Drawing Liverpool

I know there are plenty of you out there who will scratch your head at this, but following our relegation, our first real shot at redemption came in 2012/13.

David Holdsworth was the manager and whatever you felt about him, he did a decent job. He had so little money, if only those who call him now knew the constraints that man worked under. Sure, he rotated the squad too much, but he did what he could. He was only a few kicks away from perhaps even bringing us the biggest FA Cup tie we’d ever had.

After drawing 0-0 with Halifax at home in the preliminary round, we scratched a 2-0 away win to put us back into the first round; we’d missed it the season before and when Walsall of League One came out of the hat, you felt that would be the end of the journey. An uncharacteristically stubborn City drew 1-1 with the Saddlers, the visitors needing a late leveller. Into the second round hat we went, pulling out Mansfield, a winnable tie! After a superb 3-2 win at the Bescot, the Stags visited.

It was a top class game, or at least that’s how my quality-starved eyes saw it. Matt Green opened the scoring for them after Andrew Boyce’s mistake, but Alan Power lashed home a free kick before Boyce’s long throw saw Jamie Taylor stab home. Louie Briscoe levelled again, before Power added a third. The minutes ebbed away and the third round drew closer…. but Matt Rhead had the last laugh, heading home a Mansfield equaliser.

Before we went to do it all again, the draw paired us with none other than Liverpool. For a few days I could see salvation, I could see pounds and pence, a big televised game and the safety of our club financially. we just had to go and win at Field Mill. Having lost one in 12, we promptly got beat 2-0 at home by Woking and then 2-1 at Mansfield in the replay through a late Louis Briscoe winner; Reg won one more game as manager and was sacked in February.

As for the Stags, they won all but four of their games after losing 2-1 to Liverpool in the third round, winning the National League title in the process. It just goes to show the power of a cup run at that level.