Forest Green v Northampton Town
Forest Green have lots of injury doubts but the manager won’t say who which is no help at all. Brothers Mike Fowler and Lee Fowler and also Curtis McDonald are on Forest Green’s books. Mike seems to be a regular starter and Curtis has recently returned from a calf injury but Lee will be out for about three months due to a knee ligament injury.
Paul Walker will probably be on the bench for Northampton.
Gillingham v Dover Athletic
Adam Birchall could play for Dover against their Kent rivals. He was released from his last club, Barnet, by manager Ian Hendon, who is now the assistant manager at Gillingham. Adam has just signed a two-year contract extension after being linked with a move to... Gillingham.
Guisley v Crawley Town
Glenn Wilson could play for Crawley Town. Guiseley are unbeaten in 16 matches in all competitions.
Hartlepool United v Vauxhall Motors
Rob Marsh-Evans played for Vauxhall in the FA Cup whilst on loan from Southport but he’s returned to his parent club now. Vauxhall are unbeaten in nine.
Harrow Borough v Chesterfield
Craig Davies will hope to continue his excellent scoring record against Harrow – but only if he’s played. Mark Crossley could play in goal for Chesterfield. Robert Page could also be in contention.
Havant & Waterlooville v Droylsden
Two of the most famous giantkillers (in my time as a football supporter) go head to head in the first round of the FA Cup. The home side will be remembered for romantic reasons but the Droylsden story was more a comedy. Of more than a few errors. (Neither of them seem to have any Welsh players at the moment but these are two of my favourite football stories ever.)
Havant knocked out York City, Notts County and Swansea City before taking the lead twice at Anfield. Liverpool went on to win the game 5-2 but it should have been 4-2. One of those goals was offside. I bet Havant would love another go at Liverpool this season.
Droylsden knocked out Darlington in the FA Cup two seasons ago and then faced Chesterfield.
The first fixture between these sides was abandoned due to fog (Chesterfield were leading 2-0).
The second match was drawn 2-2 in controversial circumstances. Droylsden kicked the ball out of play to allow an injured Chesterfield player to be treated. Chesterfield didn’t return possession and following the throw-in, they accidently scored a goal. The Chesterfield manager solved the problem by telling his players to stand aside and let Droylsden score.
In the replay, Chesterfield went two goals ahead but the match was abandoned due to floodlight failure.
When the replay was replayed, Droylsden won the match and knocked Chesterfield out of the Cup.
Except they didn’t because they’d accidentally fielded an ineligible player (he was banned for a fifth booking but because of all the replays all over the place, Droylsden got confused). And not only did he play, he scored the two goals to knock Chesterfield out.
So Droylsden were thrown out of the competition, with Chesterfield progressing in their place.
Chesterfield went on to lose to Ipswich Town and therefore became one of I’m sure comparatively few teams who have played in the first two rounds (proper) of the FA Cup without actually winning a game.
After The Final Whistle At Leamington
2 hours ago
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