By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
The
FA Cup, the world’s greatest football competition has returned this weekend
with the first round proper and in a new series for the website from round one
until the final at Wembley next May; I will share my memories of what has made
the competition so special to me and many football fans up and down the land.
These
stories can be one of personal achievement, a huge surprise against the odds,
even something like a game played in freezing temperatures or a weekend where
the underdog ripped up the formbook.
To
complete my memories from this weekend’s first round action, it only feels
proper to share a memory from round one of the competition and this one goes
back a few years to 2009 when Northwich Victoria stunned Charlton Athletic
infront of the TV cameras in 2009.
Northwich
Victoria needed a good cup run in the 2009-10 season. Playing at the time in
the Conference North division, the club had been in severe financial
difficulties for the past 24 months and come mighty close to going into
administration early in 2009. So they must have felt like Christmas had come
early when the draw for the first round pitted them up against Charlton, a
Premier League side as recent as 2007 but had just been relegated the previous
season to League One from the Championship.
The
game itself wasn’t a memorable one in terms of goalscoring opportunities but
the underdogs played out of their skin. Charlton goalkeeper Darren Randolph had
to be at his best to deny Michael O’Connor in the first half and the pressure
came from the non-leaguers in the first 45 minutes.
Charlton,
a side that contained the likes of Lloyd Sam, Jonjo Shelvey and Jose Semedo had
an off-day. Shelvey had the Addicks best chance but his shot was fired straight
at goalkeeper Curtis Aspden when if he’d placed his effort either side of goal,
the outcome could have been different.
It
was midfielder Wayne Riley (pictured celebrating in the dressing room) who would have the final word. The barman came off
the bench with 15 minutes left and was first to O’Connor’s header to divert the
ball past the advancing Randolph with nine minutes left to play to send the
2,000 capacity crowd into raptures. Northwich soaked up the pressure in the
final stages from their desperate opponents to record one of the most unlikely
FA Cup wins in the last decade.
Manager
Andy Preece said afterwards: “It might
not be important for the very, very top teams but for anybody outside the top
six, this competition is as special as ever. For non-league teams that will
never change, it will always be huge.” Northwich advanced to another
televised tie in round two against Lincoln City but lost 3-1 and have sadly
slumped into further financial troubles in recent times. As of today, they are
now playing in the Northern Premier League. However, this was a day that the
supporters of Northwich Victoria will never forget and a day that will always
live in the memory of Wayne Riley, who was a part-time barman in the local
Leigh Arms pub.
What happened to some of
the key figures on that day?
Wayne
Riley left Northwich less than a year after this day and still now plays
non-league football for Hednesford Town. He scored 12 goals last season for
Welsh club Airbus UK Broughton. Northwich manager on the day, Andy Preece is
now director of football at Airbus UK Broughton after resigning from his role
with Northwich in 2012.
Jonjo
Shelvey was signed by Liverpool at the end of the 2009-10 campaign and moved to
Swansea City in the summer. He has won one senior cap for England. Charlton
manager Phil Parkinson got the dreaded vote of confidence after this defeat but
lost his job in 2011 with the Londoners. He is now boss of Bradford City and
spearheaded them to victory in the League Two play-off final in May 2013 and
took the Bantams also to the League Cup final earlier this year.
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