Saturday's victory over Burnham Ramblers earned the club £3,000 and a home tie against Wealdstone - the side that Aylesbury FC faced in the 4th qualifying round after knocking us out last year. The Stones went on to play Rotherham United in the First Round of the FA Cup - something that we have only been able to dream of for too many years now.
The match at Burnham-on-Crouch (at times the road to Burnham reminded me of the road to Skegness!) lacked the atmosphere of the FA Cup. The setting was very pleasant, the pitch was in good condition, but something was just lacking. On the field we looked to have a battle on our hands, the first-half saw very few chances created; Danny Talbot's penalty miss being the best opportunity to break the deadlock and settle the nerves. Instead we had to wait until a minute before half-time when Leon Archer latched onto a through ball and managed to poke the ball past the goalkeeper...and relax.
The second-half was unbelievably one-sided. I couldn't help but stand there and contemplate how much we have improved as a team since Andy Leese's first FA Cup exploits as a Chesham manager and we went out of the competition at Stotfold. On Saturday, we looked two leagues better than our hosts, and I say that genuinely, not arrogantly. Rob Bartley's power header caught everyone by surprise early in the second period, not just the Burnham defence, but also the supporters that had gone for a quick half-time pint! Bangura got the only other goal, but, to be brutally honest, by then it had almost become tedious as a spectacle such was the ease with which we were controlling the game. There were a couple of near scares, but on the whole very comfortable.
So come Monday and the draw for the next round. I think it was 11.15am when I got the text from Andy Leese informing me that we will be hosting Wealdstone. I replied that it was my Wedding Anniversary that day (to think 11 years ago we were playing away to Canvey Island) and I would be looking forward to a double celebration. The text came back: "Consider it done". I have to admire the confidence, that is so important in football. "Great" I replied "though don't go spending the prize money yet, just in case!"
Wealdstone reached this round of the competition with a 7-0 win over Tring Athletic, a Tring Athletic side that were suffering massive injury problems to be fair and before we all start panicking too much, we could quite easily have got more goals ourselves in Essex. The biggest story, and the one that is bound to dominate the headlines in the build-up, is the return of Danny Burnell with Wealdstone. He scored 4 goals against Tring Athletic and, if he gets to start the game, will be eager to score again back at The Meadow. Equally, I imagine that our boys will be pretty determined to get one over on Danny too - a cracking game in prospect. I must admit, as soon as the draw was made my mind went back to the very early 1990's when we beat The Stones 4-2 in the FA Cup at Vicarage Road; if my mind serves me right, Mickey Banton and Billy Goldstone were in awesome form as we stormed into a 3-0 half-time lead in front of a 700+ crowd.
Hopefully we will get a decent crowd for the visit of Wealdstone. Listening to the Manchester United plans for the visit of Rangers fans tonight I was wondering if we should perhaps arrange for the Wealdstone fans to be kept down at Amersham Town before the game and then ship them up on a police escorted bus when we are ready to start the game. That way we can make sure that they miss out on any pre-match atmosphere and don't get get the chance to roam freely around our town ahead of the game. Seriously, why do people still want to go and watch this pantomine?
Sorry, I'm in danger of going at a tangent, but I just don't get it. I tried ringing my boss this week to say that I won't be in work because my wife had just found out that I had been sleeping with prostitutes and I really wasn't in the right state of mind...sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
Tonight we travel to Windsor & Eton for one of our more local matches, hopefully a number of supporters will make the journey, but The Royals will be fully aware that they are also contending with live Champions League football on the television. I think Spurs are one of the games on the box, yes, that's right, the team that haven't even had a sniff at being Champions in all my years of watching football. The tragedy is that this competition is destroying the great tradition of English football, including the FA Cup.
I listen to Talk Sport on my way to and from work each morning, sometimes almost causing accidents as I bang my head on the steering wheel in reaction to some of the tripe I hear being spoken. Apparently the reason teams will field reserve sides in the FA Cup is because they play too many matches in a season and the reason they play too many matches in a season is because the Premier League has too many teams... so it is nothing to do with the fact that what used to be the European Cup knock out competition now involves money-making mini-leagues and up to 19 games to win the competition, travelling all over Europe to Russian, Turkish and Israeli outbacks? Nobody even mentions that that could be the reason why our fantastic FA Cup competition is being slowly destroyed. Thank God for non-league football that at least keeps the glamour of the competition going through the early rounds.
What amazes me more - and then I promise to get down from my high horse - is that it is not just the top clubs that rest players in the FA Cup, even mid-table sides rest players so that concentrate on the league and a push for a place in the Europa League. Yes that's right, that competition that they spend all season trying to qualify for and then come July/August they send a reserve team out to Austria and get knocked out at the Qualifying Round stages. Yes, I really wish I supported a team like that.
Sorry about that. A quick thank you to everyone who attended Friday Night's Quiz Evening, a well-attended, thoroughly enjoyable evening and it was fantastic to see so many people from our local community in attendance, hopefully a sign that we are getting something right.
You will have seen via our latest newsletter sent out by Dave Jeffrey that the Supporters' Trust have an AGM and there is a chance to meet the Board and Football Manager on Thursday 7th October (If you do not subscribe to this e-newsletter you can sign up and do so at www.cheshamunited.co.uk). I personally think this meeting will be really important in updating supporters on what has happened since our last meeting in early June when we outlined the structure of the club and how we saw the club moving forward. There have been many successes of which we can be proud, but there are still areas with huge scope for improvement and I would like to use this meeting as an opportunity to plug these gaps. Put the date in your diary, and come along and join us for a fairly informal evening, but covering some serious business.
So, back to league action and a visit to Windsor & Eton tonight... can the amazing league form really continue? Let's hope as many fans as possible can get along to find out.
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