FAN'S VIEW: Let's make more FA Cup memories
On Friday we held a Battle of the Bands at Randall's, which was a cracking night and had the very foundations of Twerton Park rocking. A big thanks to all the bands for their efforts – everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we raised some valuable money for the club.
The following afternoon we travelled to Maidenhead in hope and expectation of another cup run, this time in the FA Trophy. The old heads among us should have known better, though – ever since its inception we have been dismal in this competition and the FA Trophy gods continued to rain on us on Saturday.
A missed penalty, a missed open goal, an assist from our keeper for their goal and some Mr Magoo-like officiating summed up our afternoon. Maidenhead were very poor and we should have easily overcome them but this just wasn't our day, or our competition.
Hopefully the gods of the FA Cup will smile on us this Saturday as we entertain Forest Green Rovers in the second round. The cost benefits of winning this tie have been outlined before but this is for more than money, this is for prestige and a chance to make a bit of unforgettable history.
I would struggle to recall a lot of City games from the last 20 years but I can remember clearly every minute of the win against Hereford in the second round in 1993 – you cannot put a price on memories like those.
No doubt we will have good media coverage for this match locally and nationally. The Chronicle always affords us great coverage but it takes an FA Cup match like this to grab the attention of other media outlets.
Forest Green look like they are going to bring a large following and it should be a great atmosphere and hopefully, weather permitting, a sizeable crowd. We always seem to be more vocal away from home as we all congregate together and sing throughout the game, so a number of fans are going to try and recreate that by gathering on the Popular Side and singing their hearts out.
Finally, it is usual for me before these big games to issue a rallying cry, usually invoking the words of the great bard. This time I am going to borrow from the great orator Winston Churchill...
I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again. We shall go on to the end, we shall never surrender.
