DANNY AIMING TO MAKE MORE CUP MEMORIES
DANNY Greaves’ favourite FA Cup moment involved the manager of the best international team in the world.
Back in 2006, goalkeeper Greaves was between the sticks for Clevedon Town’s journey to the FA Cup First Round for the first time in their history, where they eventually lost 4-1 at home to a Chester City side including current Belgium boss Roberto Martinez.
Martinez claimed an assist that afternoon in front of a sell-out 2,261 crowd but couldn’t find a way past the former Bristol Rovers stopper.
“He gave me a little tap on the head when I saved his one-on-one,” Greaves told The NLP. “That was quite a day, I look back on it fondly.”
Greaves is now in charge of Southern Division One South outfit Frome Town, conquerors of Paulton, Mangotsfield and most notably Step 2 Oxford City in this season’s FA Cup. They now have an intriguing away tie at Bath City.
Just 16 miles separate the two sides who met in pre-season at the Robins’ Nest, with Bath running out 4-1 winners.
A big crowd is expected at Twerton Park but Greaves admitted he would have preferred a lower-ranked side.
“The draw could have been better,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest we could have got based on the teams left in the competition. It’ll be an unbelievable achievement if we manage to get a positive result.
“It’s tough playing Bath at the best of times, let alone at Twerton Park. It could have been a bit different at our place – our home record has been very good over the last three seasons, I think we’ve only lost once. That’s why we were quietly confident when we played Oxford.
“That said it’s an opportunity for the boys to test themselves against a club the size of Bath. We’re excited and like last week we go into a
game with no pressure on us.
“With it being a local derby we’ll take a few fans. I’m sure it’ll be a good occasion and good game.”
Frome have reached Round One once, losing to Leyton Orient in 1954. The last time they progressed to the Fourth Round Qualifying was 30 years later, coincidentally knocking Bath City out in the Third Round Qualifying when three divisions below the then Alliance League side.
The current crop include former Bath players in James Ollis, who scored against Oxford, George Rigg and Jon Davies. In reverse,
Joe Raynes signed for the Romans from the Robins in 2018 and Greaves is a former teammate of City goalkeeper Ryan Clarke, both on Bristol Rovers’ books 20 years ago.
“It adds a little bit more spice to it,” said Greaves. “The players know each other quite well, we also learnt in the pre-season game how clinical teams are at Bath’s level.
“We’ve tightened up since then and we’re better at taking our chances.
“We’ve got two league matches before this tie which are 100% our priority, then a couple of days to prepare for what will be a really exciting game for us.”