Saturday is game day, but so is every other day of the week at the moment in this lockdown era where Premier League and Championship matches are televised at all sorts of random hours. This must be the least anticipated new season at the top end of football with the last barely over the horizon, but for grassroots teams contesting the preliminary round of the FA Cup, they’ve been waiting months for this. Especially the hosts of my chosen fixture Mossley AFC who sat out the extra preliminary stage. The anticipation must have been great for the 400 people able to attend, an increase from 150 who saw St Helens Town squeeze past Cammell Laird on penalties nine days ago.
For me it was back to my position as an armchair supporter and the early kick off for Brentford’s defeat at Birmingham meant a double-header of sorts. Perhaps I should have visited the chippy round the corner for a half time pie in the break between the two?
Focus on non-league clubs as having a big day out in the FA Cup usually comes if one makes it through qualifying to the first round and draws a famous name from the football league. Better still if they negotiate their way to the third round when the real heavy hitters lie in weight inside the velvet bag on (usually) the One Show. However for St Helens Town it’s probably fair to describe their trip to Mossley as a significant occasion. Saint’s hadn’t appeared in the competition at all for five years and only did so this season thanks to the FA’s method of solving a qualification headache. Saints play in the North West Counties League Division 1 North, eleven levels below the Premier League. This far down, entry to the FA Cup depends on league position at the end of the previous season, but with all amateur football cancelled a random draw was conducted.
This account of the Cammell Laird tie from the Gibbo’s 92 blog tells of not only a nervy finish with Saints reduced to 10 men and the prospect of penalties, but the panic that the match would drift past 10pm when the lights were due to automatically switch off. Both darkness and defeat were avoided and St Helens Town had a note-worthy victory to their name.
As in the previous round once again Twitter was my method of keeping an eye on how the match at Mossley’s Seel Park unfolded. The frequent and enthusiastic tweets from the hosts suggested a dominant display, as did the 2-nil score before the game was a quarter old. At half time Saints posted that “Town were unable to take a couple of decent chances and the hosts were clinical.”
There was a boost for Town at the beginning of the second half as a penalty to Mossley was saved, however minutes later I was Googling facts on the Greater Manchester side as it looked like no way back for Saints.
“Goal for Mossley!!!! Declan Evans take a bow! The centre back picks the ball up in a crowd of players, skips past at least two men and plays the ball to Mulvey. Mulvey’s cross is inch perfect and Shenton taps home! Mossley 3 St Helens Town 0”. Who doesn’t love a marauding centre half?
Or was it over? The home keeper Lovell is forced into a “fine save” before what Mossley described as a “wonderful free kick” crashes off the bar. However that appeared to have been the end of it for Saints as 3-nil was the final score and two rounds in I’ve backed two defeated teams. At the risk of making this sound like some sort of TV gameshow, Saints have added £481 to the £1125 they received for beating Cammell Laird. Mossley’s financial reward to go with their place in the First Qualifying Round is £1444, but as a harsh reminder of the tough financial times hitting grassroots football right now this is around half that which was awarded last season.
This victory was the first for Audit Director (confess I’m not sure what one of those is) David Fish and PE teacher Lee Ashworth, the new management team of Mossley. It’s difficult to judge purely on justifiably partisan social media posts and without knowing the extent of the gap in standard and resources between clubs in these early rounds, but Mossley, who were pushing for more goals after their third, look like a team who could progress deep into qualifying. Then again, they have my support now, so good luck with that.
Glory Hunting 