Boldmere St Michaels 5 Bartley Green 2

So the first tie of a long journey took me to Boldmere St Michaels on a sunny Saturday, and if this is anything to go by, I have some mouthwatering ties coming up. With the first round proper not beginning till November, I felt it was important to witness an interesting game right from the start, and it couldn't have started better than this.

Not that the afternoons excitement would have been remotely apparent to me during most of the first half however, with the home side's sole attacking tactic being spraying long balls from defence to the big lad up front. The game in its early stages beared all the hallmarks of a classic Wimbledon league match. It was as if the midfield were invisible. Though Boldmere managed to muster a 1-0 lead, the team looked lethargic, dazed, slow, and even uninterested. Bartley Green, for their part, threatened to spoil the party by daring to equalise. Though by half time Boldmere had regained the lead, the home side were looking distinctly bad value for money considering the £5 admission fee.

It is said that those small 15 minutes between halfs can change the course of history. Whatever happened in the dressing room, it was clear that Boldmere had been given something of a talking to by the way they set about in the 2nd, though it wasnt till they scored their 3rd that they began to actually play football. Halfway through the 2nd half, it was Bartley Greens turn to show the FA that they hadn't been included in the competition merely to make up the numbers, and provide the tie with a genuinely comic moment, bringing on their diminutive number 15, who must surely be the worlds shortest footballer. Sadly for Bartley, not even this cross between Maradona and Steve Sidwell could alter proceedings in their favour, and Boldmere rounded off the game with a moment of genuine quality in the dying minutes, a classic training ground rehearsed set piece finish.

And so it was Boldmere, the long ball specialists, who make it to the next round of this years greatest football cup competition, with a local derby against Coleshill Town in the next round. Though I silently fancied a trip to the other side of Birmingham to take a peek at Bartley Green's gaff, on this showing I won't begrudge a return to the Trevor Brown Memorial Ground in a few weeks time. Apparently, the winners take on Leamington, so it seems il have to wait a while for my first real FA Cup journey.

Magic Sponge, anyone?

So im watching a depleted Arsenal team try to establish a foothold on the game against Liverpool, and I feel this is the right occasion to voice an argument I have believed in for some time. It has been noted that several teams have players who are struggling for full match fitness at the start of this season. The first weekend of the Premier League triggered a few injuries to big name players which would suggest that the pre season techniques of various clubs isnt working. Take Vidic and Ferdinand, for instance. Petr Cech injured himself last week.The injury list stretches up and down the country, with the likes of Shay Given, Chris Samba, Mikel Arteta, Hugo Rodagella all struggling for match fitness in the early throes of the new season.
All these are key first team players for their respective teams, all these players have undertaken pre season training of some kind, yet none are certain to be in the first eleven this weekend.

Why?

I believe that the cause could be the emphasis on promotional pre season 'tours' undertaken by various clubs, mostly to far off places like the US and Asia. Personally, If I was a footballer, I wouldn't appreciate have to take long haul flights to the other side of the world,  just to play three games, followed by a long haul flight home. Is this the best method of getting players ready for a new season?

Exactly what is more important these days, an increase in shirt sales in Thailand, or the match fitness of your star player? Look on the injury lists of the 'big 4' clubs in English football, and you have your answer.

On the plus side, there is one group of players who should revel in the injury list situation. Ignasi Miguel, the hitherto unheard of Spanish Under 19 defender, has just come on to make his Premier League debut for Arsenal, replacing yet another casualty, Koscielny, who has suffered a back spasm.

A chance for the young lad to shine, one would feel.

In the beginning....

Tuesday night. Atherstone Town away. After watching yet another misplaced pass, another poor first touch, and yet another corner being drilled in far too deep, I slumped back in my seat, probably sporting a rather dissatisfied look on my face. So this is it, I mused. This is what non league football has to offer. A grim 0-0 draw in some backwatered hell hole in the Midlands. Literally the only positive thing about the whole game was that the tea was cheap.

Assisted by a conversation I was having with my Dad's best mate, and life long family friend John Burns, it hit me that non league football simply had to offer more than this. John then mentioned the idea of the legendary "92 Club", a kind of secret sect of football fans who had visited all 92 football league grounds. Impossible, I thought. Then, glancing down at the fixtures in the matchday programme, I discovered that Boldmere's next fixture was a home tie against Bartley Green, in non other than the Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup. I then had what can only be described as an epiphany, a mental shock that jolted me into life and to all intents and purposes gave me an almost religious conviction I had hitherto lacked. What about following a tie, an FA Cup tie all the way from the Preliminaries, to Wembley? Such an activity would surely allow me to experience all the highs and lows and romances of non league football, while always teasing me with the lure of the glamour of Wembley Stadium at the end.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, here I am. Boldmere are due to play Bartley Green at home on Saturday 20 August. And I will be there.....