Match Preview

Match Sponsor: Kent Vehicles

The March to the Wembley Arch begins with a FA Cup Preliminary Round tie at home to Southern Counties East Premier Division AFC Croydon Athletic. The Rams beat Virginia Waters 1-0 in the Extra-Preliminary Round thanks to a goal early in the second half from Umaro Alpha.

AFC Croydon Athletic was formed in 2012 by fans of Croydon Athletic F.C. after they withdrew from the Isthmian League during the 2011/12 season and eventually folded. Prior to their resignation, the club's major shareholder Mazhar Majeed had been jailed following his involvement in the Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal and the club had been locked out of its ground by the council and the club chairman, David Le Cluse, was found dead, with a bullet wound, having committed suicide in a garage in Sutton.

The new club joined Division One of the Combined Counties League for the 2012/13 season. In their first season they finished eighth and then seventh the following season and were runner-up in 2014/15, earning promotion to level eight of the pyramid. Rather than entering the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League, they were transferred into the Southern Counties East Football League. The first season in the SCEFL saw them finish eleventh, followed by 7th, 13th and last campaign they ended 15th from 20.

We have never met AFC Croydon Athletic but did cross swords with their predecessors Croydon Athletic FC in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup in 2003/04. The driver of the Herne Bay team coach elected to get to the M25 via the Dartford Crossing and a simple journey turned into a three-and-a-half-hour nightmare with arrival at the ground just 25 minutes before kick-off. Croydon were 2-0 up after 72 minutes and a Peter Cirillo header pulled one back, but despite constant pressure Bay were unable to net the equaliser.

In their seven seasons in the FA Cup this is only the second time they have progressed further than the extra preliminary round; in 2018/19 after beating Rochester United and Hanworth Villa (after a replay) they went out 0-1 at AFC Uckfield town in the first qualifying round.

The Rams SCEFL Premier league campaign has started with a 2-2 draw at Bearsted (Jon Paoluccio and Khalid Babikir with the goals). Their second game at home to Beckenham Town was abandoned with the score at 1-1 due to a serious injury to Jordan-Boateng Anderson (Kazzeen Richards was the scorer). On Saturday they hosted Canterbury City and beat them 2-1 (Umara Alpha & Jordan Knight) and on Tuesday travelled to Erith & Belvedere and lost 0-1. With four points from a possible nine they are currently 11th in the SCEFL Premier.

The winners will bank £2,890 with the losers receiving £960. The next round, the First Round Qualifying, will take place on Saturday 7th September 2019.

Ben Smith: “I’m looking forward to Saturday. From my time in the SCEFL I know AFC Croydon well and it won’t be an easy ride. They are talented and work hard. We need to carry on from our second half performance against Phoenix, and if we do then we can do a professional job.”