Melksham Town FC have clinched a place in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1957.
”We’ve only gone and done it!” said the club on a historic night after a dramatic 3-2 win away at Banbury United on Tuesday 17th September.
The team will now travel to Carshalton Athletic this Saturday who play in the Isthmian League Premier Division, a division above Town.
Town are now just two wins away from a place in the Emirates FA Cup First Round proper when league teams like Birmingham City, Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers and Bolton Wanderers join the competition.
“I’m obviously absolutely delighted with the win,” said manager Mark Collier after the match. “We’ve had a good start to the season; that’s 11 games unbeaten and that was our sixth game in the FA Cup with replays; teams can win the Cup with six wins!
“After drawing at home and having the replay away on a Tuesday night, a lot of people thought our chance had gone but, fair play to the lads, we had a game plan, stuck to it and deserved our win, despite a few scary moments in the last few minutes.
“Before the game, no-one gave us a prayer but there’s an inner strength with this group of players and we thought we could go and upset the odds.
“I’m obviously chuffed to bits to get through and it stands us in good stead for the rest of the season, knowing we can compete against teams from a higher division.”
The win is Town’s best FA Cup performance since 1957 when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister and TV was in black and white with only two channels.
“Yes, it was an historic night and now we’re away at Carshalton Athletic,” added Mark. “The club has sold out two coach loads for that, so it shows that support is growing.
“Carshalton are in a higher league in the Isthmian Premier Division and they play on a 4G pitch which is foreign to us, but we’re happy to go there with the underdog tag. There’s nothing for us to fear; I want the club and the fans to embrace games like this.
“The FA Cup is full of giant killings; there will be some shocks on Saturday and hopefully we can be one of them.”
Asked what has been the secret of Town’s success this season, Mark explained, “We’ve got an excellent mixture of youth and experience; the experienced players have done particularly well and the young players are learning from them and improving. We’ve got a very united dressing room as well and once you start winning games, that breeds confidence.
“We’ve still got a couple of key players out injured so it shows we’ve got a bit of strength in depth, so all those things added together has given us a decent start.
“Along with the tremendous support we’ve had, that has been a massive help, too.
“The home game in the FA Cup, seeing so many fans, particularly young ones behind the goal, cheering the team on was fantastic and long may that continue.”
• Town have organised coaches to go to the away game at Carshalton this Saturday, 28th September. If you would like to book a place, visit the club’s Facebook page for details.
