FA CUP SPECIAL
WESTFIELDS V LEISTON
We look ahead to some of the crunch ties in next Saturday’s fourth round of qualifying
SEAN EDWARDS says reaching the FA Cup first round proper will be the best 50th birthday present Westfields can have.
The Midland League Premier division side have already created club history by reaching the fourth round qualifying stage.
Edwards’ men beat Step 4 Walton Casuals – having seen off Southern Premier St Ives Town 4-0 in the second round qualifying – and will now face Ryman Premier leaders Leiston at home.
Boss Edwards has been at the club 25 years as a player and now manager, and with big celebrations planned for the club’s landmark half century, a first round proper debut would ice the cake.
“Leiston are not top of their league for any other reason than they’re beating everybody in their path, and that’s two leagues above us,” Edwards told The NLP.
“So we know what we’re up against. But the good thing about the FA Cup is it’s on the day. Someone might hit the post and it comes out, someone might hit the post and it goes in. Fingers crossed we get that bit of luck and we can get into the first round proper.
Magical
“The players have been excellent. It’s our 50th year. All the various events we’ve got on this year are geared towards those celebrations. If we can get to the first round proper in this season it would be fantastic. Especially for the people who have been here since day one. People like Andy Morris, who started the club and is still the heartbeat of the club.
“I set out to get us in the Southern League. We’ve finished runners-up twice, once by a point and the other time by two.
“I stayed to try and replicate that but we’ve had a couple of poor seasons. Getting up is the number one priority, but if we can get through in the FA Cup it would make for a fitting season.”
Saturday’s victory extended the Fields’ winning streak to 15 games in all competitions and took their season goal tally up to a remarkable 62!
Unsurprisingly, their perfect start to the new campaign sees them top their Step 5 division and Edwards knows a sprinkling of FA Cup magic can go a long way.
“The FA Cup is massive, I don’t care what anyone says,” Edwards said. “Normally I don’t even think about the draw, but on Monday I was listening to it on talkSPORT. The FA Cup is magical.
“Forget all the prize money, if you’re a football fan the FA Cup is special. I remember Chasetown reaching the third round a few years ago when they were in our league. We played them that season and they said it’s just magical.
Kick-on
It show how it can change a club going forward. It gave them the kick on they needed to get higher level football.
“Although I’m manager, I’m also on the committee to raise money as well. It takes an awful lot of race nights, golf days, and sportsman evenings to raise the type of money we’ve already got from the FA Cup.”