Sheffield United’s prize for beating Bristol Rovers is another team from way out west, Plymouth. My own cup run via Swindon, then Bristol has gone as far in that direction as is possible.
In a season of unusual situations, Monday night’s draw added another to the long list. Chris Wilder knows that, if his team defeat another League 1 side, they will have a home match against either Millwall or Bristol City.
This is because both the fourth and fifth round draws were conducted by Peter Crouch live on BBC2 and BT Sport. The idea appears to be that this helps with planning and scheduling, but it’s unclear to me exactly how?
For example, Chorley or Wolves (and by the way what a reward that is for Chorley), face one of Southampton, Shrewsbury or Arsenal. A Covid outbreak in the Shrewsbury camp means their third round game is still to be played, hopefully, and that in itself is something of a scheduling puzzle with the lack of any wiggle room in the football calendar. If you’ve read this blog from the beginning you’ll remember that before the first round (proper) any club who couldn’t field a team was left at the side of the road with their opponents awarded the win and the competition rolling on.
I realise we have to give and take this season, but to not have a draw after the next round, where anticipation builds from the moment your team has won, will feel like something is missing.
There’s a chance this may be the least of our worries. BBC Sport under the headline ‘Patience Waring Thin’, reports that a number of images have raised concerns this weekend. Fans gathering outside Marine’s ground and celebrations in small dressing rooms at Chorley and Crawley among the issues added to the lengthening list which increases the chat about if football can continue?
For his part Chris Wilder has voiced what many must surely be thinking now.
“Everyone knows the situation and if it gets suspended I don’t think it’d be a surprise. We’ll just go with what the Government and Premier League have to say and, if it’s the case to carry on, we’ll carry on. But I don’t think I’m being controversial if I say I don’t think anyone would be surprised if we don’t carry on with the way it’s sweeping through the country.”
Despite a miserable season in the league a cup run looks entirely possible for Sheffield United. The potential of a pairing with Sheffield Wednesday didn’t materialise in either draw which from an impartial bloggers point of view is a bit of a disappointment. The Owls have Everton and, should they cause a surprise, in all likelihood Spurs, when a year ends in 1 and all that.
As we see with both sides of Sheffield, knowing how your potential cup run line up can be a good or bad thing. One person who knows he’ll definitely be at Wembley in May is Chorley FC groundsman Ben Kay. Having made headlines working through the night, and taking a nap for an hour on the pitch to ensure their match with Derby could take place, he’s been invited to work with the stadium grounds team on FA Cup final day.
Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire he said: “For me, our national stadium Wembley is probably the best pitch in the world with one of the greatest grounds and the most respected people in our industry.
“I messaged back saying it would be an honour – but he just needs Jamie to let me have the day off!”
“On Friday we had the snowfall which put things back and the temperature dropped. At 10:00 GMT on Friday our generator decided to break down. The engineer was, unbelievably, in Derby. He made it here within two hours. Rumour has it he was a Nottingham Forest fan so he needed to get the game on so we could beat Derby.”
Sport simply cannot function without people like this. Altogether now, this “is what the FA Cup is all about”.
Glory Hunting 