Sweet FA Trophy. The final

With the non league season now over bar the playoffs, there's just time for the showcase fixture of the FA Trophy final, a chance for two tiny non-league teams to give their fans the game of a lifetime and a trip to Wembley.

That romantic narrative is spoiled somewhat by the fact that the two teams playing are traditional football league teams only recently entering the non-league abyss, both of whom have played in Wembley finals previously (and that was old Wembley, which is clearly a much bigger deal).  Mansfield Town won the 1987 Freight Rover trophy, the first Wembley final to go to penalties, and their opponents have two losing playoff final appearances to their name.  That name gives the tie all the romance and interest I need though, that's right, it's everyone's favourite non-league team Darlington.

You can check out how we got to this point by clicking here for my round by round preview/review, or for a more just the facts breakdown of all the results, go here to the magnificently thorough Soccerway.com.

Every Cup final needs an excruciating team song, so to get you in the mood, here's a Darlo one by the Speed Dinosaurs.


We once beat Mansfield in a friendly, now we're gonna beat them......at We-em-bley.  genius!

For the sake of fairness, here's an equally bad one for Mansfield.  Blue and Yellow, apparently a remake of some rap song.  Becasue nothing says rap like Mansfield Town in the FA Trophy final!  Still, better than Anfield Rap, I'll give it that.



As for the game itself, you can check out all the preview pieces from the proper media in the local rag here, and get a good preview as well as see all the different things the supporter's are talking about in the forum at Darlo Uncovered.

The Quakers are definitely on form, winning 5 of their last 7 games and riding a very good second half to the season to 7th place in the Conference, just outside the playoffs, but a very good stabilising season after all the financial problems and uncertainty that continues to hang over the club.  Injury and eligibility problems mean top scorer Liam Hatch will probably have to play in defence, but Mansfield have similar issues of their own, to a worse extent and have had a poor run of form to finish the season, dropping down to 13th spot, so Darlo will be favourites going in to the game.  Darlington's history in this sort of thing would suggest a 1-0 defeat, but I'll predict a glorious 2-0 win.

It'll be a nice day out, one that I'm gutted to have to miss, and another trophy for the cabinet would definitely be a good thing, but the main benefit could well be what it means to the long term future for Darlington.  Ticket sales to Darlington fans are currently at about 9,000, way more than the average attendance this year of 2,051.  Obviously there's a lot of people for whom it will definitely be just a one-off thing, but hopefully some of those will enjoy the experience enough to start attending games on a regular basis, or to get back into the habit of doing that.

Who knows exactly what crowds would be needed to make the club profitable at the ridiculous white elephant stadium, but with the ground up for sale and the Chairman Raj Singh making pleas for an increase in the season ticket base, hopefully this appearance will galvanize support and help get the club back on an even footing to support a push for promotion back to the Football league next year.  After all, the FA Trophy's nice but given the choice of that, or the League Cup and Paint Pot, I know which I'd rather have Darlo regularly compete for.