1st Round Rivalries

Twelve teams are replaying previous matches tonight knowing what awaits them if they win… An FA CUP 1st round game to kick off their November, at home for 10 of them.

The teams already looking forward to their 1st round matches most though will both be heading to the homes of their biggest rivals.

Kettering Town, currently lying 15th of 21 teams in the Southern League Premier Central Division, are taking a break from their 7th tier life and heading 20 miles down the road to League One big boys Northampton Town.

It’ll be a great day out for them to test themselves against their local ‘rivals’ with very few fans truly and honestly seeing the result as the most important part of the match.

Another set of fans travelling to a match another 20 miles south that same weekend will be in the opposite mindset ‘only the result matters. AFC Wimbledon fans feel free to correct me if I’m wrong…

AFC Wimbledon will be heading up to the franchise in the midlands not caring about the performance or how they get the result, they will just be desperate to complete a hat-trick of wins over the Franchise that stole their club 22 years ago.

The true Dons, continuing the legacy from 2003 onwards, scored their first home win against Milton Keynes on March 2nd this year thanks to a 94th minute winner by Ronan Curtis and followed it up with a convincing 3-0 victory last month.

Now they’ll be looking to complete the hat-trick in the fiercest rivalry in England to complete a triplicate of beautiful things.

Who doesn’t like to make it 3-in-a-row against a team you hate? but knocking them out of the oldest cup competition in the world whilst avenging your 3-1 loss, when you finished with 9 players on the pitch, on your last visit to their vacuous, soleless cauldron of evil back at the start of the year, does life get any better than that?

There will be few people in south-west London who will think it can if things go their way in just over 2 weeks time.

Having taken 22 years to get your first home win over the team that stole your club and claimed to have it’s soul wouldn’t it be glorious to beat them 3 times in a year.

Hoping to be in the stands myself to witness how it all works out.