2nd Round Proper Stevenage FC V Stourbridge FC

I want to thank Delicious Industries for they have designed a new logo (see above) for The Giant Killing Adventure. If you like their work, click on the following link to see what else they offer http://www.deliciousindustries.com/

Since my last posting our blog has got stronger. We have received over 10,000 page views since the Extra Preliminary Round game between St Helens Town and Ashton Athletic back on the 17^th August 2013 (the first tributary to our river to Wembley).

Now it is the 2^nd 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 are still the biggest draws.  We have teams that are at least 2 divisions lower than the Premiership big boys and the ties are National.

The FA Cup draw on Sunday 10^th November was painful to watch.  I had a cold; I had a stinking hangover; I’d somehow managed to get so drunk during my unsuccessful date that I remember getting into a taxi, but I don’t remember getting out of one – signs of a good night. I sat and waited impatiently for Stourbridge to be drawn out of the ‘hat’ and it took until the very last blinking ball before I heard their name.  

Our winner Stourbridge FC from the 1st Round Proper had drawn an away tie against Stevenage FC.  40 teams will fight it out during this round.   

V

In the 1940s Stevenage was re-designated as a new town and its population started to grow. It is situated 30 miles north of London, in Hertfordshire.

Steve Coogan fans may be familiar with Stevenage because it is the location of the BCC sitcom Saxondale. 

  

Stevenage FC can trace their roots back to as early as 1884, but it wasn’t until 1896 that Stevenage Wanderers FC and Stevenage Rovers FC combined to become Stevenage Town FC – the team colours of red and white were established at this point in the club’s history. In 1968 due to massive debts the club folded and was replaced by Stevenage Athletic FC – this club also folded and in 1976 the current Stevenage FC was created.        

They pay in the Sky Bet League One which is 4 leagues higher than Stourbridge FC.  Stevenage FC are in 19^th position with 17 points from 18 games. The club has enjoyed some recent good runs in the FA Cup. They played Premiership side Newcastle and held them to a home draw in the 1997/98 campaign, before losing in the replay 2-1 away at Newcastle. In 2009/10 they secured a 3-1 home victory in the 3^rd Round Proper of the competition against Newcastle. In 2010/11 they reached the 5^th Round Proper of the competition and lost away to Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in a replay.        

In 2011/12 Stevenage FC knocked Stourbridge FC out of the competition in the 2^nd Round Proper of the competition.  The score was 3-0 to Stevenage FC and history has brought these two rivals back together again, in the same round, in the same location (I've been reliably informed by a reader that the last game was actually at Stourbridge FC, so thanks for correcting my deliberate mistake - I was checking to see if people were reading properly ;). 

Stourbridge FC plays in the Southern Calor League - Premier Division.  Stourbridge are currently in 7th position with 28 points from 15 games. 

Stevenage FC will be favourites for the game as they are in the higher division; playing at home and they won the last encounter between the two teams – however, the FC Cup may think differently and we will find out on Saturday 7^th December 2013. 

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

Since my unsuccessful date after the previous Stourbridge game I went on another date in Manchester but she didn’t turn up (which makes the first one a success in comparison) and I had a girl round my house last Saturday (also an unsuccessful date, so the search continues).  

As you can see from the map, we are travelling downwards 116 Miles from The War Memorial Athletic Ground (home to Stourbridge FC) to The Lamex Stadium (home to Stevenage FC).  Our FA Cup journey has travelled 899 miles in eight rounds from its current home in Wigan to Stevenage via Ashton, Curzon, Crosby, Curzon, Lancaster, Stourbridge, Workington and Stourbridge.  

Professional Photographs – Part Three

For the third time I have been contacted by Will Kilpatrick Photography - Licenced Football League Photographer. He was at the Stourbridge V Biggleswade game on Saturday 9th November.  He has sent the Giant Killing Adventure five sample photographs and an excellent news paper report showing his work.   

The Stourbridge FC team take one minutes silence in respect of remembrance day

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The Biggleswade Town FC team take one minutes silence in respect of remembrance day

Midfield action

Goal line action

Stourbridge celebrate making it to the 2nd Round Proper of the FA Cup 2013/14

A local newspaper featuring two of Will's match action shots and a match report from the game.

I'd like to thank Will Kilpatrick for sending these samples to our blog readers.  Click on the link below if you like his work, because he took a full range of photographs on the day and he will be donating 25% of his picture sales to the Royal British Legion. 

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/33459073_K3X6Xp#!i=2907528010&k=TR3xmTv

Join me later to find out more about Stevenage FC and their 2nd Round Proper game against Stourbridge FC. Saturday 7^th December 2013.

The game on 9th November 2013

I had man-flu or a stinking cold as I prefer to call it. I had not slept much the night before because my annoying cough had kept me up most of the night.  I took some Beechams all-in-one man-flu double strength tablets and set off on my journey. Today’s journey was a little bit longer than last time because I swung by Manchester to pick up my good friend and blog guest Zoe (a renowned blogger herself as the writer of Style Crumpet http://stylecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk/). It took 50 minutes to get to Manchester and then another 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach our destination in Stourbridge.  Traffic was smooth and the weather was fine and sunny – too sunny, I had to wear shades.   The journey was quite surreal as I felt spaced-out and very sleepy at times. It’s a good job I had somebody to talk to and the conversation flowed. 

On arrival to Stourbridge I had to pick up our pre-ordered tickets. I had to go through the arches opposite the Royal Oak pub and meet Steve Hyde who had kindly reserved the tickets for me.  Steve handed over the two tickets with a free money spider thrown in for good measure. I handed over the £20 and we made our way back through the arches to the home entrance – 50 feet down the round.

We joined the queue at the home turnstiles

We walked into the ground and it felt like I was at a music festival.  It was slightly muddy under feet mixed with the smell of burgers and fried onions.  Stourbridge had added an extra burger stall compared to my last visit and another extra burger van at the far end for the away supporters – this was being run by Samantha Beddall who is one of the Giant Killing Adventure Facebook supporters. She is married to Lee – who I presume is the owner of Lees Cafe (correct me if I am wrong).  They are the makers of the famous handmade Balti eggs that can only be purchased at one football ground in the country – Stourbridge.   All this talk of food made me think about the fact that most football games kick off at 3 O’clock in the afternoon – why is so much food being consumed when it’s neither lunch time nor dinner time and the games last less than 2 hrs?

I bought a program for £2.50 and one of the double crested scarfs for £8.00.  I know that some fans are not a fan of the double team scarf but I felt it was a good memento of the occasion. 

We walked past the Stourbridge banner and then ironically Zoe had made a picnic 

There was a minute’s silence to mark remembrance weekend and then the match started.  The players got around to running around the pitch and I got around to eating.  We had cheese, ham, mustard, olive and lettuce sandwiches. We had cheese, pickled onion and salad cream sandwiches. We had Feta, branston pickle and ham sandwiches. We had Pork pies.  By the time the first goal had been scored my metabolism and heart rate had worked twice as hard as the players.  We had 3 goals in a very short space of time and it was difficult to keep up with the live blogging.  The game was close as both teams had chances and one of the fans nearby said he’d thought it was going to be a draw today and it stayed 2-1 until half-time.

I was recognised by one of the Stourbridge fans Stuart Hill and he came over for a chat.  He seemed a really nice bloke and we talked about Stourbridge, West Brom and how his daughter is no longer interested in going to the games. Then it was time for...

A handmade Balti egg (because I hadn’t already eaten enough by this point).  We went to the Stourbridge portacabin and ordered three £1.50 Balti eggs (one for me, one for Zoe and one to take home for her boyfriend – I’ve known him for years and I knew they’d be right up his street).  The Balti Eggs were consumed and so was 2  £1 teas, 2 £1.50 mochas, 2 packets of Salt and Sweet popcorn, 2 jaffa cake bars and Zoe cracked open some haribo sweets... erm remember what I said earlier about fans eating too much during a 2 hour period, well I can’t really talk can I!

Back to the actual football: In the second half, Stourbridge took control and had the most of the chances. At times Luke Benbow caused a heap of problems with his pace, but he lacked the finishing touch needed until the fourth goal at the end – the final score was 4-1.  It was another deserved victory for Stourbrigde and I will be saying goodbye to Biggleswade and The Carslberg Stadium for 2013/14.
 

Attendance 1603.

The moonlight hovered as we left the ground after another enjoyable day

I got lost in Manchester when I was literally 3 minutes from Zoe’s house – I missed the turn off because it started to pour down heavily and I couldn’t see a thing.  We got inside and I rushed around as I had a hot date for the evening.  I couldn’t eat all my dinner (but having written this I now understand why) and I knocked back a shot of Sambuca before leaving the house...

Was the date any good? Well, that would be for a different blog..

Excellent Geeky Stats time:- 

RIP Stadiums and teams from the Giant Killing Adventure – 14^th November 2013

RIP Team	RIP Stadium
St Helens Town	Brocstedes Park
Ashton Athletic	Brocstedes Park
Marine FC	Arriva Stadium
Lancaster City FC	Giant Axe Stadium
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium
Workington AFC	Borough Park
Biggleswade Town FC	The Carlsberg Stadium

The Giant Killing Adventure number of fans – 14^th November 2013

Team	Stadium	Round	Fans
Stourbridge FC	War Memorial Athletic Ground	1st Round Proper	1603
Stourbridge FC	War Memorial Athletic Ground	3rd Qualifying	633
Workington AFC	Borough Park	4th Qualifying	519
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium	2nd Qualifying	302
Lancaster City FC	Giant Axe	2nd Qualifying	249
Marine FC	Arriva Stadium	1st Qualifying	223
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium	Preliminary	101
St Helens Town	Brocstedes Park	Extra Preliminary	71
Ashton Athletic	Brocstedes Park	Extra Preliminary	58

 The Giant Killing Adventure League table for FA prize money – 14^th November 2013

Team	Prize money/Round	Total Winnings
Stourbridge FC	£7500 3rd Qualifying Round £12500 4th Qualifying Round £18000 1st Round Proper	£38000
Curzon Ashton	£1925 Preliminary Round £3000 1St Qualifying Round £4500 2nd Qualifying Round	£9925
Ashton Athletic	£1500 Extra Preliminary Round	£1500

Extra Preliminary Round £277,500 was paid in prize money (185 winners).

Preliminary Round £308,000 was paid out (160 winners).

1^st Qualifying Round £348,000 was paid out (116 winners).

2nd Qualifying Round £360,000 was paid out (80 winners).

3^rd Qualifying Round £300,000 was paid out (40 winners).

4^thQualifying Round £400,000 was paid out (32 winners).

1st Round Proper £720,000 was paid out (40 winners).

The Giant Killing Adventure Program Price league table (cheapest first) – 14th November 2013

Team	Program Cost
Lancaster City FC 01st October	£1.50
Curzon Ashton 31st August, 28th September	£1.60
St Helens Town 17th August	£2.00
Marine FC 14th September	£2.00
Stourbridge FC 12th October	£2.00
Workington AFC 26th October	£2.50
Stourbridge FC 12th October	£2.50

The Giant Killing Adventure Goal Scorers – 14^th November 2013

Matt Warburton          3 (Curzon Ashton)

Ryan Rowe                  3 (Stourbridge FC)

Luke Benbow               3 (Stourbridge FC)

Chris McDonagh          2 (Curzon Ashton)

Simon Lakeland            2 (Curzon Ashton)

Adam Gilchrist             2 (Ashton Athletic) 

Jamie Oliver                2 (Stourbridge FC)

Will Richards               2 (Stourbridge FC)

Phil McLuckie              1 (Workington AFC)

Chris Rowney               1 (Curzon Ashton)

Ryan Brooke                1 (Curzon Ashton)

Will Jones                    1 (Marine FC)

Sam Barnes                 1 (Marine FC)

Neil Weaver                1 (St Helens Town)

Greg Harrison             1 (St Helens Town)

Nathan Ward              1 (Ashton Athletic)

Mark Jackson              1 (Lancaster City FC)

Evan Key                      1 (Biggleswade Town FC)

Neil Marshall              1 OG (Lancaster City FC)

The Giant Killing Adventure League table – 14^th November 2013

Team	Won	Drawn	Goals For	Goals Against	GD	Points
Curzon Ashton	3	1	10	6	4	10
Stourbridge FC	3	0	10	2	8	9
Ashton Athletic	1	1	3	6	-3	4
St Helens Town	0	1	2	3	-1	1
Lancaster City FC	0	1	1	2	-1	1
Marine FC	0	0	2	4	-2	0
Workington AFC	0	0	1	3	-2	0
Biggleswade Town FC	0	0	1	4	-3	0

So far the Giant Killing Adventure has reported on 810 minutes of football, £128 on the turnstiles, 3759 fans, 30 goals, 4 pints of bitter (£9.90), 1 pint of Guinness (£3.10), 1 pint of cider (£3), 3 70p cups of tea,  12 £1 cups of tea, 1 £1.10 cup of tea (large), 2 £1.50 mochas,  2 70p cans of coke, 2 £1.20 chips, 1 £1 chips, 1 £1.80 chips and gravy, 2 £1.60 pies, 2 £1.50 pies, 3 £1.50 handmade Balti eggs, 1 pork, stilton with apple and ginger chutney pie, 1 ham and pease pudding stottie, 2 £16.50 Lobsters, 4 2-4-1 cocktails, 1 City Break, 1 Sandy picnic battle, 1 Zoe food mountain, 5 website promises (Marine, Curzon, Stourbridge, Workington and Biggleswade), various Twitter retweets (too many to keep track of from clubs, fans and supporters clubs),  2 lower-league-victories, 1 relationship breakdown and the journey has travelled 783 miles from the FA Cup’s current home in Wigan.

The draw for the 2nd Round Proper was Sunday 10^th November and Stourbridge was the final ball to be pulled from the bag – this was painful to watch.  The Giant Killing Adventure is taking us to Stevenage.

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