This Saturday we embark on our FA Cup run for season 2018/19. Like every season we dream of TV coverage in the early rounds proper with an away tie at a top Premier League side to dramatically increase our finances. This season we have been drawn away to step 6 side, Grimsby Borough of the Toolstation Northern Counties East league division one. If you need a guide, step 6 is the level of Brocton. Therefore, in this the first ever meeting of the two clubs there is a massive incentive for them to put one over on us and giant kill a step 3 team.

Grimsby Borough currently lie 5th in their league, having played 5, winning 3 and drawing 2, and this includes a 10 – 0 thrashing of bottom club Bolsover. Grimsby Borough have already played an FA Cup tie this season beating step 5 Long Eaton 1-0 in the Preliminary Round, but last Saturday they tasted defeat for the first time this season when losing 2-1 away at step 5 Worksop in the first qualifying round of the FA Vase. Let’s hope we can ruin their Wembley chances on two consecutive Saturdays.

Grimsby Borough play at the Bradley Football Development Centre, which from Google maps, looks like a complex with a main football pitch with a capacity of 1000 (180 seats and cover for 200), an all-weather pitch and several grass pitches. Attendances for their 4 home league games averages at 110, so optimistically there could be a gate exceeding 200 on Saturday.

The clubs nickname is the Wilderness Boys, and I do not know if that represents how far out of Grimsby they are, or if relates to their recent league history. In the last 10 years of playing in the NEC League 1 they have, in the main, been a bottom half team, finishing bottom a few years ago with a goals-conceded column well over 100. Since then there has been a dramatic improvement finishing 4th and 3rd in the last 2 seasons.

So, as we embark on our 260 mile round trip we hope we can go with a professional attitude to get the job done and ensure the winners cheque from the FA of £6000 arrives on our doorstep, meaning we have escaped the potential banana skin that could await us.

Match Preview by Phil Bennett

Grimsby Borough FC Website

When the fixtures came out, I think many saw us having a tough start to the campaign and would certainly have seen this fixture as potentially providing a good return for us. Looking at the fledgling League table how wrong we were as we lie second from bottom and Stalybridge lie second. Already this season we have seen some quirks in the league format having played two long distance Saturday away games and two midweek home fixtures, while Stalybridge’s four games has seen 3 home games and one away game. With a return of two wins and a draw at home and a draw away (0-0) they lie second to Gainsborough. Hopefully a few more games will see things balance out and we start to climb the table.

Last season, both games saw 2-0 home wins, so we would certainly like to see a repeat of that. Season 2017/18 was Stalybridge’s first season back in the Northern Prem following relegation from the National League North, and they struggled throughout finishing 22^nd which, in a normal season, would have seen them suffer a further relegation.

While Steve will be renewing former acquaintances, a former player may be in the Celtic ranks, as Niall Flint makes a brief return to Marston Road. We picked up Niall from Matlock but things did not work out and he moved on.

Stalybridge should bring a few fans along as they have subsidised coach fares for away games so lets hope our fans can come out in force on Saturday for the 3pm kick off, and be on song to see our first win of the season.