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