The FA Cup started last night with the Extra Preliminary round. My local home town/village club Burnham who have hit on very hard times lately got stuffed 5-0 at Flackwell Heath. The long road the Wembley has begun... Litherland Remyca VS AFC Liverpool is live on the BBC Sport website at 12:30 today. Fixtures Report Last nights results: Heanor Town FC 0 - 1 Aylestone Park FC Potton United FC 0 - 0 Biggleswade United FC Flackwell Heath FC 5 - 0 Burnham FC Sholing FC 1 - 2 Alresford Town FC Crowborough Athletic FC 2 - 0 Lingfield FC
So the BBC announce they're going to show 1 match from every qualifying round and promptly lump for a Liverpool fan club as their first choice? Yawn. No doubt they'll show them until FC United of Manchester turn up and then them through til Man Utd enter the competition. Zzzzz.
I have been truly woeful this season in keeping this FA Cup thread up-to-date so apologies if anyone cares. The First Round draw was yesterday evening and personally for me it was quite interesting as two of my local teams were in the hat. High flying Maidenhead United now incredibly in the National League got a great draw away to Coventry City, and Slough Town got a slightly more mundane yet potentially winnable tie away at Gainsborough Trinity. I went to see them beat Poole Town in the 3rd Qualifying Round at their new ground a few weeks ago. Highlighted a few below which might be of interest. L*t*n play Portsmouth at home. In terms of local to Watford interest, it doesn't look too good, I think only Boreham Wood are in the draw this year unless I've missed something. Also, as a final note, Truro City are in the draw, the first team from Cornwall to make the First Round since 1969. Ties to be played 3-6 November First round draw: 1 Stevenage v Nantwich Town or Kettering Town 2 Bradford City v Chesterfield 3 Port Vale v Oxford United 4 Newport County v Walsall 5 Morecambe v Hartlepool United 6 Yeovil Town v Southend United 7 Peterborough United v Tranmere Rovers 8 Cambridge United v Sutton United 9 Forest Green Rovers v Macclesfield Town 10 AFC Fylde v Kidderminster Harriers 11 Luton Town v Portsmouth 12 Shrewsbury Town v Aldershot Town 13 Hereford v AFC Telford United 14 Guiseley v Accrington Stanley 15 Blackburn Rovers v Barnet 16 East Thurrock United or Ebbsfleet United v Doncaster Rovers 17 Leatherhead v Brackley Town or Billericay Town 18 Boreham Wood v Blackpool 19 Shaw Lane Association v Mansfield Town 20 Colchester United v Oxford City 21 Plymouth Argyle v Grimsby Town 22 AFC Wimbledon v Lincoln City 23 Rochdale v Dover Athletic or Bromley 24 Coventry City v Maidenhead United 25 Chorley or Boston United v Fleetwood Town 26 Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic 27 Notts County v Bristol Rovers 28 Dartford v Swindon Town 29 Cheltenham Town v Maidstone United or Enfield Town 30 Woking or Concord Rangers v Bury 31 Crewe Alexandra v Rotherham United 32 Gillingham v Dagenham & Redbridge or Leyton Orient 33 Hyde United v MK Dons 34 Gainsborough Trinity v Slough Town 35 Solihull Moors or Ossett Town v Wycombe Wanderers 36 Northampton Town v Scunthorpe United 37 Charlton Athletic v Truro City 38 Wigan Athletic v Crawley Town 39 Gateshead v Chelmsford City 40 Exeter City v Heybridge Swifts
This is the year Watford should be making an all-out effort to win it. Getting a Champions League place is an unlikely as getting relegated, and competing in the Europa League would be a disaster (too many matches, too much travel) so the FA Cup is our best chance of glory.
I agree with your point about going all-out for the FA Cup, but re the bit I've put in bold, I could not disagree with you more. At the risk of turning into Kevin Keegan, I would love it, love it, if we qualified for playing in any European competition.
Disagree ... Quite simply Gino will provide. While we might not qualify for Europe back to back he'd make sure we have enough to fight on two fronts.
So personally for me it was great first round this year, with my local team (well the team I watch alongside Watford) Slough Town crushing pitiful National League North Gainsborough 0-6 at the weekend. An incredible result. Their reward is a a home tie against League One Rochdale, which should surely be on TV? Slough and Hereford are the two lowest ranked teams through at the moment, both fighting it out at the top of the Southern Premier League. Fingers crossed I can get tickets to the Rochdale game. Boreham Wood, also pulled off one of the shocks of the round beating Blackpool 2-1. Their next game is away to Coventry who defeated another of my local sides Maidenhead 2-0 in the first round. Lut*n also creeping closer to a third round tie against us...but non-league Gateshead might have something to say about that. Second round draw - Games played 1st to 4th December. Woking or Bury v Tranmere Rovers or Peterborough United MK Dons v Maidstone United Newport County v Cambridge United Wycombe Wanderers v Leatherhead or Billericay Town Port Vale v Yeovil Town Shrewsbury Town v Morecambe Doncaster Rovers v Northampton Town or Scunthorpe United Slough Town v Rochdale AFC Wimbledon v Charlton Athletic Stevenage v Swindon Town Mansfield Town v Guiseley or Accrington Stanley Gateshead v Lut*n Town Bradford City v Plymouth Argyle Blackburn Rovers v Crewe Alexandra AFC Fylde v Wigan Atheltic Gillingham v Carlisle United Notts County v Oxford City Forest Green Rovers v Exeter City Fleetwood Town v Hereford Coventry City v Boreham Wood
Second round weekend starting now with Flyde v Wigan on BBC. I managed to secure a ticket for Slough v Rochdale on Monday evening, by standing in the bitter cold Tuesday night to watch their FA Trophy qualifying round defeat to Hendon... Watch out for me on BT Sport Monday evening! The good thing is Slough will be in Third Round draw as that's before the game. So I could be watching knowing a Slough win would see them take on Watford in the next round...
Stuboy, how will we recognise you? Btw, all v quite on the lavatorial front since promotion. Was it a Championship related condition?
Probably with great difficulty as I’ll be wrapped up warm like everyone else! Maybe I’ll just wear my Watford shirt. Regarding the other point. I have made a few football lavatorial related forays since promotion, but it’s just not the same anymore. We’re on the next level now, I’m not needed.
My Mother has requested I take my 8 year old nephew Harry to his first match in the third round. If it's Loon he may not reach 9!
Man U not on live TV for the first time in 12 years! Liverpool/Everton and Brighton/Palace both evening kick-offs.. Hm...sure the local police will be working hard then!
Just so! However I have to disappoint you RD when I tell you I Blame Bassett isn't my real name! It's Bernard!