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The FA cup doesn’t just begin when the Premier League teams enter in the 3rd Round proper. It began in summer with the First Qualification Round and one pre qualifying round before.
In the truest traditions of the grassroots tournament, we are following a side from the outset and hope to stay with them and be at their games, or those of the side who eliminate them, all the way to Wembley.
This site already sponsors the manager of Carlisle City, James Nichols. So in the interests of geographical balance, we selected a club at the other end of the nation, Portsmouth’s own Moneyfields FC. Our assistant editor Conor Smith claims to have played against their reserves for Netley which may have influenced our choice.
The decision was cemented by their opposition Aylesbury United. The Ducks are a club with an FA Cup pedigree, who currently play their home games in Chesham, agonisingly far from their own Buckinghamshire home town, but agonisingly close to Wembley which is where this story ends next May.
So we started our series, “Moneyfields to Wembley“ with their visit to Aylesbury United, the Ducks, now playing their home games at the Meadows, home of Chesham United.
The Moneys however lost to London’s oldest club Cray Wanderers. Wanderers went to the West Country on October 17th and won through on penalties against Bristol Manor Farm. They continue the road to Wembley with a trip to Canvey Island.
On Saturday afternoon, Canvey Island will welcome Cray Wanderers to Park Lane in the hope they can finally return to the scene of the FA Cup First Round for the first time since 2005.
Cray Wanderers are set to move into their new stadium at the end of this season after spending more than 20 years playing at National League side Bromley and were agonisingly close to achieving promotion to the National League South earlier this year before the Coronavirus pandemic null and voided the league campaign for them. This meant their second place finish was done for nothing.
Their cup run has included a 6-2 away win at Moneyfields in Hampshire and then a nailbiting penalty shoot out win at Bristol Manor Farms in Gloucestershire. Fate has given them a third successive away win, this time in Essex as they continue their tour of the shires.
The Wands find themselves coming into this game off a 3-1 victory over Haringey Borough last Saturday in what was manager Tony Russell’s 250th game in charge of the club.
He has currently got a 53% winning percentage whilst Canvey managed a 2-0 victory over Bedfont Sports last Tuesday in their FA Cup Third Qualifying Round tie.
FA Cup Factfile (external site)
Canvey Island have experienced a fair few lows since they were last at this stage of the FA Cup back in 2014.
Relegation to the Isthmian North happened in 2017 on the final day of the Isthmian Premier season following a 2-2 draw with already-relegated AFC Sudbury before suffering play-off final heartbreak a year later to Haringey Borough as they aimed on returning back to Step Three of the English non-league pyramid at the first attempt.
The league remains Canvey’s where they hope to be promoted back to by the end of this season after three seasons away at Step Four so far.
Canvey Island goalkeeper Bobby Mason was behind the Gulls success in their penalty shoot-out against Biggleswade in the Second Qualifying Round. Photo: Andy Wilkins
The Gulls were due to travel to Ramsgate for their FA Trophy tie last Saturday before withdrawing from playing due to a few of the players having symptoms for Coronavirus so they’ve had free ten days to prepare for this crucial tie.
What makes this game even bigger and rather poignant is that the all-ticketed tie sold out within 13 hours of going on general sale with Canvey fans having an allocation of 325 tickets whilst Cray will be supported by a strong crowd of 75 fans making the journey eastwards.
Had there not been a restriction on ticketing and spacing due to COVID, this game could’ve potentially sold out twice over.
Canvey were at this stage of the competition last back in 2014 when they welcomed Havant & Waterlooville to Park Lane in a tie that finished 0-0 in front of a healthy crowd of 612.
A replay was required of which the National League South opponents showed their class with a 3-0 victory which defied Canvey from hosting then-League 1 side Preston North End in the First Round Proper and in front of the BT Sport cameras.
Unlike their hosts who have history of reaching the Third Round Proper before, anything further than the Fourth Qualifying Round for Cray Wanderers will be record breaking for them with this being their second time at this stage in their 160 year history and it having been 15 years since they were last at this stage.
Both teams will no doubt be coming into this off strong momentum and good squads available.
Could Canvey Island centre-back Michael Finneran be the golden player that could determine them from making it into the First Round of the FA Cup? Photo: Andy Wilkins
Key Player for Canvey Island: Michael Finneran
Having joined his boyhood club from local rivals Grays Athletic in the summer of 2019, “Finners” as he is known as by the Canvey faithful is a central defender who loves the club to the core having supported them growing up.
He has continued to put in some spectacular performances at the heart of the Canvey squad with match winning tackles on a regular basis whilst even grabbing the occasional goal as well to make things sweeter.
If Canvey get a corner in the final minutes of a game, then expect Finneran to be in the heart of the action trying to grab the all important winner equaliser.
Key Player for Cray: Rhys Murrell-Williamson
The midfielder continues to impress for Cray having joined the club in January 2020 after a spell at Braintree. Rhys developed as a player at the youth sides of Fulham, Crystal Palace and Celtic before having spells at St. Albans City, Woking, Kingstonian, Billericay Town, Welling United, Hampton & Richmond, Boreham Wood, Dulwich Hamlet, Harrow Borough and Sutton United.
Murrell-Williamson suffered a seizure at half time in their game in Bristol but has recovered and looks set to play and be influential in Essex
RMW could be a key player for Cray in the heart of the action on Saturday and be that decisive person to split the game apart if needed.
With the experience that he has, Cray’s Rhys Murrell-Williamson is definitely the one to watch as they look to go into the First Round for the first time in their history. Photo: St Albans City
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