FA Cup draw later today

By Secretary (legacy user)29/9/2014 01:18Mon Sep 29 01:18:12 2014

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The draw for the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup will be made later today. There will be 40 matches involving 80 teams, but owing to replays there are 101 clubs whose names will appear in the draw.

Although the FA don't publish details of regionalisation, last year there were fairly clearly 7 ties in the south-west, 17 in the south-east, and 16 in the north (probably split into two regions, but since we won't be in either of those, I did not spend time working that out!)

Here is a list of teams who'll be in the draw this time, together with their levels in the pyramid (the highest level involved at this stage will be '6' - our level - Vanarama Conference North & South clubs. There are no level 10 clubs left (eg Combined Counties Division 1, like Staines Lammas). I have split them into what appears to be the natural regional divisions (merging the northern ones). However, this split leaves 14 clubs in the SW, but 33 in the SE and 33 in the N. There can't be an odd number, so a bit of shuffling would have to take place - maybe Needham Market moved from SE to N?

NORTHERN CLUBS
Level 6
Boston United
Bradford Park Avenue OR AFC Fylde
Chorley
Colwyn Bay
Gainsborough Trinity
Guiseley
Leamington
North Ferriby United
Stockport County
Tamworth
Worcester City
Level 6 or 8
Coalville Town OR Lowestoft Town (^)
Level 7
Blyth Spartans
Buxton
Curzon Ashton
Grantham Town
Halesowen Town
Ilkeston
King’s Lynn Town
Marine
Level 7 or 8
Ashton United (^) OR Salford City
Histon (^) OR Evesham United
Level 7 or 9
Barwell (^) OR Norwich United
Level 7 or 10
Blaby & Whetstone Athletic OR Stourbridge (^)
Level 8
Bamber Bridge
Bedworth United OR Mickleover Sports
Lancaster City
Norton United
Spennymoor Town
Tividale OR Leek Town
Warrington Town OR Sheffield
Level 9
Runcorn Town
Shildon

SOUTH-EASTERN CLUBS
Level 6
Boreham Wood
Brackley Town OR Farnborough
Bromley
Chelmsford City
Ebbsfleet United
Hemel Hempstead Town
Maidenhead United
St Albans City
Staines Town
Sutton United
Wealdstone OR Concord Rangers
Whitehawk
Level 6 or 7
Eastbourne Borough (^) OR Enfield Town
Level 6 or 8
Bishop's Stortford (^) OR Tooting & Mitcham United
Level 7
Billericay Town
Canvey Island
East Thurrock United
Grays Athletic
Harrow Borough
Hendon
Maidstone United
Wingate & Finchley
Witham Town
Level 7 or 8
Romford OR Kingstonian (^)
Level 7 or 9
Dorking Wanderers OR Biggleswade Town (^)
Level 8
Aveley
Barton Rovers
Burgess Hill Town
Chalfont St Peter
Needham Market
Redhill
Waltham Abbey
Level 9
Greenwich Borough

SOUTH-WESTERN CLUBS
Level 6
Basingstoke Town
Havant & Waterlooville
Weston Super Mare
Level 6 or 7
Bath City (^) OR Poole Town
Paulton Rovers OR Gloucester City (^)
Level 6 or 8
Larkhall Athletic OR Gosport Borough (^)
Level 7
Chippenham Town
Dorchester Town
Weymouth
Level 7 or 9
Folland Sports OR Frome Town (^)
Level 8
Shortwood United
Level 9
Blackfield & Langley OR Willand Rovers
Flackwell Heath
Winchester City OR Newport (Isle of Wight)

(Where two clubs are listed because a tie is to be replayed, the second named will be at home in the replay, and the one from the higher level is indicated by (^): if there is no such mark, then both play at the same level).

Assuming that Eastbourne Borough and Bishop's Stortford win their replays, we will have about a 40% chance of playing against another Vanarama club (which could conceivably be Brackley Town, a Conferenec North side who are likely to be included in the SE area).

There are three clubs in the putative Northern section whom we have played and visited before:
Lowestoft Town, Stockport County, Worcester City.
There are eight in the Western whom we have played and visited before:
Basingstoke Town, Bath City ®, Dorchester Town, Gloucester City ®, Havant & Waterlooville, Poole Town ®, Weston-super-Mare, Weymouth;
and one whom we have played before but only at home:
Flackwell Heath.
But of the teams I have listed as being in the Southern Section, the only ones we have never played against are:
Biggleswade Town ®, Dorking Wanderers ®, Greenwich Borough, Needham Market;
whilst the only one we've played at home but never visited before is:
Witham Town.
(We have played Biggleswade Town, Flackwell Heath, and Redhill both home and away, at Reserve and/or Youth levels before, although I believe Redhill have changed ground since then. And although we've never met Greenwich Borough, if we are drawn to play them away, it will be at the familiar surroundings of Dartford FC).
® denotes a team involved in a 2nd Qualifying Round Replay.

The draw will be published on www.thefa.com before 1pm, but often it comes out at around midday.

PS: apologies for the horrible formatting ... I can't figure out how to turn OFF the bold font. Anyone?

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