“We’re not going to win the FA Cup but it’s a chance to make some money and give the fans and the players the feel-good factor, and we’ll be doing our best to get into the second round” said Cambridge manager Martin Ling. Ilkeston aren’t going to win it either and we’re not sure what manager Kevin Wilson thinks about it. However, his week was interrupted by the sad death of his father. As an Ipswich fan, who remembers Kev fondly, my heart and condolences go out to him. FA Cup or not, reality cuts through, it’s just a game.

It’s just a game but it is still a game and that game needed to be played and both sets of fans were up for it. Ilkeston fans were thin on the ground, surprisingly, we thought, but their drummer was highly active and had his top off in the East Anglian sunshine.

It’s just a game but, for the first time this season, our photography was compromised. “No photos during the game” said the steward. “Eh?” we replied. “Only pre-match, half time and after the game”, he qualified. Is this a legacy of a recent league side? Are these the simple restrictions fans can expect from now on in? The spectre of IP rights looms. We kind of thought this might happen but IT IS JUST CAMBRIDGE, this is not the Emirates, and it’s not as if we’re making money out of this. Thankfully, an anonymous, kindly dark lord of photography was present and provided us with a few match shots. The luck!

Cambridge Utd 1 Ilkeston 0

Sloppy goal. A few shots came in and were blocked, the ball broke loose and alleged Norwich target Chris Holroyd (below, right) was by far the quickest to react and tucked the ball home. As far as the tie, as a contest, was concerned this was probably the worst start possible. The Blue Square North side then had to come out and seek a goal.

Ilkeston huffed and puffed, they got forward a bit but, in truth, Sam Duncum (below, left) on the left was the only player at the races. He looked a quality player, quick feet, good control and a decent cross on him but his team mates couldn’t find the spaces that his threat created.

A Cambridge fan was escorted out of the ground by the police, for some reason. He went peacefully so we weren’t sure if he had to move his car or something. The half was fairly even in general terms but Cambridge looked in first gear whereas Ilkeston couldn’t overcome the one league deficit they were carrying into the game.

Cambridge graced the R Costings Abbey with some good football at times. Jai Reason fell in the box when well placed, Courtney Pitt beat several men but failed to get a shot in. Holroyd was brought down theatrically but perhaps not as badly as his nasty and awkward-looking landing suggested. Potter in the Cambridge goal was not troubled.

Cambridge have been in free fall since the 90s when they briefly graced the Championship, in fact they were a few games shy of challenging for the play offs to the Premier League at one point. The team and the fans have been in decline ever since. We noticed that, in the Abbey stand we were in, the average age of fan was probably pushing 40-50. There were younger fans in the North stand but Cambridge’s decline seems to have attracted few new fans and the future of the club has to be in limbo if they don’t climb out of this league quite soon.

The only other notable moment of the first half was a U’s clearance that hit the front of the stand we were in. A significant amount of rust cascaded down in front of us. The locals chuckled, we looked up wondering if the structure would last the game.

HT Cambridge Utd 1 Ilkeston 0

The old skool skyscraper floodlights were on, a very pleasing classic football sight that left a warm glow. Cambridge didn’t start the half well and Ilkeston had a short spell that had us pondering previous realfacup games where a 1-0 lead and dominance has so quickly turned into undeserved equaliser. Ilkeston had their first meaningful shot, after 53 minutes,which served as a warning and two minutes later another. no4 arrowed a shot that seemed to float not dip and grazed the top of the crossbar with Potter stranded.

At around the same time the previously competent ref was “starting to enjoy himself”, as Simon pointed out. Reason got booked for a shoulder to shoulder challenge, Holroyd had a penalty appeal turned down for something very similar and the natives were getting restless. “The ref’s gone mad” I added. Both sets of fans voiced their displeasure.

Cambridge’s increasing nerves were settled on 65 when Reason picked the ball up 25 yards out, set himself and drove a ball past the keeper’s despairing left hand.

Cambridge Utd 2 Ilkeston 0

From there on in Cambridge relaxed and started playing as only sides in yellow (sorry amber) can play with the pressure off. Much pressure proceeded but Cambridge also let Ilkeston have more time on the ball and, as a consequence, we got some more glimpses of Duncum down the left.

Holroyd broke down the left with some nice close control, he cut inside but the ball was cleared. A few pings later and an Ilkeston defender handled the ball just outside the area. The Cambridge fans had been a little harsh on Courtney Pitt all game but he convinced Willmott and Reason to let him take a free kick 20 yards out and slightly to the left. He stepped up, casually, and curled the ball over the ‘keeper and into the corner (above, right). He was immediately substituted.

Cambridge Utd 3 Ilkeston 0

It was all Cambridge now and Holroyd missed the second worst sitter (left) of the season, skying a riser from 3 yards out. He was immediately substituted, as was his strike partner Crow, clearly with league games in mind.

Carden and Reason were solid and efficient in Cambridge’s midfield, Pitt and Holroyd looked dangerous and Crow had worked hard. As the game was winding down Gleeson made an urgent foray from right back and moved it on to Challinor. His exquisite ball across the box had looked to be heading for a well-placed Willmott but Marriott stretched to reach the ball and, fortunately, just managed to control it before stabbing past the unfortunate Lowson in Ilkeston’ goal (below, right).

Cambridge Utd 4 Ilkeston Town 0

In injury time the Ilkeston fans remaining picked up their banners and flags and started singing with increased, defiant fervour. It was a good show from both sets of fans and a decent game aesthetised (is that a word) by some very well taken goals.

Onwards. Round 2.

Our theory is that the league teams can sway a positive vote with a larger fan base so we’re trying to even it up for the non-league sides. This may not work so bare with us with this experiment – and please let us know what you think. And apologies if your club isn’t on the list, maybe next time.

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