We take a break from league action next Saturday to concentrate on the FA Trophy and make the short journey to step 4 side Sutton Coldfield. It has been a long time since we have had a good Trophy run, a competition that saw us make three Wembley visits in the 70’s. Perhaps the current squad can make up for FA Cup disappointment by having a long run in this competition. Like the FA Cup, the Trophy Is sponsored. Buildbase sponsorship means that money is available to successful teams. A win next Saturday sees us pick up£2450 with the losers picking up £800.

 Sutton Coldfield currently play in the Northern Premier League division 1 (South East) and while they lie one place off the bottom, they do have many games in hand on the sides around them as they have played more cup ties than league games. Their home league form shows a win and two defeats. The win came over bottom club Market Drayton with defeats to Spalding and Cleethorpes. They have however, had some good form in the FA Cup. Having disposed of Gresley they beat step 3 Ridditch with a 3-1 away replay win and then defeated step 2 Kettering in a home replay before bowing out to step 2 Boston United by only 1-0 at home. Sutton beat Yaxley at home in the previous round to set up this meeting. Sutton have shown that they have the giant killing bug firmly on their side and we cannot take this tie for granted due to the gap in leagues. 

I preparing for this game I am sure we will have them watched as on Tuesday they have a home Birmingham Senior Cup fixture with Tividale, and I sure we will have learned a lot from their game last Saturday in which they drew 4-4 away at Loughborough. Lougborough scored within 35 seconds, but Sutton replied with 2 goals from Reece Gibson. The game was level at half time, but Loughborough went into the lead in the second half. Isai Marsella then scored twice for Sutton before Loughborough levelled to finish 4-4. Obviously, Sutton score but they also concede. Should make for an interesting fixture.

 For those travelling by car please be aware of parking restriction at Coles Lane as parking arrangements are limited the main gates to the ground will be closed 45 minutes prior to kick off and reopened 15 minutes after the final whistle. The only people entitled to park in the ground are: –
Players, coaching staff & officials from both sides, match officials, named guests from both sides and home season ticket holders. All other spectators must park locally and enter the ground via the 3 turnstiles.

Games played on 26th October this century.

2002 Ilkeston A 5-0 F A Trophy
2013 Witton A 0-5 Northern Premier League

One other interesting fact is that 26th October 2006 our Youth Team travelled to Sutton Coldfield in the FA Youth Cup, but we lost 0-4

The second round of the Staffs Senior Cup is to be played the week commencing 2nd December.

Stone Old Alleynians V Stafford Rangers

First and foremost, we need to wallow after our impressive 3-0 win at Stalybridge. Please travel to Basford on Saturday to see one of the away form teams, tackle second place Basford.

Please do not look at the fixture cards thinking that Saturday is Whitby at home. The 19th is also FA Cup 4th qualifying round date and while we were knocked out last round by Stourbridge, Whitby are still in the cup and by a strange quirk of fate are playing Stourbridge. The league have instead given us a fixture and have brought forward our away game with Basford from November 30th. So, this Saturday we take the short hop to Nottingham to play Basford.

Our first meeting with Basford this season was on 3rd of September where we started our 5-match unbeaten run, all games drawn. However, that run on Tuesday extended to 6 games as we disposed of Stalybridge to record our first league win of the season. Strangely, Stalybridge were the side we beat for our first 3 points last season.

Being a relatively new club, we have not had many encounters with Basford. Our first ever meeting with Basford was in our Championship season of 2015/16. We came away from Greenwich Avenue with a 1-1 draw and the home game towards the end of the season finished 0-0. We did not meet up again until last season as Basford achieved promotion to the Northern premier league. We won the home fixture 3-1 but a couple of months later Basford ended our short-lived FA Trophy run win with a 4-0 win at their ground. We returned later to gain another draw in the league. This seasons fixture saw us draw 0-0. So, on our travels we have drawn both away league games but lost the cup tie, while at home we have a win and 2 draws.

However, Basford currently lie 2nd with 24 points from their 13 games with a home record of 4 wins a 1 defeat. The defeat came early in the season to Matlock while they have since wrapped up wins over Lancaster, Radcliffe, Stalybridge and Gainsborough. But our away record is quickly gaining pace with a win and 2 draws from our last 3 away games. We now actually possess a better away record than 7 other teams. While 2nd v 18th looks like a banker home win on many betting sites, you can never predict football and we hope to keep our run going. It looks like our luck Is turning as following Sam Coulson’s header at Scarborough hitting the post and coming out, Tuesday night we saw Grayson’s shot hit the post and go in. Basford appear to have used up all their luck as on Tuesday night as Stef Galinski headed a Basford goal from his own half, his clearance bouncing over the FC United keeper.

I hope as many Stafford fans travel as possible to give the team much needed support and remember Basford is one of the very few grounds where you can travel to the game by tram. For rail users the tram stop is upstairs from Nottingham Station and alight at Highbury Vale which is a short walk to the ground. Drivers need to use NG6 0LD to find the ground which has adequate parking.

Games played this century on 29th October

2002 Crawley H 2-1 Southern League
2004 Tamworth H 3-1 Staffs Senior Cup
2013 Coalville A 2-3 F A Trophy