Next up – Fakenham Town
Saturday, 5th September at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ.
Emirates FA Cup first qualifying 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-fakenham/
The match
When the FA Cup final takes place in May it is likely most will have forgotten the excitement of these early rounds. It’s not just the chance to meet new opponents and face new challenges as in this case but also the hope to make real progress, garner prize money and some short-lived celebrity a bit further down the line. The fact that only one of us can stay on that path adds to the excitement of this and every match.
If the game is drawn the replay will be at Fakenham’s Clipbush Park next Tuesday. Details will be available on social media and the website.
There’s £2,250 from the prize fund for the winners and £750 for the losers.
Form guide
Fakenham (also known as the Ghosts) have just started on their first ever season at Step 4 but there’s not much to tell from their three league matches so far. A home draw and two away defeats. However, two away wins in the FA Cup suggest that they are not to be taken lightly. In the previous round they drew at Northern Premier League St Ives Town before winning the replay by a clear two-nil.
We stumbled over the Bank Holiday weekend needing penalty saves from an 18-year-old replacement keeper to get past Brightlingsea in the FA Trophy before crashing to league defeat on Monday. It seems to me that the Welwyn game was a lot closer than the 3-0 scoreline suggests. We were also without several key players but even so the records show a heavy reverse. Paul Halsey will be expecting his players to bounce back to form in this game.
Previous Meetings
The short answer is that there haven’t been any previous meetings, at least not between the senior sides. However our under-18s went to Fakenham in the same round of the FA Youth Cup on 29th September 2005. It must have been some sort of game. The home side went through by the odd goal in eleven. Ours were scored by Carl Randall 2, Steve Horsey 2 and Ryan Daniel. Steve Horsey of course went on to play in every one of our FA Cup games in the 2007/8 season right up to and including the first round tie against Kidderminster Harriers.
I’m also reminded that our under-14s of last season beat Fakenham 3-2 in the EJA league cup final for their age group last May.
Commentary
As always 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/5280913
Match Officials
A welcome to all three match officials for this match. Our referee is Christopher Poole and the assistants are Scott Langley and Patrick Yates. A good omen, Mr Yates last officiated at one of our games in the 4-1 win at Hertford on December 27th last year.
