Sunday 27th January

4th round result:
Sporting Khalsa 2 v Comets Sports Club 3

As far as I know, all of the other seven games were postponed. Three games (Oyster Martyrs v Alder, Club Lewsey v Lebeqs Tavern and South Bank v Punchbowl) were all showing on the FA's website as postponed on Friday.

RCA Grangetown Florist's game against HT Sports was cancelled on Saturday. All of these are now scheduled for 3rd February.

Sunday 20th Jan

Unsurprisingly, it would appear that all of today's games have fallen victim to the weather. Three of the scheduled eight ties (Hetton v Alder, Club Lewsey v Lebeqs and South Bank v Punchbowl) had already been rearranged for next Sunday, when I looked on the FA's website on Friday!

T8's 0 v RCA Grangetown Florists 1

In the 29 years that I have been following the Sunday Cup, I've only seen one game in Nottinghamshire, which was the 2000 final between Albion Sports and Prestige Brighams, which was played at Nottingham Forest’s ground.

Clearly, another visit was overdue and this outstanding 3rd round tie gave me the perfect opportunity to do this. The game was played at Rolls Royce Leisure in Hucknall, which is just around the corner from Hucknall Town’s ground, which staged the 2009 semi-final between Scots Grey and Lakeside Athletic.

 

As we travelled down from Yorkshire, we were surprised to see a covering a snow as we entered Nottinghamshire and the pitch itself also had a light dusting of snow. However, the line markings were clearly visible and the ground was surprisingly soft, so the game was not in doubt.

 

After a cagey opening 10 minutes, the home side began to take the game to their Sunderland based opponents and when T8’s number 10 was brought down in the penalty area on 15 minutes, I was surprised to see the referee not award a penalty,  as it looked a certain foul from where I was stood.

Five minutes later, T8’s laid siege to the RCA goal and three consecutive corners lead to two goal line clearances! Despite the intense pressure, the RCA defence stayed resolute as they somehow managed to keep the home side at bay.

 

T8’s continued to apply the pressure and came close to opening the scoring when their number 10 clipped the post on 28 minutes.

T8’s hit the cross bar just before half time but were unable to convert the rebound and, amazingly, we arrived at half time goalless!

The second half was a much more even affair, as T8’s were unable to sustain their first half dominance and RCA came more in to the game.

With extra time growing ever nearer and the game still scoreless with just 10 minutes remaining, an RCA free kick was superbly headed home by Gary Hills to the utter disbelief of the home side and their supporters.

 

With time running out, T8’s tried their best to get back in to the game but just like their earlier efforts, they were unable to breach their opponent’s defence and it was RCA who progress to round 4, where they will travel to West Yorkshire to play HT Sports.

Whilst I’d never seen T8’s play before, I did watch RCA the previous week and they were clearly not the same side who comfortably dispatched Eden Vale. They certainly missed Martin Metcalfe, whose man of the match performance included scoring the opening goal and providing the two others in a 3-0 win.

Results from Sunday 13th January

Both outstanding third round ties were played today, so the FA Sunday Cup is now up to date, which is great news, as the 4th round ties are due to be played next week!

T8's 0 v RCA Grangetown Florists 1 - I was at this game, so a match report will follow shortly.

Upshire 2 v CB Hounslow United 0

4th Round Draw - to be played on Sunday 20th January

HT Sports v RCA Grangetown Florists

Hetton Lyons v Allerton

Oyster Martyrs v Alder

Upshire v Rayners Lane

Club Lewsey v Lebeqs Tavern Courage

Sporting Khalsa v Comets Sports Club

Barnes Albion v Bedfont

South Bank (2006) v Punchbowl

All of the above ties have a scheduled kick off time of 1.00pm, except for Barnes Albion (1.30pm) and South Bank (3.00pm).

RCA Grangetown Florists 3 Eden Vale 0

It was a case of 6th time lucky for the outstanding 2nd round tie between RCA Grangetown Florists of the Sunderland Sunday league and their Merseyside opponents, Eden Vale, from the Ormskirk & District league, which was finally played six weeks later than scheduled!

It was the home side who struck first, when lively winger Martin Metcalfe fired passed the keeper from close range after only 3 minutes of play.

Eden Vale spurned a great opportunity to draw level mid-way through the first half, when a superb strike from outside of the penalty box was parried on to the bar by RCA keeper, Kris Snowball. With the goal at his mercy, Vale's Phil Stancombe headed over the bar.

RCA doubled their advantage just before the interval, when a Metcalfe corner was headed home by defender Phil Hall.

RCA wrapped the game up mid-way through the second half, when they failed to halt a run from man of the match Metcalfe, whose cross from the byline was converted by Richard Jordan to extend their lead to 3-0.

Vale kept going to the end but were unable to penetrate the home defence, so RCA can now look forward to a trip to Nottinghamshire, where they will face T8's for a place in the 4th round.

Sunday 6th January - Results

2nd Round
RCA Grangetown Florists 3 v Eden Vale 0 - match report to follow

3rd Round
Burradon & New Fordley 1 v Oyster Martyrs 3
Allerton 5 v Home & Bargain 3 AET
Hetton Lyons 3 v Northallerton Police 0

Upshire v CB Hounslow United - game abandoned 30 minutes, when an Upshire supporter collapsed pitch side with a suspected heart attack. As he was the Grandfather of two Upshire players, it was agreed that the game would be abandoned.

Let's hope the gentleman concerned makes a full and speedy recovery.

Many thanks to Ian Martin and John Treleven for supplying results.

Sunday 6th January

With dry and mild weather forecast for most places this weekend, the FA Sunday Cup will hopefully be able to catch up on some of the outstanding fixtures, as there are still several 3rd round games and one 2nd round tie to be decided.

Of the five games scheduled for this Sunday, three of them are due to be played in the North East, which is where I will be headed for on Sunday morning. I aim to watch the much delayed 2nd round game between RCA Grangetown Florists and Eden Vale. However, Hetton Lyons are due to play Northallerton Police at nearby Seaham, so I may end up there instead!

Like Eden Vale, Oyster Martyrs are also making the long journey up from Merseyside, as they travel to Morpeth Town to play Burradon & New Fordley.

The remaining games are in Liverpool (Allerton v Home & Bargain at Alder Sports Club) and at CB Hounslow, who entertain Upshire.

HT Sports v Salisbury Athletic
I am reliably informed that this tie is now the subject of an FA review, following some after match shenanigans on 16th December at Brighouse.

Updates
Once again, the computer gremlins have struck, so it looks like a new PC is in order. I'll try and update the blog on Sunday evening with the results but as this will be done via my Blackberry, I can't promise that this will be successful! I may have to do this on Monday at work.