2019 FA CUP FIRST ROUND DRAW -- MONDAY 21st OCTOBER

The draw for the First Round of this seasons Emirates FA Cup will be made later on Monday night live on BBC TV, another sure sign that winter is soon to be upon us. While we are currently struggling in the lower reaches of League One it will be good to mount a reasonable Cup run again having done well against Premier League sides as we did last year beating West Ham before losing to Millwall in the next round. 

Due to Bury FC’s removal from the English Football League and subsequently the Emirates FA Cup, there will be an odd number of clubs entering the draw. As a result, the final club left in the draw, that isn’t drawn to play in a tie in the first round, will receive an automatic bye to the second round and will also receive the prize fund payment applicable for the first round.

As a result of Bury's exclusion there are now only 79 Numbers in the "hat" for the first round proper, the draw is live on BBC Two from approximately 7pm hosted by Mark Chapman, with the draw itself being made by two footballing guests, Karen Carney (Chelsea and England) and Jermaine Beckford (Leeds + many more) will be drawing the balls out. Plenty of non league interest and stories from amongst the sides that have made it from qualifying, these include our previous tenants at Kingsmeadow; Kingstonian who won 3-2 away at Dartford also of interest are Notts County who won their game 2-1 and would mean a return for Neal Ardley while I would want to avoid the likes of Bromley and Sutton. 

Was very disappointing to read about the abandonment of the Haringey Borough vs Yeovil Town's FA Cup fourth qualifying round match, after reports of racial abuse aimed at Haringey's goalkeeper. Yeovil were leading 1-0 through a Rhys Murphy penalty when the game was halted in the 64th minute. There was a long delay for that spot-kick to be taken, with Haringey keeper Douglas Pajetat reportedly initially struck by an object from the stands. Shortly after Murphy scored, play was suspended as the hosts left the field. Around 35 minutes later, it was confirmed the match had officially been abandoned, with BT Sport reporting that Pajetat was racially abused and spat at by visiting fans. This on the back of the England vs Bulgaria game and we await further news from the FA on this but believe the game is to be replayed.

My team AFC Wimbledon have been assigned ball No. 2. A home draw would also be nice for a change, and I just hope we avoid the Franchise scum for obvious reasons In fact I wouldn't mind hosting Chichester (Ball No.71) perhaps at this stage with the ambition for a lucrative tie in rounds three and four perhaps but let us not get too far ahead of ourselves?

The Full 1st round draw will appear here during the evening as the ties are confirmed ... matches to be played over the period of 8th - 11th November the winners in round one will pick up £36,000 in prize money for their efforts.

    AFC WIMBLEDON        Vs        Doncaster Rovers
    Ipswich Town        Vs        Lincoln City
    Oxford City        Vs        Solihull Moors
    Crawley Town        Vs        Scunthorpe United
    Harrogate Town        Vs        Portsmouth
    Colchester United        Vs        Coventry City
    Sunderland        Vs        Gillingham
    Dulwich Hamlet        Vs        Carlisle United
    Bolton Wanderers        Vs        Plymouth Argyle
    York City        Vs        Altrinham
    Chesterfield / Wrexham        Vs        Rochdale
    Maidstone United        Vs        Torquay United
    Leyton Orient        Vs        Maldon and Tiptree
    Chippenham Town    Vs        Northampton Town
    Haringey B / Yeovil        Vs       Hartlepool United
    Cambridge United        Vs        Exeter City
    Whitley T / Stourbridge        Vs        Welling U / Eastleigh
    Salford City        Vs        Burton Albion
    Forest Green Rovers        Vs        Sutton U / Billericay T
    Bristol Rovers        Vs        Bromley
    Ebbsfleet U / Woking        Vs        Notts County
    Walsall        Vs        Darlington
    Nantwich Town        Vs        AFC Fylde
    Hayes and Yeading / Poole T        Vs        Oxford United
    Shrewsbury Town        Vs        Bradford City
    Grimsby Town        Vs        Newport County
    Gateshead        Vs        Oldham 
    Mansfield Town        Vs        Chorley
    Dover Athletic        Vs        Southend United
    Tranmere Rovers        Vs        Wycombe Wanderers
    Carshalton Athletic        Vs        Boston United
    Cheltenham Town        Vs        Swindon Town
    Accrington Stanley        Vs        Crewe Alexandra
    Potters Bar Town / Barnet        Vs        Fleetwood Town
    Macclesfield Town        Vs        Kingstonian
    Maidenhead / Wealdstone        Vs        Rotherham United
    Blackpool Town        Vs        Morecambe
    Franchise FC        Vs        Port Vale
    Stevenage        Vs        Peterborough United

1st Round bye - No 71 Chichester 

Good luck to all teams (except Franchise FC obviously).

2019 FA CUP WINNERS MANCHESTER CITY