IT’S A YEAR OF FA CUP RECORD BREAKERS
FORMED in 1881, Norfolk based Downham Town finally got its first taste of FA Cup football 142 years later – the longest a club has had to wait since formation before participating in this famous knockout competition.
A 1-0 defeat at fellow Eastern Counties League Premier Division side Kirkley & Pakefield may not have been the result the club would have wanted, but the Town can claim this FA Cup record all the same.
And the records continued to tumble not long after the first matches of the campaign kicked off.
At 7.48pm on Friday August 4, 2023, Jay Malshankyj opened the scoring for Southern League Division One South side Bishop’s Cleeve in their 3-3 draw with Thornbury Town. It is the earliest date and time in a new season that a goal has ever been scored in the FA Cup.
Midland Football League side Wolverhampton Casuals posted another, albeit unwanted, FA Cup record following their 3-1 defeat at Sutton Coldfield Town. It was the 25th time the club had exited the FA Cup in the Extra Preliminary Round.
In the Preliminary Round, a 5-1 defeat for Melksham Town at lower level AFC Stoneham meant that the Southern League side set another unwanted FA Cup record. It was the club’s 99th FA Cup campaign this season and they have yet to appear in the ‘proper’ rounds of the competition – the most campaigns any club has ever had without ever appearing in the first Round.
Better news for another Southern League club, Kettering Town, who posted three consecutive 1-0 victories from the first qualifying round onward to overtake Tottenham Hotspur as the top scoring club in FA Cup history. The Poppies have now netted 912 times in their 126 FA Cup campaigns, one more goal than has been scored by Spurs.
Non-League FA Cup specialists Yeovil Town were on the record breaking trail once again this season despite having been relegated to the sixth tier at the end of last season. A 2-0 victory over higher level Southend United in the fourth qualifying round took the Glovers into the first round for the 53rd time as a Non-League club, extending their own competition record set two years ago.
Conversely, the news was not so great for another National League South side, Bath City. A 2-0 defeat at Worthing meant the Romans exited the FA Cup in the fourth qualifying round for a competition record 32nd time.
Records continued to tumble as the competition moved into the ‘proper’ round stages. National League side Aldershot Town had a remarkable 7-4 victory at EFL 2 Swindon Town in the first round becoming the first NonLeague club to score seven goals away at Football League opponents in the competition’s history.
Not such great news for two fellow National League clubs, Maidenhead United and Bromley FC, who have both now failed to progress beyond the first round in their last 15 and 17 appearances in the round respectively. It is now 137 years since Maidenhead United last appeared in the second round, second only to Uxbridge FC for whom it has been 150 years.
National League champions Chesterfield became only the fifth Non-League club since the competition’s current format was put in place for the 1925-26 season to reach the third round for a third successive season.
Maidstone United, of National League South, became the last Non-League club standing by reaching the fourth round. Not only was it a club record FA Cup run for the Stones, but It was also the fourth successive season there had been Non-League representation in the fourth round of the competition – a feat last achieved in the 1977-78 season.
George Elokobi’s men then went on to become the lowest ranked club to reach the last 16 of the FA Cup since Blyth Spartans in 1978, and only the 11th Non-League club ever to make it that far since the current structure was put in place in the 1925-26 season.