1st Round Proper Stourbridge FC V Biggleswade Town FC

I want to welcome Biggleswade Town FC to our Giant Killing Adventure and thank them for mentioning our blog on their Website (this is our 5^th website promise after Marine, Curzon, Stourbridge and Workington). 

I want to give individual thanks to Gavin Gorley from Workington; Andy McDonnell from Biggleswade; Steve Hyde and Richard Clark from Stourbridge and a special thanks to Samantha Beddall from Lees Cafe (home of the handmade balti eggs). 

Stourbridge fans Matt Bullock, Neil Stevens-wood, Steve Coyle, Stuart Hill and others have offered to buy me pints and take me out... thanks for the support. 

We have hit the big time – it’s time for fanfares, trumpets, red carpets, party hats and fireworks because...

It is the 1^st Round Proper of the FA Cup 2013/14, and in this round teams from the Football League’s Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two have been entered.  We have teams that are at least 2 divisions lower than the Premiership big boys and the ties are now National – this meant that we could have ended up anywhere in the country.

I had mixed feelings as I listened to the FA Cup draw on Sunday 27^th October.  Firstly I’d made a mistake and thought the draw was at twenty past two. I made some lunch and sat down in front of the TV at twenty to two to hear on ITV that the draw would be after the commercial break. I had to give up on eating, rush into my bedroom to grab my laptop, take it into the living room, switch it on and get everything ready to broadcast live the draw for Stourbridge and email their opponents to explain what our blog is all about. The draw went on 'forever' and my lunch got colder as I eagerly awaited Stourbridge to be pulled from the ‘hat.’ Part of me wanted a local draw so that I wouldn’t have to travel and part of me wanted an adventure as far away as possible.  Stourbridge were one of the last teams to be drawn and it was painful as I waited and my lunch grew cold (it was the excellent beef, black pudding and caramelised mushroom pie that I had bought from Tebay Services on the way to Workington).  

Our winner Stourbridge FC from the 4th Qualifying Round has drawn a home tie against Biggleswade Town FC.  80 teams will fight it out during this round.   

V

Biggleswade is a market town located on the river Ivel in Bedfordshire. It is situated along the A1 road between London and the North, as well as having a rail link on the main line from the North to London (the East Coast Main Line).

Biggleswade Town FC were originally formed as Biggleswade FC in 1874. The club are known as the ‘Waders’ and they first entered the FA Cup in 1904. In the 2008/09 season the club had its very first home ground The Carlsberg Stadium (previous to this they had shared stadiums).  In 2012/13 they approached their best ever season as they were promoted to the Calor League - Premier Division which is the highest tier of football since their inception over 130 years ago. In the 2013/14 season they are currently in 12^th position with 14pts from 11 games. 

Stourbridge also play in the Calor League - Premier Division.  Stourbridge are currently in 5th position with 24 points from 12 games.  They have won their last 9 games in a row in all competitions which makes them a team in current top form. The two teams are yet to play this season.

I welcome all fans to our Giant Killing Adventure facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure

As you can see from the map, we are travelling downwards 221 Miles from Borough Park (home to Workington AFC) to the War Memorial Athletic Ground (home to Stourbridge FC).  Our FA Cup journey has travelled 783 miles in seven rounds from its current home in Wigan to Stourbridge via Ashton, Curzon, Crosby, Curzon, Lancaster, Stourbridge and Workington.