FA Cup 3rd Round Draw

The draw for the third round of the FA Cup has taken place.

The full draw is as follows:

Arsenal v Sunderland
Birmingham v Bournemouth
Brentford v Chesterfield/Walsall
Bury v Bradford City
Cardiff City v Grimsby/Shrewsbury
Carlisle v Yeovil
Chelsea v Leyton Orient/Scunthorpe
Colchester v Charlton
Doncaster v Stoke City
Eastleigh v Bolton
Everton v Dagenham & Redbridge/Whitehawk
Exeter City v Liverpool
Huddersfield v Reading
Hull City v Brighton
Ipswich v Portsmouth
Leeds United v Rotherham
Manchester United v Sheffield United
Middlesbrough v Burnley
Newport County v Blackburn
Northampton v MK Dons
Norwich v Manchester City
Nottingham Forest v QPR
Oxford United v Swansea
Peterborough v Preston NE
Salford City/Hartlepool v Derby
Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Tottenham v Leicester
Watford v Newcastle
West Bromwich v Bristol City
West Ham v Wolves
Wycombe v Aston Villa

Ties to be played 8-11 January

Highlights

There are five all Premier League ties, including repeats of the 1961 FA Cup final (Tottenham v Leicester).

All Premier League Ties

Watford v Newcastle
Tottenham v Leicester
Arsenal v Sunderland
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Norwich v Manchester City

Non-League Teams

Elsewhere, all four remaining non-league teams in the draw should be reasonably happy with their potential ties, although three of them still need to make it through a 2nd round replay.

Cardiff City v Grimsby/Shrewsbury
Salford/Hartlepool v Derby
Everton v Dagenham & Redbridge/Whitehawk
Eastleigh v Bolton

Televised games TBC

Hereford United: A Bad Week To Have A Bad Day

To talk about today being a bad day for Hereford United requires the perspective that this has been a bad year for Hereford United. Come to think of it, the teenies haven't exactly been a great decade for Hereford United, or their fans. Today is just another bad day, one of many that have come Hereford's way recently.

 Today the Football Association suspended Hereford United from all football activity, along with their majority shareholder, Alan McCarthy - or at least their previous majority shareholder, as once again ownership of the club appears confused  and the only thing that the club's fans can be sure of is the state of the club is not healthy.

 The Football Association have said that they understand the importance of football clubs to local communities and that they will be working hard to ensure that football returns to Hereford as soon as possible.

  "The FA understands the importance of football clubs to their local communities and will continue to work with all relevant parties to ensure senior football returns to Hereford at the earliest opportunity."

I am sure that statement will fill Hereford fans with joy as they contemplate the plight of their club. The 'relevant parties' haven't been doing a great job of looking after their club, and the Football Association haven't exactly had a great track record looking after grassroots football lately.

Read more >>>

F.A. Cup 3rd Round Draw In Full

Monday night's draw for the 3rd round of the F.A. Cup is as follows:

FA Cup third-round draw
Arsenal	v	Hull City
Southampton	v	Ipswich
Stoke	v	Wrexham
Charlton	v	Blackburn
Dover Athletic	v	Crystal Palace
AFC Wimbledon	v	Liverpool
Manchester City	v	Sheffield Wednesday
Aldershot or Rochdale	v	Nottingham Forest
West Brom	v	Gateshead
Blyth Spartans	v	Birmingham City
Aston Villa	v	Blackpool
Rotherham	v	AFC Bournemouth
Huddersfield	v	Reading
Oxford or Tranmere	v	Swansea
Cardiff	v	Colchester
Bolton	v	Wigan
Sunderland	v	Leeds
Burnley	v	Tottenham
Millwall	v	Bradford
Derby	v	Southport
Brentford	v	Brighton
Fulham	v	Wolves
Leicester	v	Newcastle
Scunthorpe or Worcester City	v	Chesterfield
Everton	v	West Ham
Cambridge United or Mansfield	v	Bury or Luton
Chelsea	v	Watford
Barnsley or Chester	v	Middlesbrough
QPR	v	Sheffield United
Accrington or Yeovil	v	Manchester United
Preston	v	Norwich
Doncaster	v	Bristol City
Ties to be played on 3-6 January

F.A. Cup 3rd Round Draw Numbers

This weekend the 2nd round of the F.A. Cup takes place with competing teams knowing that victory will give them the opportunity to be drawn against one of the big teams when Premier League and Championship teams join the competition in Monday's 3rd round draw.

The draw will take place at the Deep Aquarium in Kingston upon Hull, on Monday evening at 7pm. Alan Shearer will be helping to draw the numbers. The numbers to follow, depending on who you are looking out for, are listed below.

Full List of Draw Numbers
(updated to include latest results)

1.   AFC Bournemouth
2.   Arsenal
3.   Aston Villa
4.   Birmingham City
5.   Blackburn Rovers
6.   Blackpool
7.   Bolton Wanderers
8.   Brentford
9.   Brighton & Hove Albion
10. Burnley
11. Cardiff City
12. Charlton Athletic
13. Chelsea
14. Crystal Palace
15. Derby County
16. Everton
17. Fulham
18. Huddersfield Town
19. Hull City
20. Ipswich Town
21. Leeds United
22. Leicester City
23. Liverpool
24. Manchester City
25. Manchester United
26. Middlesbrough
27. Millwall
28. Newcastle United
29. Norwich City
30. Nottingham Forest
31. Queens Park Rangers
32. Reading
33. Rotherham United
34. Sheffield Wednesday
35. Southampton
36. Stoke City
37. Sunderland
38. Swansea City
39. Tottenham Hotspur
40. Watford
41. West Bromwich Albion
42. West Ham United
43. Wigan Athletic
44. Wolverhampton Wanderers
45. Oxford United or Tranmere Rovers
46. Bury or Luton Town
47. Wrexham
48. Scunthorpe United or Worcester City
49. Colchester United
50. AFC Wimbledon
51. Accrington Stanley or Yeovil Town
52. Blyth Spartans
53. Chesterfield
54. Southport
55. Gateshead
56. Doncaster Rovers
57. Preston North End
58. Barnsley or Chester
59. Bradford City
60. Sheffield United
61. Dover Athletic
62. Cambridge United or Mansfield Town
63. Bristol City
64. Aldershot Town or Rochdale

Ties to be played weekend of 3 & 4 January, 2015



Last updated 7th December 2014 18:30

Endangered Species: Grassroots Football

England, as a nation in the footballing world, may be on the up after a poor World Cup. However, bar the odd Euros win, you never hear about young English talent winning any continental competitions.

I think this starts right at the bottom.

Grassroots football.

Grassroots football is fading away more and more, and with less money being invested in the system where are the footballers of the future meant to come from?

Roughly, and I mean roughly, thirty-four million pounds is invested each year (twelve million from the FA and Premier League respectively and ten million from the government), but is that really enough? Once again, approximately, the Premier League makes around three billion pounds per year from the game we love. That is only around 0.4%.

0.4%!

If the Premier League truly wanted to improve the game they could give grassroots 0.8%, just 0.4%% more. and that would give them an extra twelve million to play with.

So, let's say the Premier League offered that extra tiny percentage to the grassroots development schemes. New training facilities, equipment, school teaching and the list goes on, could be added to the infrastructure of the beautiful game in England at lower levels. Give a child a football and he will play, it's that simple.

Read the full article...

Magic and Medicine in the FA Cup

They say that in the FA Cup, form goes out of the window. Lowly teams become giants and legends are made. Accrington Stanley weren’t granted a headline-grabbing second round tie, but the game did its utmost to live up to the history of the magical competition.

Our last meeting with Oxford United was a profoundly disappointing affair ending up in a 5-0 loss. The cup game was a chance for redemption as much as the cash prize to boost the coffers.

We began with a disadvantage as our player-of-the-season so far – affable ‘keeper Ian Dunbavin -sustained season-threatening injury in training. Bavo has had his ups and downs in an eventful career but has been nothing short of exceptional this season. All Stanley fans will hope he can get fit sooner than expected.

An uphill battle was faced before we even took to the field and Leam Richardson did all he could to remedy the situation; the gaffer’s Yorkshire connections were exercised once more as nomadic stopper Paul Rachubka came in on emergency loan.

A cold, hard pitch awaited the players. Attackers revelled while defenders struggled and a goal-fest ensued. Oxford drew first blood after finding fault on the flank before Craig Lindfield levelled with a point-blank execution. James Beattie on returning to the starting eleven rose to the occasion and struck one of the finest shots ever seen on the Crown Ground to take the Reds ahead. After the U’s pegged back once more, Lee Molyneux expertly converted a free kick and Stanley had only minutes to see out a memorable victory. The tired Stanley backline faltered once more however and a replay was ordered through a simple headed goal which should have been prevented.

Going away to Oxford next Wednesday will be a huge test of character and skill. A home tie against Beattie’s former suitors Sheffield United is the prize for a win which ought to spur the players on.

First though is an old grudge match from the non-league days. Sunday’s trip to Burton has to be the priority in order to improve our league position. Only after that can we dare to dream.

On, Stanley, On.