Best FA Cup Day Out

BGEP. yes I was thinking about TUFC games but the thread name is Best FA Cup Day Out, so it really could be any Fa cup game or team, well how can I argue with the poster of the week

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling I've only ever been to two FA Cup matches in my 26 and a quarter years on this planet.

And to be honest, Maidstone United's 1-0 defeat at home to AFC Wimbledon earlier this season was never going to come close to the Manchester derby.

I'm going to have to sit down and go through my programmes, I must have been to a TUFC Cup game, surely?!

Good recall there petejones from the memory cells, I did not get to the first game, but do agree the return game was a good game and the ground sure was packed.

Not really in the spirit of the thread but couldn`t help but add to Bartons bit on leamington.

It was my first away game in the cup so I guess was one of the best and boy was it a bit tasty after.
Walsall (knocked them out previous round) & Coventry (Donal Murphy I think) turned up to have a go.
Remember standing behind the goal thinking we`re a bit outnumbered here, then a chorus of loud "united" chanting erupted behind me as another coach load of Gulls turned up.

Theres something about away games that brings a lump to your throat and makes you feel as though you are part of something. Its something you somehow just can`t get from home games.

Twitch got us the winner with a long range effort then it was run for your lives.
We legged it to where the coach was supposed to be but it wasn`t. Finally found the coach park & remember trying a couple of coaches before finding the right one just in time as the missiles rained down.

Happy days

buster

Well remembered about Leamington, Buster.

I was doing a teacher training course at the time. Not one of the most successful times of my life. When on teaching practice the kids wanted to know who I supported. Then, of course, we lose 6-1 at home to Wimbledon and they give me hell. Lesson on the Romans: what Roman road runs along the A6-1, sir? Was there a 6-1 Legion, sir? There may be a book in it for me yet: How Alan Cork Ruined My Teaching Career.

Anyway, one of the course requirements was to complete a module called The Young Person in Society which included an extended essay. This being the late 1970s, I did the inevitable piece on football hooliganism (I bet they got at least one of these each year for about fifteen years). I based it on the events of that day complete with, if I recall correctly, battleground diagrams depicting the movements of the Coventry (sky blue felt pen), Walsall (red felt tip pen) and Torquay (yellow felt tip pen) fans.

I must confess it was embellished. My description of travelling up on the coach from Torquay was slightly incorrect as I'd actually travelled by train from Nottingham. But, hey, it's the telling of the story - rather than the detail - that's important (even in respectable academic circles).

The important thing is that they loved it and it was the only decent bit of work I produced all year. Needless to say, I never taught.

I too remember QPR as a great day out. I found a pub on Goldhawk Road ealry in that week that was prepared to let many of us in before the game and it was very welcoming after the game too (for those who didn't have to worry about long journies home).

I'd like to put in a bid for a cup game at Colchester in 1982.
R1, starting out on the trail that would ultimately end in a great game at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

It was memorable for me as a game in which the home fans seemed to be taking a disproportionate amount of interest in the away fans, rather than the game.

I was in the corner of the away end and the home fans were at the end of the side, very close to us (myself, my girlfirend, mate & his wife). Sure it was going to 'kick off', we moved to the front middle of the away terrace, past the bulk of the travelling support and we sat on the old-fashioned railway sleeper terrace steps.

Less than 10 minutes later and the whole of the menacing home fan contingent had moved unobtrusively in 1's and 2's past the rest of our fans and recamped right behind us. They were so close I could feel the toes of their Dr Martens through the back of my sheepskin coat!

The girls didn't twig on to the dangerous situation we were now in, but my mate & I were both silently re-evaluating how attractive a scoreless draw was now seeming - we'd surely beat them at home (they had a great home record that year but didn't travel so well).

Just then, the worst thing happened - Alan Little scored for us.
We feared the worse and stood up, not to celebrate, but to move further over the terrace, out of the way.

We didn't have time to move - but fortunately (for the 4 of us) the home fans waded into the main contingent of our support, before the local police could come and restore an element of menacing calm for the rest of the game.

We then went onto score again to seal the win (Steve Cooper), and shuffled out of the ground with collars up, but a nice warm feeling inside. It was reassuring to have parked close to the ground and we left that sh*thole as quickly as we could in eager anticipation of Sports Report and the draw for the next round.

Happy days!

PS We played Carshalton Athletic (an amateur team from Surrey) and went onto play Oxford United in the 3rd round that year - spookily similar to this year. So maybe we will get a giant in the next round ......