Sweet FA Cup, round 4.

Once again it's FA Cup week in England, with round 4 happening this weekend.  Non-League clubs didn't fare too well in round 3, only one of them surviving, but League Two did the small clubs proud, with 4 of them still going and providing the best hope for continued romance and magic and all that stuff the FA cup gets by on now that it's not really as glamorous as it was for the big clubs.

On paper Torquay have the best chance of advancing to round 5, as they play the only non-league team still left, Crawley Town.  Crawley aren't one of the heart warming non-league clubs though, they're currently in the middle of "project promotion" that has seen them outspend all of League Two combined and which to be fair, probably will see them win promotion this year, so I'm fully behind Torquay here.  Stevenage are also at home, aginst Championship club Reading, and after beating Newcastle in the 3rd round, Stevenage will definitely fancy their chances.

Hereford, who are on a tear recently, 5 straight wins in all competitions and pulling themselves out of the League two relegation zone, have an away game against Sheffield Wednesday, who are a big club in name only, and currently in League One, so Hereford definitely have a chance.  Probably the toughest draw for the League Two clubs is Burton Albion who have to go to Burnley after not having played a game since knocking Middlesbrough out 3 weeks ago, since when top scorer Shaun Harrad was transferred away.

Other potential upsets involve the two big Manchester Clubs, both away to League One teams, Man Utd having to take on Southampton while Man City go to Notts County. 

It's getting to the stage where there's few teams left for the neutral to really get behind, hopefully a few of these can make it to the next round.

Edit:  Well that didn't really work out did it?  All 4 league Two clubs lost, and bloody Crawley get an away game at Man Utd in the 5th round, I genuinely don't know who I want to win that one.

Sweet FA Cup, round 3.

As always, the first weekend of January means the third round of the FA Cup in England.  A time for small clubs to take on the big boys and dream of the impossible upset, minnows vs sharks, David vs Goliath etc etc.   But enough about plucky Liverpool's match against Man Utd tomorrow.  Da-dum cchhhhhhh.

There were quite a few potential "cupsets" this year, and quite a few of them have actually happened, mainly against the North-East's big 3.  Mr. Karren Brady's League two team Burton Albion got 2 late goals to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 and reach the 4th round for the first time in their history.  As well, Sunderland lost 2-1 to League One Notts County, and Newcastle lost 3-1 at League 2 Stevenage!  Combined with Hartlepool losing to Watford, and that's a weekend to warm any Darlington fan's heart.  Stevenage's win prompted another great small club tradition, the celebratory pitch invasion, which unfortunately had an ugly moment when one of the Stevenage players got punched. 

Other Premier League teams getting knocked out were West Brom, beaten by Reading, and Blackpool who lost at Southampton.  The non-league clubs did themselves proud in defeat, York City holding Bolton goalless for 83 minutes before losing 2-0, in front of 4,900 travelling fans.  Dover Athletic's fairytale run ended with a 2-0 defeat at League One Huddersfield.  Crawley also play, against Derby County on Monday, but Crawley are the non-league version of Chelsea or Man city, rich and obnoxiously big spending, so I don't really find much romance in that tie.

Probably the most entertaining game of the day was actually a second round replay between two League Two teams, Hereford and Lincoln, which saw 7 goals, each one changing the result, before Hereford finally escaped with a 4-3 win.

All in all, very satisfying.

Hello darkness, my old friend.

Well that was inevitable, after Beating Bristol Rovers, a team 2 divisions above them and after all the effort that went into being able to play the game, and with all sorts of big names waiting in the bag for the 3rd round draw, Darlington did of course lose to fellow Conference side York City.  Some things never change. The bucket collection apparently raised about 1300 pounds towards the youth team's Arsenal game so that's something I suppose.

In other results Stevenage completed the Wimbledon before and after double, following up their first round win over Franchise FC with a win over AFC Wimbledon.  Swindon Supermarine lost to Colchester, but Dover made it through to the third round for the first time in their history, beating Aldershot 2-0.  Other non-league teams making it at least into the draw for the third round with York and Dover were Luton who drew with Charlton, and FC United of Manchester.   An injury time penalty save preserved the 1-1 draw at Brighton, so they'll have a replay at home, the latest in a recent succession of "biggest match in their history" moments.  Crawley Town also earned a replay against Swindon Town on Friday night, but they're the big spending Man City of non-league football, so a lot less of a heartwarming story.  Pity poor Tamworth who almost made it, 2-1 up with 5 minutes left against League One side Carlisle before letting in 2 late goals to lose 3-2.  Droylsden don't play Leyton Orient until Monday, so they'll also be in the draw on Sunday.

As for Darlington, well, it's time to drag out the 'concentrate on promotion' cliches now.  Sigh.

Sweet FA Cup, round 2.

Yes, once again it's FA Cup time in England, this time the 2nd round, where all surviving lower league and non-league teams dream of the victory that will take them into the 3rd round and a potential money spinning draw against one of the big boys.  This round's small teams getting their moment in the spotlight include Swindon Supermarine a fantastically named team who very nearly went bust in June and are playing away to Colchester United, and Dover whose reward for beating Gillingham in the first round is a home tie against Aldershot.  The two highest profile non-league clubs, FC United of Manchester and AFC Wimbledon both face league opposition, away to Brighton and home to Stevenage respectively.

As for Darlington, after upsetting Bristol Rovers, they now face York City at home, and events have conspired to give the match a real nostalgic small club feel.  I posted earlier in the week about how the club is looking for donations for the youth team to be able to spend the night in London before they face Arsenal in the FA youth cup, they're still looking by the way, so go ahead and donate.  Well the next step in that fundraising effort, to take place at saturday's game is the magnificently old fashioned, small club tactic of the bucket collection.  If that doesn't tug at the heart strings enough, after a rough few days weather wise, the collection and the game itself can only take place thanks to the efforts of volounteer fans who helped shovel snow off the pitch (Darlington's ridiculously oversized stadium actually has the pipes for underground heating installed, they just can't afford to use it.).  After all that effort, and with a bumper crowd expected, well every long suffering Darlo fan knows what will happen next, expect York to be drawn against Man Utd in the next round.

Successful Canadian footballers?

Tonight, having already qualified for the 2011 World Cup in Germany after their semi-final win over Costa Rica, Canada's Women's National Team has the chance to clinch the Concacaf championship tonight.  They're favourites as well, as rather than taking on the heavily favoured US team, they'll actually be playing Mexico who lost 3-0 to Canada in the group stages, before stunning the US in the semi-final.  You can watch the game on CBC Bold, or if you're not one of their approximately 12 subscribers, online here.  Congratulations to Carolina Morace and her team for a successful qualification, and hopefully they can finish the job tonight and cap what's been a busy and enjoyable weekend of football.

In the MLS playoffs, San Jose destroyed the "dream final" by knocking out Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls, and you've got to say that the first half-season of the Henry experiment was a bit of a failure really.  Not a Mista level failure by any means, but he's going to have to improve next year to justify the big bucks.  Columbus also lost, in a shootout to Colorado, and San Jose-Colorado really is an appropriate final for what was a very bad year for Eastern Conference clubs.  In the Western Conference, Dallas beat Real Salt Lake, before a higher seed finally won, with LA knocking out Seattle.  So either David Beckham or Jeff Cunningham will be playing and potentially lifting the the cup at BMO field, it's safe to say I'll be supporting whoever comes out of the "East".

Back in England, it was a mixed weekend for the small clubs in the FA cup.  Tipton Town and Hythe Town both got hammered, though Hythe did at least score.  Dover upset Gillingham, getting revenge against all the management and coaches who went from Dover to Gillingham this summer and FC United of Manchester got a 94th minute winner against Rochdale.  Darlington beat League one side Bristol Rovers 2-1, though even when they win, they can't win, as computer problems in the ticket office led to very long waits to get in and quite a few people apparently giving up, so that's a good chance to win some new converts, or win back some old fans wasted, but still, an excellent result.

Throw in Chelsea and Arsenal both losing to EPL minnows, and it's been a really good weekend, Canada being champions would be a great way to finish it.

Edit:  And they did finish it off, a 1-0 win giving them the title, 5 games, 5 wins, 0 goals against, a really good tournament all round.  Well done Ladies.  Campeonas! Campeonas! olé, olé, olé!

Sweet FA Cup.

This is going to be a great weekend of football.  The MLS cup conference semi-finals second leg games will be played over 4 days, starting Thursday night with only one goal seperating the teams in every game, so it's all very much still up for grabs.  Then in England, it's FA cup time.  While the third round, when all the big teams enter, is generally the weekend that gets the most attention, the first round proper, when the League One and League Two teams join all the non-league teams that have got through qualifying, is one of my favourite footballing weekends of the year.  Those Football League teams that are generally ignored for most of the year are lined up as the giants waiting to be killed and a bunch of teams from towns you've never heard of get their moment in the spotlight.  I don't know if they still do it or not, but every year it was a BBC staple to do a piece following the players in their real jobs, one of which was always, always, a postman.

This years teams getting the patronising pats on the head are Tipton Town (from park football to the FA cup!)and Hythe Town (the lowest ranked team left in the cup)who have away games at Carlisle and Hereford respectively.

Other matches getting attention, in my house at least are Darlington vs Bristol Rovers and Gillingham vs Dover.  As a freshly minted non-league team, Darlington had to qualify, which they did by beating Mossley AFC 6-2.  Mossley had 3 players sent off, including their goalkeeper, leading to the man who works their tannoy using his platform to announce to everyone“I don't believe you referee, you're turning this into a farce!”  Fantastic stuff.  It's not a great draw as Rovers are probably big enough to be able to beat us easily, whilst not being big enough for Darlington to get the big crowd and cash they need.

Gillingham vs Dover could be very interesting, mainly due to the following, which happened this summer, brought up in the Guardian's The Knowledge section

"On 6 November Gillingham will be playing Dover in an FA Cup first round game," begins James Tong. "Not only is it a nice Kentish derby, but it has added spice given that this summer we nicked their manager (Andy Hessenthaler), their assistant manager (Darren Hare, now youth team manager), their replacement manager (Ian Hendon, who was there for 17 days, was on holiday for 14 of those days, then came up the A2 to Gillingham not having signed a contract at Dover) and their replacement player/assistant manager (Nicky Southall, now at his fourth spell at Priestfield). As we're two leagues apart and the Whites are making the FA Cup first round for only the third time ever, it's quite amazing that we've been drawn against them in the season after all the shenanigans. Has there been a spicier match drawn in such against-the-odds circumstances?"

The match getting the most coverage though is FC United of Manchester's game against Rochdale, this being the first time FCUM have made it this far in their 5 year existence since being created by Manchester United fans sick of what their club had become and pushed over the edge by the Glazer's takeover of the club.  This is a great article published after they qualified, detailing how they've come this far and what their future plans are.  I love a good 'stick it to The Man' story as much as anyone, especially when that Man is Man Utd. so even though I have a soft spot for Rochdale, I'll certainly be cheering for FCUM.