Creepy in the Cup

When invited to write something for the match-day programme about my early experiences of the FA Cup as a Maidenhead United fan, I initially struggled to think. The mid-90s was my formative time, so perhaps it wasn't surprising. Records show the Magpies went nearly six whole years, from 15th September 1992 to 5th September 1998, without winning a single FA Cup match – losses to Newbury, Havant Town (twice – the second of which saw my Grandad presented, pre-game, with a commemorative shield to mark 50 years as a supporter), Thame, and Newport AFC. That's something for me and other fans to remember if/ when we get blasé about drawing League One clubs in the 1st Round Proper, be it Oxford United away last season or Crawley at York Road.

As it is, our 4-2 defeat to two-divisions-higher Kingstonian in the 1998-99 3rd Qualifying Round is probably my most vivid, earliest, MUFC-related FA Cup memory. Michael Banton was among the goals down the Canal End, and it was 2-2 at the interval, but Michael Bolger didn't exactly cover himself in glory between our sticks. Attendance was 717 on a windy but sunny October afternoon. (26 years ago, to the day, as I write!) The crowd at our previous home league game was less than a third of that.

Since then, we've experienced the usual gamut of Cup emotions: conceding flukey winners (Salisbury at York Road in 1999 – afforded a short write-up in a national broadsheet, which blew my tiny little mind at the time); two penalty shootout wins (kudos to those who can name both opponents); lamentable first-time exits (my Dad remarked he'd never seen Roger Coombs so dejected as when we lost to Welling at home in 2002, while Bashley were struggling in the division below when they knocked us out at their place in 2008); unlikely hat-trick heroes (left-back Leon Solomon at Godalming in 2011); unlikely scorelines (7-4 defeat at Halifax in 2021); tremendous highs (James Mulley's 94th-minute equaliser and iconic celebration at Port Vale in 2015, after beating Winchester in a replay, Blackfield & Langley away, and then Woking at York Road in monsoon-like conditions) and inexcusable, era-defining lows (H*rsh@m).

No 2nd Round Proper appearance, though. A glaring omission. We've had the occasional near miss, more routinely since entering the competition in the later rounds following promotion to the National League. Leading Rotherham until the 70th minute at a rain-soaked York Road in 2019 comes to mind. However, a 3-2 home defeat to Dulwich (not Hamlet) in November 1886 remains our most 'recent' 2nd Round showing.

138 years! Hopefully not, 'and counting'.