2022-23 FA Cup, 1st Round Proper: location-map, with fixtures list & current league attendances
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By Bill Turianski on the 1st of November 2022; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-The competition…FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-2022-23 FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-BBC’s page on the competition…bbc.com/fa-cup.
-FA Cup 2022-23 1st Round Preview (facupfactfile.wordpress.com).
The FA Cup – the oldest football tournament in the world – begins its 142nd edition on Friday the 4th of November 2022. Of the 40 matches to be played in the First Round Proper, there are: 2 games on Friday the 4th, 33 games on Saturday the 5th, 4 games on Sunday the 6th, and 1 game on Monday the 7th. Televised matches are (with clubs’ league-levels noted)…Friday: Hereford (6) v Portsmouth (3); Saturday: South Shields (7) v Forest Green Rovers (3); Sunday [early]: Wrexham (5) v Oldham Athletic (5), and Sunday [late]: Torquay United (5) v Derby County (3); Monday: Bracknell Town (7) v Ipswich Town (3).
A club making its first FA Cup 1st Round appearance: Needham Market FC.
-Luke Ingram’s strike seals Needham Market a 1-0 victory over National League Maidstone United and a place in the FA Cup first round (by Alex Moss on 15 Oct 2022 at suffolknews.co.uk).
The town of Needham Market is located in Suffolk, 9 miles (14 km) (by road) NW of Ipswich. And Needham Market is located, by road, 89 miles (143 km) NE of central London. Needham Market serves somewhat as a bedroom community of Ipswich (Ipswich is the 38th-largest urban area in the UK). Needham Market FC are called the Marketmen, and wear red-with-black. Needham Market have been in the 7th tier since 2015, when they won the Isthmian North. After 3 seasons in the Isthmian Premier, the club migrated over in 2018 to the then-expanded Southern League, into the new Southern Premier Division Central. Needham Market finished in 11th place in 2018-19, and following the two abandoned seasons due to Covid, Needham Market finished in 12th place in 2021-22. Currently [1 Nov 2022], Needham Market are in 8th place in the Southern D1 Central (with a couple games in hand), and are averaging 240 per game at their ground, Bloomfields.
Needham Market are managed by Kevin Horlock (age 49), a former midfielder who made 491 appearances, including with Swindon Town and with Manchester City in the Premier League (in 1993-94 and in 2000-01, respectively). (See photo and caption below.) The latter part of Horlock’s playing career included stints with West Ham and with Ipswich Town, and he finished with then-9th-tier side Needham Market, in 2008. Joining the Needham Market coaching staff, Horlock became assistant manager in 2010; he also set up the club’s academy. Horlock was then hired as manager of Kent-based Chatham Town (2015-16). Horlock was then was hired as manager of Suffolk-based Maldon & Tiptree (2016-18), before being re-hired back at Needham Market, in February 2020, this time as their manager.
To make it to the 2022-23 FA Cup 1st Round, Needham Market beat 4 teams: 7th-tier Suffolk-based Leiston (2-0, at home in front of 271); 9th-tier Norfolk-based Sheringham (3-1, at home in front of 176); 7th-tier Essex-based Brightlingsea Regent (2-0, at home in front of 308); and 5th-tier, Kent-based Maidstone United (1-0, at home in front of 477). By beating Maidstone United, Needham Market qualified for the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s 103-year history. In Maidstone United, Needham Market beat a club two league-levels and 35 league-places above them. The only goal in that 4th qualifying round match was scored by the longest-serving Needham Market player, FW Luke Ingram, in the 9th minute. MF Jake Dye’s long left-wing cross found Luke Ingram near the right post, and after winning the ball from his marker, Ingram was able to side-foot-volley the ball past the Maidstone keeper and into the net (see screenshot and photos below). Here is the report from the Needham Market FC site, {Ingram Volleys Marketmen To FA Cup History}. Here is a youtube video of the match; the goal can be found at 1:07 on the 5-minute video {Needham Market 1-0 Maidstone United [4th QR FA Cup, 15 Oct 2022]}. In the FA Cup First Round Proper, Needham Market have been drawn to play away to Staffordshire-based Burton Albion, a 3rd-tier side currently in the relegation-zone – so Needham Market could have a chance for an upset.
Photo and Image credits above – ’22-23 Needham Market jersey, photo from totalfootballdirect.com. Needham Market High Street, photo by Gregg Brown at eadt.co.uk/news. Aerial shot of Bloomfields complex, by John Fielding at flickr.com. -Needham Market manager Kevin Horlock, photo unattributed at dailyadvent.com/gb/news. Panoramic photo of Bloomfield ground, by The Wycombe Wanderer at footygrounds.blogspot.com. Luke Ingram scores winner, 1 screenshot from video uploaded by Stones TV at youtube.com; 2 photos by Ben Pooley via mobile.twitter.com/[@needhammktfc]. Screenshot of Needham Market players celebrating after final whistle, from twitter.com/[@needhammktfc].
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Sources…
Thanks to all, at the links below…
-Blank map of English Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Counties, by Nilfanion, at File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2010.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Blank relief map of Greater Manchester, by Nilfanion (using Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater Manchester UK relief location map.jpg.
-Fixtures list: screenshot from bbc.com/fa-cup.
-FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
Attendance figures…
-Soccerway (current average attendances for the 3rd division, the 4th division, the 5th division, and the 6th level).
-nonleaguematters.co.uk (current average attendances for the 7th level).
