FOR every Lincoln City beating Burnley, there’s a Paulton Rovers getting hammered by Norwich City. The yang to Altrincham knocking out Barnsley is the yin of West Brom running riot against Gateshead.
You never know what you’re going to get when the FA Cup comes around. Climbing out of bed at 6am last Saturday, I wasn’t exactly expecting to be writing about a Non-League side reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals later that afternoon.
A replay, maybe. A National League team reaching the last eight? Surely not. But that, as we are legally obliged to refer to it, is the Magic of the FA Cup (™).
Even National League media manager Colin Peake was on his feet when Sean Raggett headed in Lincoln City’s winner at Turf Moor.
Privilege
Every time you witness one of these moments in person it is special. Stressful, because there’s a report to bash out, but it’s a privilege to have a small window into a day the protagonists will talk about forever.
In this week’s Good, Bad and the Ugly feature on a page not too far from this one, Lee Fowler talks about the intimacy of Non-League. How the players feel close to the fans and even the journalists.
Believe it or not, at this level particularly, we tend to all get on. When you know someone’s background and how hard they’re working for something, you share their joy.
Alex Woodyard was labouring while playing part-time for Braintree last season. He’d been released by Southend, deemed not good enough on trial at Aldershot but got back on track at Concord Rangers.
Now he’s one of Lincoln’s most important players, off to play Arsenal and surely on his way back into the Football League one way or another.
Keeper Paul Farman has battled away in Non-League, Sam Habergham was let go by Norwich City, and Joey Barton’s mate Matt Rhead put in the hours at JCB before turning full-time.
I’ve been lucky to be at a few shocks in recent seasons. Last year there was the north-west double header of Salford City beating Notts County so comprehensively it almost wasn’t a surprise.
A lot is made of the investment by their famous owners, but in Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley they have two managers cut from Non-League cloth struggling to believe what they’d achieved.
Less than 24 hours later the Travelodge on NLP expenses paid for itself when I was in a room underneath the main stand at Alty listening to Lee Sinnott hail his players for writing themselves into the history books.
A few years ago I saw two goals from Matthew Barnes-Homer help Macclesfield Town stun Cardiff City, covered Crawley on their run to Manchester United and saw Sutton get their giant-killing show on the road this season when they beat Cheltenham Town.
It’s why it always feels like a bit of an insult when Premier League managers bash the FA Cup, whinge about elite players actually having to play games of football and call for replays to be scrapped.
There are hundreds of Non-League footballers grafting all day and then playing more than 50 games a season. Why don’t they get tired? Lincoln didn’t seem all that fatigued when they went to North Ferriby on Tuesday night. Maybe they were, but their mindset overcame it.
Minnow
And when Premier League clubs get knocked out of the FA Cup and have a free weekend, they’re not so run down that they can’t hop on a plane to Dubai.
Replays can be massive for Non-League clubs. Lincoln drawing at Ipswich meant the TV cameras – and their cash – came to see their second bite.
When Cambridge United drew with Manchester United, the players were celebrating on the pitch like they’d won. When else do you get the chance to play at somewhere like Old Trafford?
While the TV companies like a minnow at home to a giant, the players want to grace the big stage. As one said to me earlier in the season, “I play at our home ground every other week.”
Lincoln won’t be playing for a replay at Arsenal. Not least because there won’t be one. From this stage they have been ditched, meaning potential extra-time and penalties. They can’t do it again…right?
