By Matt Lawton
October 3 2006

The world famous ‘giantkilling’ of the FA Cup generally only tends to make the headlines come January, when the nation’s smaller clubs pray for their chance to knock one of the big boys off their perch. However, Saturday’s results indicated that these shocks are happening earlier in the competition. After Saturday’s hugely disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Woodley Sports, a side two divisions below RMI, The Railwaymen have the dubious honour of being a case that goes some way to helping us find the reason as to why these shocks are happening, even at such an early stage of the competition.

It is without doubt that the FA Cup is the world’s greatest knock-out competition, bringing hundreds upon hundreds of entrants each and every year, finally culminating in a final that takes place in front of a live television that is counted in it’s billions.

Although the prestige and financial rewards are somewhat lower at this early stage, the £3,750 that Woodley were rewarded for their victory on Saturday will prove to be an indescribably massive boost to their finances, and it certainly would have been more than welcome in the Hilton Park coffers had RMI come out on top.

Of course, to reach the glamour of the so-called ‘proper’ rounds, you have to navigate your way through the earlier rounds against fellow non-league opposition in search of the common goal and a game away at Manchester United in the Third Round.

RMI know more than most about what benefits the FA Cup can bring. November 1998 saw RMI visit then-Second Division glamour boys Fulham in the First Round of the competition after battling their way through the earlier rounds, and they came back from Craven Cottage with a fantastic 1-1 draw that brought national press coverage to both the club and the town. The replay saw a crowd of more than 7,000 inside Hilton Park as the Sky TV cameras followed Fulham manager Kevin Keegan to Lancashire. Although two Paul Peschisolido goals saw the Cottagers come out comfortable 2-0 victors, the financial rewards made all the work in the previous rounds more than worthwhile, and in earnest it helped RMI maintain a sound financial footing for more than a year or two.

So it is with this background that it becomes more and more unclear as to why so many teams, with such benefits on offer, are falling to defeats against sides that ‘on paper’ they should be defeating by some margin.

Thankfully, RMI aren’t the only side to lay victim to this phenomenon as four of their Conference North rivals also fell to humiliating defeats to lower league opposition.

Vauxhall Motors, riding high in sixth position in the league, fell to a crushing 3-0 defeat to Witton Albion, a side that are in the division below their opponents, while Workington lost 2-1 to an Ossett Albion side that, like Woodley, ply their trade two divisions below the Conference North.

However, the biggest shocks were at Redditch’s Valley Stadium and Hyde’s Ewen Fields when both of the hosting clubs fell to shock defeats. Redditch lost at home to a Wisbech side that are three divisions below the Conference North in the football pyramid, while Hyde lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle BBP, a mid-table Northern League Division One side, again three divisions below the Conference North.

It does seem though that not every side is affected by the problems that face some of the sides in our division, as Blyth came out 2-1 victors from an incredibly tough-looking tie at Unibond League side Burscough. Although Burscough play in the league below Blyth, in recent years they have gained a tremendous reputation in the cup competitions, winning the FA Trophy before an excellent FA Cup run last year brought them national prominence with a home victory over Football League side Gillingham.

At Hilton Park on Saturday, it was depressingly obvious as to why RMI were to join their league rivals in the graveyard of the Second Qualifying Round. Woodley came with a game plan that worked a treat in aiming to keep it tight at the back, stifling RMI’s in-form attack, whilst trying to retain as much possession as possible and push forward from that. Despite the aforementioned rewards that were on offer to the victors, there only seemed to be one side that were interested in progressing further in the competition, with Woodley’s tremendous sense of enthusiasm completely overpowering a lethargic RMI side.

It’s probably also fair to say that Stuart Humphreys’ side went in to the game with a certain degree of complacency, with last weekend’s 2-0 home victory over Alfreton maintaining a good run of form that would surely prove too good for a side that are two divisions below RMI and playing away from home. Although it’s fair to say that the players are only human, surely it’s fair to expect that they go in to each game with a professional attitude, and certainly a feeling of respect for their opponents that would go quite a long way in preventing such catastrophes. Yes, maybe it is probably true to say that, after last season’s trials and tribulations, a cup run may prove to be an unwelcome distraction from the ultimately main goal of maintaining the club’s Conference North status, that argument is surely overpowered by the long-term benefits that proved to be so fruitful after the Fulham game, with RMI’s promotion to the Conference at the end of the following season certainly helped by the financial benefits of the previous year’s cup run.

Maybe there isn’t a pattern, and the FA Cup simply retains that magical sense of the underdog being able to dream of, and sometimes achieve, that one day in the limelight, just as RMI did those eight years ago. With RMI’s interest in the competition now ended for another year, I guess we probably won’t find out for sure exactly what spurs on the underdog until we’re running out at Old Trafford in the Third Round next season. Well, the cup is all about dreams becoming reality, after all.