The Magic of the F.A. Cup
This was it, the day had finally arrived, and the beginning of the F.A. Cup Challenge had officially begun and we were off to see Romulus FC vs Norton United FC.
By a strange turn of events we were off to see our first match at a completely neutral ground as new F.A. rules state 3G pitches are no longer permitted in knockout competitions, meaning Coles Lane couldn’t host the game. So we made our way to the Scholars Ground, home of Chasetown FC, who kindly agreed to host the match and allow us to simultaneously join in on Non-League Day!
September 3rd was a celebration of Non-League Football. With the European Championship Qualifiers taking place, non-league clubs up and down the country were asking supporters who would normally watch Premier League or Championship Football to attend a local non-league game. Clubs were offering reduced prices to encourage people to come and support the growth of grass roots football, with some clubs even offering free attendance to Premiership and League Football season ticket holders as incentive.
It was great to support Non-League Day, a simple idea and a good time to encourage new fans who may not have attended a non-league game before to come along and see how professional and welcoming smaller clubs can be. For us, a big thanks goes to Andy Michell (Romulus FC Press Office) who kindly provided us with team sheets and some friendly pre match chat.
The rules for the F.A. Cup Challenge are; proof of attendance, match report and pie ratings. Our first mission on arriving inside the ground was to grab a photo of the current fixture…
…and a pie! Unfortunately Chasetown didn’t sell pies, they only had a burger van so choice of pie was not an option, in its place a Hot Dog. I did manage to bend the rules slightly by having a pie-nt! With the formalities over we could sit back and enjoy the game but only after finishing my drink as glasses were not allowed out of the club house.
No sooner had the game begun there was a GOAL! In haste to finish my drink, which obviously wasn’t fast enough Romulus had taken the lead inside 2 minutes, and it looked like a rout could be on the cards, but that failed to materialise as the home side were unable to find any kind of groove after their initial goal. A shocked Norton United regained their composure and pressed on and at times looked like they could break down, an occasional shaky Romulus defence, but poor finishing and some fine goal keeping ensured the visitors went into the break a goal down.
Romulus came out in the second half repeating their first half form and had doubled their lead on 46 minutes. They had come out more focused and looked dangerous putting together some neat moves forcing the Norton keeper to make some fine saves, and unlike in the first half their focused remained and it was only a matter of time before they added a third to their 2011/12 cup campaign with a scorcher giving the keeper no chance.
With the game seemingly wrapped up a confident Romulus sat back allowing Norton to take advantage of that loss of concentration and with a good build up and some nice interplay the visitors snatched a goal from close range to make it 3 – 1. A comeback was unlikely, but Norton continued to press putting Romulus under pressure, much to the annoyance of the Roms Fans. With time slowly ticking away Norton hit the underside of the bar as the home side desperately tried to clear the ball, it appeared that the final few minutes could be a pretty tense affair, but Romulus held firm to book their place in the First Qualifying Round to face Bridgnorth at the Scholars Ground on 18th September.
Final score: Romulus 3 Norton United 1
Attendance 70
1 down, 12 to go, the magic of the cup has just begun, Scholars Ground here we come (again)!
3menandatrophy 