It’s FA Cup first-round time, with the draw being made this evening.
It’s exciting for us, the latest cup competition of the season in terms of starts, and a chance to tick off a new ground or maybe get someone we’ve not faced before at home. We all have teams we’d love to pull out of the hat for different reasons—from local matches against the likes of Boston United to those of you living away from Lincolnshire wanting the Imps on your doorstep.
City will be ball number 28 in the draw which will be held at Valley Parade, and broadcast live on BBC2 at 7pm. The Imps are among 48 clubs from League One and League Two entering the competition, joining 32 teams that have advanced from outside the EFL. Those teams include Gainsborough or Boston, Hednesford and Weston-Super-Mare.
Morning Imps 👋
With the draw for the First Round of The FA Cup due to take place tomorrow, who would you like us to be drawn against and why? 🤔 #weareimps #lincolncity #facup
— The Stacey West (@Staceywestblog) October 13, 2024
Some want one of these so-called ‘easy’ clubs at home, a chance to progress and maybe get a big gun in the third round. That poses the question, what is an ‘easy’ draw, and how have we dealt with them in the past? I thought I’d look back at the FA Cup first-round draws this century, and see which, at the time, were classed as easy, which were tough, and how we did in those.
To do that, I’ll take into account the team we drew and where the game was played.
Easiest Draws
2021 – Bowers and Pitsea
I think we all rejoiced in 2021 when Michael Appleton’s side drew Bowers and Pitsea. It looked like a nice way to progress, and while we hadn’t been as swashbuckling as the previous season, we’d had some good results, beating Charlton and Wigan in the run-up to the game.
It wasn’t a pretty encounter. Max Sanders scored the only goal of the game, and we failed to get a result in our next fixtures, including losing 1-0 to Hartlepool, at home, in the second round.
2000 – Bracknell Town
There were four divisions separating the Imps and Bracknell Town in 2000, and while Phil Stant’s side weren’t great, the easy draw did turn out to be easy. We were 3-0 to the good at half time, Peter Gain, Richard Peacock and a Brian Bere own goal giving us comfort, while Gavin Gordon added a fourth after the break. It’s important to remember that our opponents that day had won five qualifying games to get to Sincil Bank.
Like the other ‘easy’ game, we got a decent tie in the next round, at home against non-league Dagenham, losing 1-0.
2022 – Chippenham Town
Mark Kennedy’s side looked decent in the cup, and when Chippenham came out of the bag, it looked like a great chance for our fringe players to stake a claim for a first-team place. Kennedy even referenced this game recently, saying how he took abuse the day after, but then won against Bristol City and was a hero again. That’s whitewashing the truth – we went eight league matches without a win shortly after this defeat, winning just one (Morecambe at home) in ten.
2010 – Nuneaton Town
This was back in the relegation season, and Nuneaton Town were in the National League North. It looked like a really winnable game, and given that we were fighting to get ourselves away from the bottom of the table, it could have been the catalyst for a bit of a run.
Instead, it was turgid. We’d won one of the previous nine, and we played the second half win ten men after Clark Keltie was sent off. In the end, a last-minute goal from Albert Jarrett put us in the second round, where we faced Hereford United. We drew 2-2 at their place, having led twice, and then lost 4-3 at home, against having led, and fought back from 1-0 down and 3-2 down.
2023 – Morecambe
Urgh. The final days of Mark Kennedy hadn’t been pretty, and this game fell between him leaving and Michael Skubala coming in. It’s hard to believe it was only a year ago, but on paper, it was actually easier than Telford in 2009 (two divisions, but we were away) and on a par with Forest Green from the COVID season. Still, we lost 2-1 after leading early doors, and will be looking to correct that this season.
Toughest Draws
2006 – Port Vale
One draw we won’t get this season is away at a team in a division above, as we did in 2006/07. I couldn’t remember this, and I’m usually good with FA Cup matches, but it fell in the month after the big wins against Rochdale and Barnet. Vale had the likes of Leon Constantine, a top striker for the era, and finished 12th in the division above.
We didn’t do too badly – they led 2-0 at halftime, and a late Freck goal added a degree of respect to the scoreline. Oddly, something people forget is that after the sensational October (where we went top of the table), we lost every game in November, including this.
2012 – Walsall
Two divisions separated us and Walsall back in 2012, so this draw felt like a real bummer. They’re not exactly a big club, and yet it looked like our FA Cup run (two games in after needing a replay in the 4th qualifying round) would come to a premature end. Instead, this little run of matches was arguably David Holdsworth’s finest hour.
Jamie Taylor gave us the lead just before halftime, and Walsall needed an 87th-minute leveller to force a replay, which they lost 3-2. One of the few bright sparks of those early BSP days.
2013 – Plymouth Argyle
This is a game I remember fondly as it was my last as Poacher. On paper, it looked like a stinker. The Pilgrims had been a Championship side a couple of years before, and were play off challengers in the division above (they’d eventually finish 10th).
The game was awful, boring and cold, and we didn’t even open the South Park end of the ground. We got our replay, went down to Home Park and were 2-0 down inside five minutes, 4-0 down at half time and 5-0 losers by the end of the game.
2017 – Wimbledon
Technically, this was a proper bum draw, and it was our first back in the Football League. We could have drawn Shaw Lane, Gainsborough or Heybridge Swifts, but instead, we went to London to face League One Wimbledon. This was at their Kinstonian ground share, a rubbish ground for an away day.
We gave a good account of ourselves, losing 1-0 to Lyle Taylor’s early goal. We had a good penalty shout turned down though, and came away full of confidence, beating Notts County a couple of days later as we worked towards another, more fruitful trip to London in April 2018.
2007 – Nottingham Forest
This doesn’t feel like it was a first-round game, but it was. Peter Jackson hadn’t long taken over the Imps, and Forest were in the final season of their three-year stay in the third tier. They’d go on to finish second in League One, but couldn’t beat us at the Bank – an own goal cancelling out their opener in a 1-1 draw. We were beaten 3-1 in the replay, but it was still a tough first-round game we didn’t immediately lose.
2003 – Brighton and Hove Albion
Okay, so this is a late addition, somehow being missed off my original research. We faced a Brighton side flying high in League One at the Bank, and it looked a lot like instant elimination. We’d had no luck in the FA Cup years before this, and with Leon Knight scoring for fun, it seemed like we were out for another season. Knight barely got a kick as we were rampant, scoring three before they got a late consolation. Sadly, we were drawn away at Southend in the next round and got pumped 3-0.
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