FA Cup Quarter Final Week

How incredible does that feel to be typing/reading that...

i know we have a game on Tuesday but i'm ridiculously excited for Sunday, not expecting a win, but i'm hoping for brilliant memories and a weekend of fun in a vibrant City with 4000 other mariners.

We are travelling down on Saturday, hopefully meet a few town fans on the Saturday night for some drinks, and then get to the Amex around 1 on Sunday after some drinks in Lewes.

this is a week we'll probably never experience again, lets enjoy every single moment of it.

If it wasn’t 9:30 in the morning I’d raise a glass to that!

Heading down with the whole family on the Friday night to make a weekend of it. The game being on Mother’s Day has done me no favours at all with the wife, so I’m doing what I can in terms of reparations.

A momentous occasion it will be, regardless of the outcome. Can’t wait.

I wish I was mobile enough to make that journey, but alas, osteoarthritis will not allow me that.  Make a lot of noise Town fans, and maybe, just maybe we might get a result.  UTM!

I just wonder if the thought of having to play us on Sunday will mean Brighton field weakened side versus Palace on Wednesday? I’m joking of course.

Similar to what the gaffa said versus Southampton I hope the players don’t freeze. We didn’t lay a glove on Forest and in reality test the Saints keeper so I’d expect this will fall into the “good day out” category, just like I felt after 93 minutes of the play off game at Notts 😉

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I just wonder if the thought of having to play us on Sunday will mean Brighton field weakened side versus Palace on Wednesday? I’m joking of course.

You jest, but on the Brighton forum asks the question; beat Palace and lose to Grimsby, or vice versa.

Over 70% would rather fall to their great rivals than us. They it as a huge match. That it is sandwiched betwixt two important home games against Palace and Brentford is possibly the only slight advantage I can think of at this moment.

Unfortunately, I won't be at the game as I've made other arrangements. 10Pk Guinness in the fridge cooling and a bottle of red to celebrate with ( or drown my sorrows ).

A safe enjoyable day/weekend away to all fans and hopefully a surprise VICTORY.

Wish I could be there but it is an incredible feeling knowing your in the Quarter finals. I am sure of one thing our incredible support will represent us well.

Quoted from Poojah

You jest, but on the Brighton forum asks the question; beat Palace and lose to Grimsby, or vice versa.

Over 70% would rather fall to their great rivals than us. They it as a huge match. That it is sandwiched betwixt two important home games against Palace and Brentford is possibly the only slight advantage I can think of at this moment.

Though obviously I don’t want them to progress when you look at who’s left in the competition their players and supporters will believe they have a chance to win the cup and potentially despite being in 7th with games in hand provide them with their best route into Europe.

We’re one game away from Wembley in the FA Cup. That’s bloody mental when you think about it.

Quoted from LH

We’re one game away from Wembley in the FA Cup. That’s bloody mental when you think about it.

Even better, we’re only need victory against a team we beat last time we played them. Piece of pìss.

We have 70% success conversion rate for ties to get to Wembley. The problem being all of the previous attempts have been two legged games and we have played teams at the same level (or below in the case of Bognor) in all of the previous ties.

Successful: Burnley and Fulham 98, Morecambe 08, Dartford 13, Eastleigh 15, Braintree and Bognor 16,

Unsuccessful: Newport 13, Gateshead 14 and Cambridge 15.

Quoted from LH

We have 70% success conversion rate for ties to get to Wembley. The problem being all of the previous attempts have been two legged games and we have played teams at the same level (or below in the case of Bognor) in all of the previous ties.

Successful: Burnley and Fulham 98, Morecambe 08, Dartford 13, Eastleigh 15, Braintree and Bognor 16,

Unsuccessful: Newport 13, Gateshead 14 and Cambridge 15.

Bognor is close to Brighton …. geographically at least 🤦🏻‍♂️

Complete this sequence
Results this season
Brighton 0 Tottenham 1
Sheffield Utd 1 Tottenham 0
Sheffield United 0 Luton 1
Grimsby 3 Luton 0

We're getting ahead of ourselves. Important league game tomorrow night which should be what we're 100% concentrating on right now. Imagine if you're a Sutton supporter, coach or player looking in at this? Get excited for the FA Cup from Wednesday onwards.

It does seem surreal. Gonna be a great occasion. I only hope we don’t concede an early goal. I think that would be hugely damaging. I expect us to get pasted - they’re a great team, but it would be fantastic if we can stay in the game for as long as possible.

Quoted from Chrisblor

We're getting ahead of ourselves. Important league game tomorrow night which should be what we're 100% concentrating on right now. Imagine if you're a Sutton supporter, coach or player looking in at this? Get excited for the FA Cup from Wednesday onwards.

intercourse that. We've been waiting for this for 84 years so I'm bollocksed if I'm waiting until Wednesday before getting excited about it.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

intercourse that. We've been waiting for this for 84 years so I'm bollocksed if I'm waiting until Wednesday before getting excited about it.

Billy big balderdash stuff. Imagine the outrage on here if it was the other way round and another League Two club were all excitedly posting about some cup match they were playing in the weekend after they were scheduled to play us. There'd be hoards of posters on here insisting Hurst printed out the posts and stuck them up in the dressing room to show how arrogant and distracted the opposition were.

Alas no ticket for me, at least I got to go to Southampton, so I will be glued to BBC1.

Order of the day: Mothers day nonsense out the way early then I'll see if I can convince any of my Welsh friends along to the pub to watch the game with me.

Quoted from Chrisblor

Billy big balderdash stuff. Imagine the outrage on here if it was the other way round and another League Two club were all excitedly posting about some cup match they were playing in the weekend after they were scheduled to play us. There'd be hoards of posters on here insisting Hurst printed out the posts and stuck them up in the dressing room to show how arrogant and distracted the opposition were.

It’s the opposite of “Billy big bóllocks”, if anything. It’s a recognition that:

1. We’ve not been very good in the league this season and the remainder is little more than a procession of dead rubbers

2. We haven’t been this far in a cup competition since 1939

3. There’s a good chance we’ll never get this far again in our lifetimes, because y’know, we’re generally not very good

Supporting this club over the course of the last 20 years has been a difficult experience, with an overwhelmingly higher proportion of lows than highs.

Enjoy this, and let others do the same. This is unique in our modern history; there’s nothing wrong in acknowledging that.

Quoted from Chrisblor

We're getting ahead of ourselves. Important league game tomorrow night which should be what we're 100% concentrating on right now. Imagine if you're a Sutton supporter, coach or player looking in at this? Get excited for the FA Cup from Wednesday onwards.

Please can we have a bit of joy in our lives.

Quoted from Hagrid

How incredible does that feel to be typing/reading that...

i know we have a game on Tuesday but i'm ridiculously excited for Sunday, not expecting a win, but i'm hoping for brilliant memories and a weekend of fun in a vibrant City with 4000other mariners.

We are travelling down on Saturday, hopefully meet a few town fans on the Saturday night for some drinks, and then get to the Amex around 1 on Sunday after some drinks in Lewes.

this is a week we'll probably never experience again, lets enjoy every single moment of it.

  

                                                                                                                                     PS: don't forget the other 621 Mariners!
  
                                                                                                                                        

Hurst won’t let the players get distracted by it and they’ll be concentrated entirely on Tuesday being the consummate professionals they are. We’re allowed to be excited for what is a more than likely once in a lifetime, novelty event.

Quoted from Chrisblor

Billy big balderdash stuff. Imagine the outrage on here if it was the other way round and another League Two club were all excitedly posting about some cup match they were playing in the weekend after they were scheduled to play us. There'd be hoards of posters on here insisting Hurst printed out the posts and stuck them up in the dressing room to show how arrogant and distracted the opposition were.

How dare we not be excited for an FA Cup Quarter final, the nerve of us

Absolutely bizarre to be trying to police people getting excited about a game of this magnitude. If Sutton want to pin this post to the dressing room wall then they can knock themselves out. I suspect that rather than be motivated by it they'd just worry about why their manager gave a intercourse what a few fans on an independent forum think.

I can think of few games less likely to distract me from an FA Cup quarter final away at a top half Premiership side than a dead rubber at archetypal non league boot it Sutton thanks.

Had plenty of these non league london suburb type away games during our years in actual non league.

Hope we play the Reserves.

Yeah, I'm not missing out on the opportunity to get excited about our impending FA Cup quarter final appearance on national telly next Sunday — we may never see the like again!

I think, also, that we can be both excited about the cup game and also not be dismissive of tomorrow's game at Sutton.

Granted, it's only natural that those playing tomorrow night will have the cup game on their mind, even if they don't admit it to the press (or themselves). They're human, like us. I can't blame them for that.

We are all worried about conceding an early goal.  Brighton are a big step up in class.

However, we have not conceded a goal in the first half of this cup run for just short of 6 matches,  (Plymouth after 5 minutes, We then scored 4 before HT).

The mighty Southampton have not conceded a goal in 3 of their last 4 matches. Their keeper named in team of the week today.

The only thing that matters against Sutton is that whoever plays has the right attitude. If anyone thinks that PH, staff and players are just going there to go through the motions then that’s just more than a tad disrespectful and questioning their professionalism.

Supporters on the other hand..I’d argue it’s pretty hard to get excited about Sutton v Grimsby at the best of times..and reaching an FA Cup QF May happen once in peoples lifetimes..and that’s this Sunday…so if you want to start looking forward too it now…crack on.

Still working on tickets here. Still have irons in the fire.

Going down on the Saturday & staying 2 nights (got to make the most of it!)

Going with no expectation but in hope of at least something to get excited about during the game, winning again would just be greedy, wouldn’t it?!

Could be a once in a lifetime for most of us

We'll probably lose 7-0 but the day will be 👍

My main hope is that we do better than we did against Chelsea a few years ago.  That was pretty painful to watch - particularly sitting in the Chelsea stands!

I think the reason this cup run has been so successful is that we are a team that seems to play well on the counter.  This is why our home form, particularly against lesser teams, has been so poor.  Apart from the occasional defensive lapse, we seem to be able to contain pressure well and then get down the other end and cause a threat.

If we can go 20 minutes without conceding, the players will grow in belief and then who knows.  However, anything better than a 4 goal losing margin would be success!

coach to london on Sat then another to Brighton hoping for beers Sat night in The Lanes.

Quoted from LondonMariner43

My main hope is that we do better than we did against Chelsea a few years ago.  That was pretty painful to watch - particularly sitting in the Chelsea stands!

I think the reason this cup run has been so successful is that we are a team that seems to play well on the counter.  This is why our home form, particularly against lesser teams, has been so poor.  Apart from the occasional defensive lapse, we seem to be able to contain pressure well and then get down the other end and cause a threat.

If we can go 20 minutes without conceding, the players will grow in belief and then who knows.  However, anything better than a 4 goal losing margin would be success!

I’m quietly confident that we’ll do better than that, not that 7-1 is a particularly high benchmark. Jolley got that game tactically badly wrong, and we’re punished by an extremely good team for our troubles. Man for man against 11 players who think and move so much faster than you do was a disaster waiting to happen.

Hurst has proven how good he is at setting teams up for big, one off games. In the last year alone we’ve beaten Notts County, Wrexham, Solihull, Plymouth, Cambridge, Burton, Luton and Southampton in such encounters, all of whom were placed above us in the football pyramid to varying degrees of extremity. You can’t fluke that.

Of course, Brighton are on another level to even those at the sharper end of that list; they’ve routinely made top Premier League teams (including last season’s Champions League finalists) look very silly.

They have however already lost this season to a bang average Charlton team and, whilst this is clutching at straws a bit, I wonder whether playing a “lesser” team upsets their rhythm a bit.

I’ve watched a bit of Brighton since De Zerbi took over, and they play a very unique, interesting game. Almost like a hybrid of Man City and Liverpool’s game - tiki taka in their own last third, invite and cleverly play through the press then go full ‘heavy metal’ on the break. It’s a risky approach, but they’re incredibly good at it.

We’re not going to press as keenly or as quickly as their top-flight opponents; it’s going to be a different kind of game for them altogether, so it will be interesting to see how their players adapt to that.

Who knows? Brighton should prevail comfortably, but the narrative of a Town victory I couldn’t find in my minds eye when the draw was made has started to write itself, albeit only in my imagination. An early Brighton mistake leads to a red card, and it’s game on.

I’ll continue to dream until it’s a practical impossibility. Football is the funniest of funny games.

Quoted from Poojah

In the last year alone we’ve beaten Notts County, Wrexham, Solihull, Plymouth, Cambridge, Burton, Luton and Southampton in such encounters, all of whom were placed above us in the football pyramid to varying degrees of extremity. You can’t fluke that.  

And Crewe!

Quoted from wuffing

  

                                                                                                                                     PS: don't forget the other 621 Mariners!
  
                                                                                                                                        

PPS Don't forget the other Mariners who had to buy Hospitality to get to see the Brighton game too!!!!!
UTM

To even compete we'll need to be at our best, them have am off day and us get some luck. Agree with those saying we have to get through the first twenty minutes like we did at Luton and Southampton but it's easy to forget they both had early goals disallowed for offside. They were both off but neither of them needed to be.

Quoted from Son of Cod

And Crewe!

And Manchester City, who to be fair pushed us all the way to penalties.

The longer we stay in the game the better chance we’ve got. I’m just going in the hope we can get a goal and that we fans can make some big noise to win some neutrals over. If and it is a huge if we can somehow get the win it’s a bonus.

We have to be 20% better than normal and they 20% worse. That’s massively unlikely, but imagine, just imagine. We’ve had bigger individual upsets I think, Everton away was the equivalent of beating the current Man City side. However not club in the land has ever done what we have the chance to do on Sunday and it would be peak Town to go and do it. By the same token I went to Hartlepool and Hillsborough and Anfield so know what it’s like to get hammered. That would also be a very Town thing to do.
All that said I’m more excited than Tigger after experimenting with speed so the weekend can’t come soon enough.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

.
All that said I’m more excited than Tigger after experimenting with speed so the weekend can’t come soon enough.

Fingers crossed you’re not like Eeyore on ket come full-time…

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

To even compete we'll need to be at our best, them have am off day and us get some luck. Agree with those saying we have to get through the first twenty minutes like we did at Luton and Southampton but it's easy to forget they both had early goals disallowed for offside. They were both off but neither of them needed to be.

This I consider to be 100% correct, well worth pointing out...and a touch too cold-bloodedly honest if I'm being picky.

But it does overlook one important factor in the game...

You could well argue it was the reason we won at Southampton...

It won't matter who Brighton pick in their starting XI, what substitutions they make, or even who's presenting MOTD.....

because,










Paul Hurst has a pair of lucky boxer shorts !!    

UTM

People are starting to realise who we are. The amount of people who've said something to me recently when I wear my town kit for 6aside football is interesting.

Me and my son are heading down to Brighton for lunch time, will spend a few hours on the pier on the rides or inside (his choice) then will go across to Eastbourne to our hotel. I think on the Sunday I'll head over the racecourse PnR for 11-12 o'clock and eat at the ground

Quoted from Poojah

I’m quietly confident that we’ll do better than that, not that 7-1 is a particularly high benchmark. Jolley got that game tactically badly wrong, and we’re punished by an extremely good team for our troubles. Man for man against 11 players who think and move so much faster than you do was a disaster waiting to happen.

Hurst has proven how good he is at setting teams up for big, one off games. In the last year alone we’ve beaten Notts County, Wrexham, Solihull, Plymouth, Cambridge, Burton, Luton and Southampton in such encounters, all of whom were placed above us in the football pyramid to varying degrees of extremity. You can’t fluke that.

Of course, Brighton are on another level to even those at the sharper end of that list; they’ve routinely made top Premier League teams (including last season’s Champions League finalists) look very silly.

They have however already lost this season to a bang average Charlton team and, whilst this is clutching at straws a bit, I wonder whether playing a “lesser” team upsets their rhythm a bit.

I’ve watched a bit of Brighton since De Zerbi took over, and they play a very unique, interesting game. Almost like a hybrid of Man City and Liverpool’s game - tiki taka in their own last third, invite and cleverly play through the press then go full ‘heavy metal’ on the break. It’s a risky approach, but they’re incredibly good at it.

We’re not going to press as keenly or as quickly as their top-flight opponents; it’s going to be a different kind of game for them altogether, so it will be interesting to see how their players adapt to that.

Who knows? Brighton should prevail comfortably, but the narrative of a Town victory I couldn’t find in my minds eye when the draw was made has started to write itself, albeit only in my imagination. An early Brighton mistake leads to a red card, and it’s game on.

I’ll continue to dream until it’s a practical impossibility. Football is the funniest of funny games.

I was thinking exactly the same earlier, at the back they slow the game right down and try to lure an opposition midfielder out of place, then usually Dunk picks a quick pass forward to Caicedo or McAllister who can turn and run. I’m sure they will make this work more often than not against us, but I’m sure they won’t have faced anyone who will set up like us this season. I can see us sitting really low with that compact box midfield keeping it tight. Maybe just maybe we can frustrate them into a mistake and the energy of Clifton, Kahn and McAtee might hurt them. Also wouldn’t surprise me to see Taylor and Smith start to give us more height at set pieces, both attacking and defensively. Straw clutching at its finest but it’s all we’ve got. Cannot wait though!

Get dreaming everyone. Whatever happens on Sunday, right now we're potentially 90 minutes away from the FA Cup Semi Finals. We all know what happens if it goes to plan but if football always went to plan we'd have been out 4 months and 5 games ago.

Anybody staying in Eastbourne Saturday night? I'm travelling alone and then meeting friends on the Sunday but just wondered if there will be many town fans out in Eastbourne for a few jars Saturday night?

Poojah. And our 4-1 win at Cheesterfield.  That was another shock and less than a year ago. Hurst is good at managing the players to produce their best against the odds - and win.

I’ve been looking at it through various lenses.

Firstly, the sensible, football supporter in me. The one who’s watched enough football to know that logically, the only winner is Brighton. A good side, much improved since potter left, although they’re arguably not as defensive as previous. An absolute kicking could happen and in some aspects, should.

Then, as a town fan I see it differently. Say what you like about Hurst but he has a knack of setting us up to do well in one off games and somehow gets blood out of the players in those games. The list is endless really, the amount of times he’s done it. Against better oppo, same level and so on.

The outcome of us winning is something I’ve thought of, daydreamed about and still feels incredibly bonkers. Football is a funny game and who the intercourse knows. I know we won’t roll over and because of that I do give us a chance, albeit slim one.

Premier league teams will set up very differently to us, and, when they play in the league, teams want to win. We do obviously but we’ve got nothing to lose unlike teams in their league. Too flight clubs often tell you playing lower league teams comes with challenges. We’re often more physical, we rely on set pieces and are often better at them. We’re probably not as fluid as top flight clubs. A whole raft of things which make the game harder for them.

It’s likely that this time next week we’ll be talking about the end of our cup run and being at a historical moment either way. However, we could also be sat here looking at transport and hotels for an FA Cup semi final…just think about that…an FA Cup semi final…it’s flipping lunacy.

A bloke at work was chatting to me today. Proper good bloke, proper football fan. Big Leeds fan…he looked at me and said ‘if you win, I hope I don’t see you next Monday…I hope you’re hanging and shocked in equal measure…I hope ya do it’…

Not gonna lie, the injuries likely sustained from a goal celebration, especially a vital goal already cause me pain and the haven’t even happened yet…

Every sensible bone in my body, well all 3 of them at least says this brilliant run where we’ve taken scalps from every division above us comes to an end on Sunday.

Brighton are a good premier league team with a World Cup winner in the squad, they can move the ball quickly on a big pitch, if they get an early goal and get on top we’ll see little of the ball.

Though if we can force a corner or two, get a free kick in a decent position then we could have an opportunity. Josh Emanuel can deliver a ball, maybe one for the near post for a late arriving Taylor.

We have a game changer in McAtee, though he’s not been where we all think he can be and want him to be he’s capable of doing something that sits above our level. I also sense McAtee is being “man managed” a bit by the gaffer, maybe in an attempt to get a big response in one of our biggest games ever, only he’ll know that.

They say it’s the hope that kills you, but from tomorrow I’m off work until next Monday and I’m going to enjoy hoping for sure.

Wonder what the world wide audience will be. My daughter tells me it is on in New Zealand

Good news is our outstanding record against better teams, in one-off games.

When we kickoff we will be less than 90!minutes from Wembley.  Scary.

Potential bad news is that the Brighton manager is still furious that they lost to Charlton.  He wants to win every game and play his strongest team.

They'll have done their homework on us so I'm hoping for Taylor & Mcatee to start and Brighton to only have studied this season

We have won our last two FA Cup Quarter Finals,

Will we manage a game without gifting an easy unmarked chance at the back post, looks like every team sees this as our weakness.

Brighton only have one World Cup winner in their team.

They also have only 8 or 10 players who went to the World Cup.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Brighton only have one World Cup winner in their team.

They also have only 8 or 10 players who went to the World Cup.

Some of our team could have gone to the World Cup, trouble is they had some league 2 games to play.

Here we go, I predicted that we would win at Southampton 2-1, saw the some of the players at Sainsburys just before setting off  and said to Orsi we would win 2-1.

Brighton are a superior side than Southampton at the moment, so heart ruling my head 1-1 at full-time town to win in extra time the town way (play-offs last season).

Head says it going to be a comfortable win for Brighton.

All I know is that Town fans will out sing the Brighton fans and it will be a win for the haddocks against the gullies.

The beauty of the FA cup, the amount of exposure GTFC will receive this week and the weekend is something we could never imagine, putting GTFC on the world footballing map for a few days.

This cup run could be the kick start of something special after 20 years of ....

The older generation have had good times during their time of following GTFC and have many good memories banked (and some not so good), the younger generation who are the future are now making memories that will stay with them forever.

So a big thank you to Paul and his team, the players, the board and everyone involved in running GTFC.

Paul Hurst black and white army, lets enjoy this time.

Common town l believe in miracles.