Next up – Hadley
Saturday, 6th September at Wodson Park.
Isuzu FA Trophy, first qualifying round; kick off 3pm.
Admission
Admission (card preferred but cash accepted) – Adults £10, Concessions £5, under 14 free with paying adult otherwise £2.50.
Printed programme on the gate for £2.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at https://warefc.co.uk/product/ware-v-hadley/
The match
How many out there remember the FA Amateur Cup and the great deeds performed in it by earlier Ware teams? A dwindling number I guess. There were some great amateur teams back then but there was no similar competition for semi-professional non-league sides. So the FA Trophy was born in 1969. Within a few years the FA did away with the distinction between amateur and professional teams with the last Amateur Cup taking place in 1973/4. Our final game in the competition was the 1-0 home defeat to Hertford on 17th November in front of 431 spectators.
We played our first Trophy game the next season. Later and after our relegation from what was the equivalent of Step 3 and then Step 4 we spent some years in the wilderness of the FA Vase. We were back in the Trophy when we returned to Step 4 in 2006/7 and this year represents our 29th season in the competition.
By contrast this is only Hadley’s 4th season in the Trophy. Not that they need to worry about being “newbies”. Last season saw them reach round 3, going out 3-1 at Step 2 Oxford City.
There will be £1500 prize fund money for the winners of this game and £400 for the losers. There will be no extra time or replays, the game going straight to penalties if level at 90 minutes.
Form guide
The four players missing from our last game against Hertford should hopefully be available for this one. We should also see new signings Reece Beckles-Richards and Max Woodford involved. Paul Halsey will be hoping a stronger team shows signs of greater consistency. He’ll be checking in from his leave in Indonesia.
Hadley lost their first league game of the season 2-0 at home to Hitchin. Since then they have won two and drawn a third. They now sit eighth in the table compared to our twelfth. Former Ware man Richard Ennin appeared in their two opening games of the season but has not played since. Will we see him on Saturday?
Some stats
This will be our tenth competitive meeting with Hadley. Six league games have been shared evenly with two wins, two draws and two defeats each. The three cup meetings have all been won by Hadley which should be a warning for us. Two were in the Herts Senior Cup, the third two years ago in the FA Trophy when we went down by 4-1 at Brickfield Lane.
Commentary
If you can’t get to the match, you can still tune in to the live commentary from Pete Hill and Symon Allemandy from 2.55pm at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/4506298
The officials
The officials for this game are referee Harry Price plus assistants Daniel Jones and Gavin Farrington.
