PARROTT IS TALK OF THE WOODS

THE FA Cup returned with a bang in midweek as Non-League clubs became the first to welcome crowds back to competitive fixtures.

Just 30 days separated Arsenal lifting the famous trophy at Wembley to complete last year’s tournament and the 2020-21 extra preliminary round featuring 184 ties.

Not all of the 737 entrants into this season’s FA Cup will have kicked a ball in the competition though with Redhill, Burton Park Wanderers and Walsham le Willows pulling out of their ties due to one of their players testing positive for Covid-19.

It meant Egham Town, AFC Sudbury and Newmarket Town were the first teams to progress, but it was on Monday night where Woodford Town made history on the pitch.

Their tie at home to London Colney was the first competitive match to be played in front of fans and the Woods became the first to claim victory in this year’s competition.

An entertaining 3-1 win, in which Woodford played with ten men for the last 30 minutes after Shaye La-Rose was sent off, was exactly what manager Dee Safer was after in front of a crowd of 247.

“Win or lose we’re going to play our brand of football,” the boss of the Essex Senior League side told The NLP. “The people who come to the stadium, I want them to come back and not get bored to death!

“In the second half we showed what we were about and that’s how we want to continue.”

Safer has an average age of 19 in his squad with Monday’s win inspired by 17-year-old Luke Parrott, who scored twice.

He’s seen centre-back Joshua Steele move on to Margate in recent weeks and wants to keep developing young players.

“We’re here to give these boys a route into League football,” he said, as he prepares to take his side to Waltham Abbey in the preliminary round on Saturday. “That happening with Josh is a vindication of what we’re trying to do. I’m pretty certain we’re going to have a lot of interest in our boys this year too.

“It’s hard for me as a manager but that’s what we want to do.”