SCEFL side Bearsted will be looking to reach the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the very first time this weekend when they welcome Southall from the Isthmian South-Central division to White Horse Lane on Saturday.
Southall have already beaten Chichester City in the previous round and Bears boss Keith Stevens is under no illusion of how tough a tie his side face – he told us, “It’s a massive weekend for the Club and if we can get a win it will be the furthest that we have ever got in the FA Cup, which will be a great achievement for everyone to win two games in the same year when you consider that we’ve only been entering the competition for the last five years or so!”
“I remember our first ever tie – Eastbourne Town away – we haven’t been in it very long and it is a big thing for a club like us who doesn’t pay loads of money to players – it’s a massive weekend for the Club!”
“We had a good squad this year despite us finishing 13th – the League doesn’t lie, but I thought we had a better squad than that, but a few things happened which didn’t help!”
“We managed to keep everyone we wanted to keep except for one player who ended up at a Club two Leagues higher – we knew we had to bring in some experience which we’ve done and they’ve come in and integrated absolutely brilliantly – the morale and the closeness of the squad is though we’ve had them for a year or so already which is great!”
“The Community here are great and to get the game on this Saturday to the level required is a lot of hard work but we’ve got a Club that comes together for occasions like this!”
“Really looking forward to it – we haven’t started the season too badly – we’re undefeated for five games which is a good start.”
“Disappointed that we didn’t get a win on Tuesday at Hollands & Blair, but we’ve started really well and as we’ve changed a few things, we still need a few games to be where we want to be.”
“Like everyone at this time of year, we’ve got one or two missing each week with holidays and the like, but we’ve made a good start and so for that reason we’re confident going into the weekend – we haven’t lost; we’ve done our homework on Southall who finished tenth in their League last year – they’re a big strong side, very confident and have some very good players ,so we know that we’ll have to be at our best on the day to get through…”
“But who can’t be excited for the FA Cup?”