So our epic FA cup run (hopefully) starts at Eastleigh on Saturday, one of the few all National League ties in the round and against a team we’ve already beaten this season.
A reminder for younger viewers that we haven't won a game in the FA Cup since 16th October 2021 when we beat the mighty Chertsey Town 4-1 in the fourth qualifying round, that was followed by a 3-1 defeat at Chesterfield in the first round proper. Since then we lost 2-1 at Woking in 2022 and 2-0 at Yeovil in 2023 at the same stage of the competition as this weekend.
We haven't made the second round of the cup since winning 6-2 (after extra time) in a replay at Crawley on 20th November 2018, and we haven't made the third round (when the big boys join) since the 2013 season when we beat Morecambe, Chesterfield and Millwall before losing at home to Hull City in the fourth round.
It's therefore fair to say that a cup run is somewhat long overdue, and if the 2024/25 season is to be our year, then the run needs to start at the Silverlake Stadium, home of Kelvin Davis's Spitfires.
The national league form table doesn't make pretty reading for either side, with just a single win in the last 6 games for both teams.
Eastleigh went 1-0 up in their last game at home to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, however the visitors scored three without reply (the first by Harry Cardwell) in the second half to ease to a 3-1 victory. Striker Paul McCallum, an alleged one time target of ours, has scored 7 goals for Eastleigh so far this season but not scored for the last three games.
The three amigos have had another week on the training ground to try to come up with a plan to turn our fortunes around. The Maidenhead game showed how much we miss Harry Cardwell when defending set pieces, but rather than bemoan this we need to find someone else to stop big centre halves having free headers from free kicks and corners. Our midfield looks ponderous and sometimes I wonder if we’ve had a rugby union coach in telling our players that the ball can only be passed backwards! Our two new “Rolls Royce” signings in Moncur and Bonne are misfiring at the moment and little KAF, although trying hard, is too often muscled off the ball. Our highly rated young goalkeeper seems devoid of confidence, much like the rest of the team, and now prone to regular errors in his distribution.
Maybe the FA Cup is a chance for a reset, or to try something different- however one would imagine a win is also needed both for confidence and cash flow purposes.
So who would you choose to start, and what do you predict the result will be?
A reminder for younger viewers that we haven't won a game in the FA Cup since 16th October 2021 when we beat the mighty Chertsey Town 4-1 in the fourth qualifying round, that was followed by a 3-1 defeat at Chesterfield in the first round proper. Since then we lost 2-1 at Woking in 2022 and 2-0 at Yeovil in 2023 at the same stage of the competition as this weekend.
We haven't made the second round of the cup since winning 6-2 (after extra time) in a replay at Crawley on 20th November 2018, and we haven't made the third round (when the big boys join) since the 2013 season when we beat Morecambe, Chesterfield and Millwall before losing at home to Hull City in the fourth round.
It's therefore fair to say that a cup run is somewhat long overdue, and if the 2024/25 season is to be our year, then the run needs to start at the Silverlake Stadium, home of Kelvin Davis's Spitfires.
The national league form table doesn't make pretty reading for either side, with just a single win in the last 6 games for both teams.
Eastleigh went 1-0 up in their last game at home to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, however the visitors scored three without reply (the first by Harry Cardwell) in the second half to ease to a 3-1 victory. Striker Paul McCallum, an alleged one time target of ours, has scored 7 goals for Eastleigh so far this season but not scored for the last three games.
The three amigos have had another week on the training ground to try to come up with a plan to turn our fortunes around. The Maidenhead game showed how much we miss Harry Cardwell when defending set pieces, but rather than bemoan this we need to find someone else to stop big centre halves having free headers from free kicks and corners. Our midfield looks ponderous and sometimes I wonder if we’ve had a rugby union coach in telling our players that the ball can only be passed backwards! Our two new “Rolls Royce” signings in Moncur and Bonne are misfiring at the moment and little KAF, although trying hard, is too often muscled off the ball. Our highly rated young goalkeeper seems devoid of confidence, much like the rest of the team, and now prone to regular errors in his distribution.
Maybe the FA Cup is a chance for a reset, or to try something different- however one would imagine a win is also needed both for confidence and cash flow purposes.
So who would you choose to start, and what do you predict the result will be?
Last edited:
