Game Twenty Eight - Stevenage Home (FA Cup First Round)

8th November 2008

In a season of firsts for our club, I think this had been the one that I had been dreading the most. The prospect of starting our FA Cup campaign from the beginning and before Big Ben had chimed in the new year. The whole concept of the FA Cup third round weekend is something that I've loved ever since I was young. First weekend of the new year and the chance to have a break from the league and dream of winning the greatest domestic club competition in the world. Who can forget the likes of Liverpool v Havant & Waterville or our game against Spurs from a few years ago? It's the magic of the FA Cup later rounds, and the prospect of missing out on the best weekend in the football calendar didn't bare thinking about.

The draw had paired us against non-league Stevenage at home, a truly un-inspiring tie but a banana skin none the less and after the recent performances, I genuinely headed to the stadium expecting us to slip up and exit before Santa had even thought of heading out on his rounds.

Arrived at the stadium in plenty of time, minus the old man, and headed into the sports bar to catch the end of the Arsenal v Man Utd game... hard to believe I had been at that stadium earlier that week! Met up with Helen and Jobber in there before heading round to the kop. With my Dad deciding that £15 was too much to watch us in action, I decided to head up to the back of SK1 for todays match with a few of the other FoxesTalk lot. Been a while since I watched a game from this stand so was nice to have a bit of variety in the view.... although the empty seats is becomming a feature this season.
Stevenage started the stronger side and came close to taking the lead a couple of times. A great through ball put Cole clear only for him to drag his shot wide, and a poor back pass from Tunchev nearly let him in again but Henderson was sharp enough to race through and get a foot on the ball to get it clear. Mistakes were all to often and corners were far too frequent for my liking as even Steve Howard had to help out the defence.

The nerves were starting to grow as the team just were no clicking. We needed that little spark to kick start us and it came from an unusual source of skill.... Oakley fed in Fryatt who worked his way down the wing, teasing the defence into submission before pulling it back for Dyer to lash home.

Nothing much happened during the remainder of the first half as the goal seemed to have knocked some belief out of the visiting side.

In the second half, our higher league status started to shine through and we piled forward looking to really kill the game off. Some good build up play saw Oakley have a shot well saved before Lloyd Dyer used his pace to drive forward and squaring it to Fryatt who curled it home beautifully from the edge of the area. Great finish and all relief lifted from the players and fans.

Not everyone enjoyed the goal though....

It was left to Andy King to completely wrap the game up with a stunning strike. He picked the ball up and lofted it over the keeper from fully 30 yards out with ball drifting in off the underside of the cross bar. A real contender for goal of the season.

At 3-0, we continued to press forward looking for more goals and a comical miss from Fryatt when he missed an open goal proved to be the highlight and saw Lil' Dave celebrate like the cup was ours!

No further goals followed though and we had to settle for 3-0 despite some late pressure from Stevenage.

And so that's the FA Cup campaign started for the season and our reward for beating Stevenage? A home tie to either Hereford or Dagenham & Redbridge. Playing either of those teams away would have been spot on but we can now look forward to another empty stadium for a home match and hope we can over come the next challenge. It won't be easy though, especially if they take the same approach as Stevenage did. They came to the Walkers to win and looked to attack at every opportunity. The magic of the FA Cup was present in them even if it didn't feel of any inspiration to us.

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And with that, an epic week is over. Four matches in four different competitions.... never thought I'd be able to say that but it was completely worth it! From League one to the FA Cup via the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and the Champions League.... what an adventure it has been (although I must admit it'll be nice to get back to a quiet period so I can recover!) In all the excitement, the league has almost been forgotten but we'll be back to it on Tuesday where three points would take us top and really round things off!