Next up – Ilford
Wednesday, 2oth August at Cricklefields, Ilford, Essex IG1 1FY
FA Cup, Preliminary round replay; kick off 7.45pm.
Admission
Adults £7, Concessions £4, under 16 free.
The match
Lewis Thomas’s late equaliser on Saturday extended our undefeated run at home to ten games and earned us a second chance against Step 5 Ilford. They proved a much more difficult opponent than might have been expected after our comfortable win in the previous round. Ware struggled to convert pressure and possession into goals on Saturday and will have to do better if they wish to take on Enfield in the next round on August 30th. They will however have Jack Grosvenor available after his one match suspension on Saturday.
This tie is the first meeting between us since 2013 when we drew 3-3 at Cricklefields in the Isthmian League division one (north). That completed a run of 16 league meetings following Ilford’s return to football under their well respected name. Nine of those games were won by Ware and four lost.
Currently Ilford play in the Essex Senior League where, after four league games, they sit in mid table with four points. They have won at Frenford and drawn at home to West Essex but lost at mid-table Buckhurst Hill and went down by the odd goal in three at well-placed Great Wakering. Their win at Southern League Leverstock Green in the previous round of the cup shows that their performance at Wodson Park on Saturday was no flash in the pan. Wednesday’s game will be only their second at home this season.
Ilford have gone no further than the first qualifying round since reforming and that only twice, falling in the outer reaches of their county with defeats at Clacton in 2002 and Maldon & Tiptree in 2010. No doubt they will be hoping that home advantage will get them through for a third time. Their man to look out for has to be Nickal Luzolo who scored his fifth goal of this young season against us on Saturday. No one else at Ilford has scored more than one so far.
Ware reached a third qualifying round replay at Kidderminster in 2021 and a second qualifying round replay at Chelmsford in 2023. Will the two-year cycle continue this season?
The officials for this game are referee Ricardo Reynolds plus assistants James Allaoui and Amaan Ramzan.
