Did He Really Mean It?

Man, FA Cup run blogs really do die a death in between games don’t they? It seems so long since we travelled to Hornchurch for the first time to watch them beating Dulwich Hamlet on that chilly and drunken Friday evening. God alone knows what it’ll be like from the First Round onwards, where we have a month-long gap in between games to cope with. I might just post reviews of the journeys themselves one word per day. Just to keep you all on the edge of your seat…

So, tomorrow we once more tackle Upminster, and the delights of AFC Hornchurch. I have to say my excitement levels haven’t been at their highest over the last week, but right now I am looking forward to this game a lot. It’s the final round featuring exclusively non-league clubs. We’ve done four rounds, one journey to the Kent coast for a replay, but after this game: it all gets serious. The big boys come into play. Leeds United. Nottingham Forest. Leyton Orient. Swansea City. Carlisle United (oh Lord, please god not Carlisle…).

In a change to the way things have been done up until now, the draw for the First Round Proper will take place at 5.15pm, immediately after Saturday afternoon’s game, rather than on Monday lunchtime as has been the custom thus far. So I hope that we have a confirmed winner, and that we know where we’re going and with whom.

Tomorrow will be exciting. Not least because I’ve decided that we should have pre-match pints in a different pub, after the looks the the locals gave us in The Bridge when we ate all their quiche on that fateful Friday.

So, from 12pm on Saturday, I will be sitting in the Essex Yeoman, just to the left of Upminster tube/mainline station, and reading my ‘paper whilst having a hair-of-the-dog to try and escape that inevitable Friday night/Saturday morning headache.

I’m looking forwards to it.