Winchester City Vs Weymouth
FA Cup Third Round Qualifying, Charters Community Stadium, Saturday 28 September, 15.00 BST
The magic of the FA Cup is back, Terras fans.
The First Round proper dream is edging even closer, with just one more qualifying game standing in the way (should today end in a Weymouth win)!
We don’t need to tell you just how much reaching that round would mean to you all, do we?
Standing in our way our Hampshire hopefuls Winchester City, who host us at their recently-developed home for the first time.
The Citizens head to their fresh football pitch in faulty form, as they sit in the Southern Premier League Division South in 19th-place, with just six points.
Their recent results can be forgiven, though, as they have been playing in Basingstoke all season!
We can certainly empathise with their bad luck, as we have only just escaped a shaky spell of our own.
We have, however, created a change in fortunes for ourselves, unbeaten in three before today’s crucial cup tie…
HOW TO FOLLOW
Commentary for today’s game with be provided by BBC Radio Solent; click HERE to access.
Live updates will also be posted on our social media accounts; footage and reaction will also be uploaded after the final whistle.
THE OPPOSITION
City’s new ground welcomes centuries of history from a club founded in 1884; their lengthy existence, unsurprisingly, has seen all sorts of ups and downs.
Having been in the Hampshire League for almost 100 years, they finally found their way into the Southern League in 1971, before falling back down a division just two years later.
However, after decades of despair, including another return to and subsequent relegation from the Southern League, City have remained in England’s seventh tier since 2015.
However, their on-pitch achievements haven’t been the only thing to put the Hampshire outfit on the map in the last decade.
You may have heard of them back in 2018, when World-Cup winner Ousmane Dembele was seen running their virtual dugout on Football Manager.
The French winger described managing City as his “project,” declaring his wish to “bring [them] to the Premier League.”
Whilst they haven’t been able to achieve Dembele’s dreams in a real-life setting, tomorrow they have the opportunity to achieve an unseen remarkable feat.
A win at their “new” ground would see them enter the first round of this competition for the very first time in their history.
The last time they came close to doing so was in 2014; a 3-2 defeat in this very round to Concord Rangers ensured that the Hampshire outfit headed home empty-handed.
If they are to play amongst the big boys in November, it will require an improvement in form compared to what has been shown so far this season.
Their sole league win, alongside four losses, places them 19th in the Southern Football League Premier Division South table.
This shaky start, though, can be forgiven with the knowledge that they have technically spent all of this season on the road.
With the rebuilding of the Charters Community Stadium finally being complete this week, their “first” game on this pitch could hardly serve up a better occasion for travelling supporters.
It’s a big day out that our gaffer is more than aware of; this week he told us that “we have to make sure we are at our very best.”
With the First Round proper potentially one step closer after today for both sides, few could argue against that.
WICKED WEYMOUTH CUP STATS
Despite the magnitude of tomorrow’s game, our record at this stage of the competition suggests we are more than up for the challenge.
Progressing to the next round five times out of the last seven, teams are certainly aware of the mighty Terras.
Though we did narrowly bow out at this point last year at home to Bath City, their position as top dogs in the National League South meant that we faced the toughest team possible.
Though our manager was not in charge for that game, he has taken charge in this competition nine times for us before today, with a total of five wins.
Beyond the dugout, Calvin Brooks prepares for his 20th FA Cup match in a Weymouth shirt, having collected 10 wins on the pitch.
Calvin is a known joker in our dressing room, but today will hopefully see a different set of players on the receiving end of his wrath.
PREVIOUS RESULTS
Given both sides’ existence has spanned across three centuries, it will surprise little that this fixture has history.
But what is perhaps most fascinating is that six of these games have been played on Winchester’s turf, all in a row.
But, with our four wins, a trip on the road to Hampshire isn’t one to historically phase us.
The last time round was also in the FA Cup two years previously, albeit one round earlier, where three goals in the first 18 minutes sealed us a valiant victory.
From that game, we boast just two survivors, Tom Bearwish and Keelan O’Connell being the only players out of our current squad with experience versus today’s opponents.
But, rest assured, our newly established squad only pleases Mark, who has nothing but praise for how we’ve grown of late.
If there’s ever a time to make another statement in Winchester, it’s now…