Next up – Leverstock Green
Saturday, 22nd August at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ.
Emirates FA Cup preliminary round; kick off 3pm.
Admission
Admission (contactless 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-leverstock/
The match
Do you get the same feeling about these early rounds of the Cup as I do? Memories of 1968 and 2007 are always there generating hopes of another run to the first round proper. Well, we’ve made it to the third qualifying round a couple of times recently so why not a good run this season? Leverstock’s best performance is to reach the second qualifying round twice but their hopes will be no less than ours and with no less justification. It’s current form rather than history that will be the important thing.
If the match is drawn the replay will be at Leverstock next Tuesday.
There’s £1,444 from the prize fund for the winners and £481 for the losers.
Form guide
It’s hard to tell this early in the season. We do know that “The Green” finished last season in good form and deserved their 2-0 win over us in what was our last home game of the campaign. They beat Walthamstow in the previous round (we were exempt if you were wondering) coming back from a goal down with two late goals, the last of which was six minutes into added time. However that was after their opponents had been reduced to ten men for most of the second half. In the league they have lost at home to London Lions but drawn at Barton Rovers.
We’re still waiting for our first win of the season but we are also unbeaten. We’ve been playing well and there’s a sense that the run of draws will be ended with a victory but football has a habit hitting you when you’re least expecting it.
Previous Meetings
This will be our seventh meeting after the first 26 years ago. That was our only other game together in an FA competition. We won an FA Vase first qualifying round match by 2-0 at Wodson Park. Fraser Higgs scored our goals. There was an away defeat in the Senior Cup in 2014 and most recently the four league meetings of the last two seasons. Two wins, a draw and a defeat in those games. The draw and defeat were home games meaning we haven’t beaten Leverstock at home since September 9th 2000.
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be at Wodson Park for those who can’t make the game. Their commentary will start at 2.55 and can be found at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/5248648
Match Officials
A welcome to all three match officials for this match. Our referee is James Kay and the assistants are Sachin Patel and Maxwell Young.
