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Joe Uglow – @Joe_Ugs

Joe discusses the Cup draw and United’s two possible opponents

So it’s Bishops Cleeve or Laverstock & Ford in the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA cup for Torquay this season. It always takes me by surprise how early we enter at this level, but I enjoyed last season’s trip to Wimborne Town at this stage last season so it does throw up some good days out!

A home tie would have been a nice boost to the Plainmoor coffers but an opportunity to pay a visit to a lower league ground in the cup shouldn’t be sniffed at!

BISHOP’S CLEEVE

Bishop’s Cleeve AFC are known as ‘The Mitres’ and are based just outside of Cheltenham, playing at Kayte Lane on a plastic pitch which has a capacity of 1500, so a sell out may well be on the cards if they are to make it through!

The Mitres play two levels below the Gulls in the Southern League Divison One South where they enjoyed a continuous stretch of 12 seasons from 2006 to 2018 and returned to the league in the 2022-23 season after four year spell in the Hellenic league. 

Their most famous player to grace the Kayte Lane pitch in recent years (thanks to ChatGPT for this) was Shayne Bradley who boasted Southampton, Swindon and Exeter City as former clubs. Nope, haven’t heard of him either to be honest but Google tells me he was sent to jail in 2021 for Stalking!

They currently sit 10th in their league with 6 points from a possible 12 beating Bemerton Heath Harlequins, Malvern Town and losing to Yate Town and Sean Joyce’s Bideford AFC. They’ve had around 85 fans at each of their home league games but I’d expect the magic of the cup combined with a former EFL side coming to town would see at least ten times that number turn out to watch the Mitre’s attempt a cup upset!

So far on their road to Wembley they’ve dispatched Highworth Town in the FA Cup extra preliminary round followed by Lydney Town in the FA Cup preliminary round, and a battling 1-1 draw against Laverstock & Ford means they’ll be making the trip to just outside of Salisbury tomorrow night to battle it out for the right to host the Yellows on September 14th.

LAVERSTOCK & FORD

‘The Lavvy’ as they are known (no toilet jokes please!) operate in the Wessex League premier Division at Step 5 of the National League system. They’ve been in the Wessex League since 2004/05 and have been in the Premier Division since gaining promotion in 2015.

Despite being in the equivalent league to Buckland, their ground “The Dell” lacks some of the same infrastructure that United fans would have enjoyed pre-season at the VX3 stadium. Instead it looks a lot more like the kind of facilities you would see at Newton Spurs, however there is a small amount of seating for Away Directors which the Bryn consortium can look forward to!

If it rains, then United fans could take cover under this ‘terracing’.

Going to grounds like this in the early stages is very much what the FA Cup is all about though and so I’m sure a warm welcome will be received by any United fan making the journey to Wiltshire, although capacity is capped at around 1000 so a sell out would likely be expected. 

Trainspotters amongst the Yellow Army will be pleased to know that the ground is also positioned near a Railway Line so if the footballs not great you can turn your attention to other past times!

The Lavvy find themselves in 14th position in the table by virtue of only playing two games compared to the five that their rivals have played, due to their cup exploits. In the league they’ve drawn 0-0 with Andover New Street and cruised past Hythe & Dibden 3-1. 

Their cup exploits have taken them to Cowe Sports, Bemerton Heath Harlequins before meeting Bishops Cleeve at the weekend and a bumper crowd is expected at the Dell tomorrow night for their replay.

COYY – Joe

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