STAMFORD AFC (The Zeeco Stadium)

FA CUP 4th QUALIFYING ROUND, STAMFORD 1-1 WREXHAM, ATTENDANCE: 1,264

Continuing the Welsh theme of the past few weeks, today I headed across to Lincolnshire where Northern Premier League Division One South side Stamford were hoping to cause an FA Cup shock by knocking out Conference giants Wrexham.

Stamford have never reached the first round proper in their history, whilst Wrexham have had their giantkilling moments in the distant past.

My visit came almost four years to the day since I last visited Stamford. The Daniels were then playing at Kettering Road which was their home from 1896 until December 2014, when they moved to a brand new purpose built ground, Borderville Sports Complex, known as the Zeeco Stadium in a sponsorship agreement.

The ground is everything you would expect of a smart new stadium, with a seated stand along one touchline and a terraced stand behind one of the goals. The ground is exposed down one side, with a grass bank offering perfect views of the pitch. Security patrolled said bank to ensure nobody was watching for free!

It had been a turbulent build up to the game for The Dragons as manger Gary Mills was sacked on Thursday after a poor run of results, losing four of their last six games. It all added to the potential banana skin that was facing Wrexham this afternoon.

The odds though were clearly against Stamford but their three wins at home have come in cup competitions, including two in the FA Cup. To reach this round the Daniels have beaten Sleaford Town, St Neots Town, Gresley and AFC Mansfield. They nearly pulled off the shock.

I travelled across with a Wrexham supporting mate of mine and he was telling me how bad Wrexham have been this season. At this moment in time he reckons staying up will be success. I was a little taken aback by that that comment but having seen them today I now understand where he is coming from.

A Zeeco Stadium record crowd of 1,264 watched The Dragons start brightly and take the lead after 5 minutes when Shaun Harrod fired home from six yards after Martin Riley had headed down a deep cross.

Wrexham tried to play football but there was no end product and they couldn't find the killer pass. Stamford in truth offered little in attack and the first half drifted to it's conclusion with only the one goal difference.

Stamford made a tactical substitution at the break and it turned the game on its head. Ryan Robbins came on to play alongside Jevani Brown and the pair caused the Wrexham backline all sorts of problems.

Robbins had a glorious chance to level the match when he went through one-on-one but he could not beat Shwan Jalal in the Wrexham goal. It wasn't long before The Daniels were level though when Brown was fouled in the area and Lee Beeson (58) fired home the resulting penalty.

After that Stamford created enough chances to have gone on and won the game, especially with another one-one-one chance which was squandered, this time, by Brown. 

Wrexham will be relived to have another chance at The Racecourse on Tuesday. Stamford may feel this was an opportunity missed.

ALTRINCHAM (Moss Lane)

FA CUP 4th QUALIFYING ROUND, ALTRINCHAM 1-0 CHESTER, ATTENDANCE: 1,603

The road to Wembley continued with a visit to a club with a long, proud FA Cup history. Altrincham have sixteen victories against Football League clubs to their name. The club history page lists them as follows:

1921/22 Tranmere Rovers
1965/66 Rochdale
1973/74 Hartlepool
1974/75 Scunthorpe United
1979/80 Crewe Alexandra and Rotherham United
1980/81 Scunthorpe United
1981/82 Sheffield United and York City
1982/83 Rochdale
1984/85 Blackpool
1985/86 Blackpool and Birmingham City
1988/89 Lincoln City
1992/93 Chester
1994/95 Wigan Athletic

Altrincham's win at St Andrew's was the last defeat of any First/Premier Division team at their own ground by a non-League club in the FA Cup. Other notable games include drawing with Everton, at Goodison, in 1975, before losing the replay at Old Trafford and drawing with Spurs, at White Hart Lane, in 1979, before losing the replay at Maine Road.

When the draw was made, throwing up a Cheshire derby with Chester, a Blues supporting mate of mine suggested a day out on the train to Altrincham, as it had been over decade since I last visited Moss Lane I thought "why not".

To the best of my recollection, the ground hasn't changed much in the intervening years. Segregation was in force today and, as I was with my Chester mates, I ended up on the open terrace, fortunately the predicted heavy rain held off.

The game was largely forgettable but there can be no complaints with the result.

The winner came in the 51st minute when a Jordan Sinnott a free kick (pictured below left) was saved by Jon Worsnop but the ball was parried into the path of Damian Reeves who fired the ball home.

There was a bizarre incident shortly after the goal when Worsnop rushed off his line to prevent Simon Richman getting an effort at goal. The Chester goalkeeper got there first but took both ball and man.

Referee Richard Wigglesworth pointed to the spot and the Altrincham player stepped up to take the penalty. The Chester players protested and the referee then changed his mind! I can't recall ever seeing that in all the years I have been watching football. The game restarted with a drop ball.

Chester naturally increased the pressure and although Altrincham goalkeeper Tim Deasy made a couple of decent saves, the Robins were able to comfortably see the game out, ensuring they were in the hat for the first round draw on Monday evening.

Altrincham is a top place for a beer or two so, as the train was taking the strain, it would have bad form not to have one or two! Pre-match was spent in Costello's Bar, the Brewery Tap for Dunham Massey, which was excellent and post-match it the Old Market Tavern was so we could watch Everton slump to their annual defeat at the Arsenal live on TV.

BARNET (The Hive)

CONFERENCE PREMIER, BARNET 1-1 WREXHAM, ATTENDANCE: 2,143

The second part of my North London double was a Barnet's new home, The Hive. This game was moved to the Sunday for live TV coverage and I was certainly not the only groundhopper attracted to this fixture. It also helped that The Bees had an offer on the tickets, knocking 50% of the normal prices.

Barnet left their home since 1907, Underhill, in May after a disagreement with the local council. This move took them out of the London Borough of Barnet and into the London Borough of Harrow.

The land where The Hive was built was originally called The Prince Edward Playing Fields and when construction began it was supposed to be for a new home for Wealdstone FC. Building was halted when Weadlstone's investment partners went into liquidation and Harrow council put the site up for tender in 2006, which Barnet won and it was used as their training ground.

The arguments for both sides can be found on this link...

http://www.onlybarnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3231

The ground has recently run into problems regards planning permission for the West Stand and the floodlights;

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/10707322.Barnet_FC_issued_enforcement_notice_from_council_over_stadium_at_the_Hive/?ref=rss

Nonetheless it wasn't really a that bad for a new build and the view from the away end was good.

The game was typical Conference fayre with plenty of perspiration but very little inspiration. Barnet took an early lead through Anthony Acheampong. It was a simple header as the guy was left unchallenged by a static Wrexham defence. Barnet played well in the opening 25 minutes, their defence protected superbly by their No1 Edgar Davids - don't think I have ever seen an outfield player with the No1 on his back - but Wrexham did have their moments going forward.

In the second half Barnet seemed content to sit back and play on the counter attack as Wrexham pushed forward in search of an equaliser. The homesters nearly pulled it off until the last minute of normal of play when they conceded a free kick. Dean Keates duly fired it home to level but it was what happened in the moments before the kick was taken that proved the talking point.

Edgar Davids picked up the ball to prevent a quick free kick and Stephen Wright tried to grab the ball from his hands. Davids proceeded to elbow Wright in the face and both were sent off, though why Wright was sent off I haven't the foggiest.

Deep into the 9 added minutes of stoppage time, Wrexham were reduced to 9 men as Johnny Hunt was shown a red card for a dreadful two footed 'tackle' and Barnet's David Stephens could have won the game but his header hit the post, when it looked simpler to score.

Home via the Euston Tap, another enjoyable day out, but I was so happy to have only paid £8 to watch the actual game!

A tribute to Barnet's fan base