2024-25 FA Cup, 2nd Round Proper: location-map, with fixtures list & current league attendances
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By Bill Turianski on the 19th of November 2024; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-The competition…FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-2024-25 FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-BBC’s page on the competition…bbc.com/fa-cup.
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Saturday 2 Nov 2024: Biggest upset in FA Cup 1st Round: Kettering Town beat Northampton, 2 to 1
-A league-placement difference of 4 levels and 79 league-places.
Kettering Town, established 1872, are the fifth-oldest club in England, and own the record for most goals in the FA Cup – 922 goals [the second-most is Tottenham with 911 goals, and third-most is Manchester United with 907 goals; see this video {at 0:25} Back On The Map - Kettering Town's FA Cup 1st Round win at Northampton Town (02/11/2024)]. Kettering Town are nicknamed the Poppies.
In 1980-81, Kettering Town, drawn from the Southern League, were a founding member of the original 5th level in England, the Alliance Premier League. (The Alliance Premier League morphed into the Football Conference 8 years later, instituting Promotion/Relegation in 1986-87 between the 5th tier and the Fourth Division of the Football League.)
Kettering Town played 22 straight seasons in the 5th tier, from 1980 to 2001. The closest Kettering ever came to getting promoted into the League was finishing in 2nd place, twice (in 1988-89, when they missed out on the Conference title to Maidstone United by 6 pts; and in 1993-94, when they missed out on the Conference title to Kidderminster by 3 pts.) Kettering Town would draw above 2-K-per-game in those title-chasing seasons, their peak attendance being 2,506 per game in 1988-89. Kettering Town have played 27 seasons in the 5th tier.
But after losing their Rockingham Road ground in 2011, the club went into administration during the 2011–12 season, and played 8 miles down the road in Irthlingborough. Kettering finished in last place and were demoted two levels, down to the Southern League. Then they played 8 miles up the road in Corby in the next season of 2012-12. Their attendance plummeted to 354 per game when they played in Corby. The next season of 2013-14, Kettering Town moved for the 3rd straight year, to Burton Latimer (3 miles down the road), and into the 2,400-capacity Latimer Park. For the next decade, Kettering were unable to draw above 1 thousand per game at Latimer Park, the closest being in 2018-19, when they drew 838 per game and got promoted to the National League North. But the next winter COVID struck. Then Kettering were relegated back down to the 7th tier in 2023. In February 2024, Richard Lavery was appointed manager of Kettering Town; they finished in 15th. In 2024-25, by late September, Kettering Town were near the top of the table in the Southern Central, and they began drawing crowds in the 1.4-K-range. They advanced through the FA Cup qualifying rounds, and then drew local rivals Northampton Town in the 1st Round. (Kettering is located, by road, just 17 miles (27 km) NE of Northampton.)
On Saturday 2 November, Kettering were top of the 7th-tier Southern League Central. While 4 levels above them, Northampton Town were in 18th place in League One. The match was being televised live on BBC Two.
There was a full capacity crowd of 7,104 at Sixfields Stadium, on the west side of Northampton. In the 28th minute Northampton took the halftime lead, when Kettering captain Connor Johnson deflected the ball into the net after a shot by Northampton FW Tariqe Fosu. In the second half, in the 66th minute, four minutes after coming on as a substitute, Kettering-born teenager Luca Miller (MF) scored on a header to equalise. Assist was by DF Ben Hart, making a brilliant 45-degee-angle cross from the right that curled back to the top of the box, where Luca Miller had timed his run to deftly head the ball inside the right post. The score remained knotted at the whistle, and so it went to AET, where less than 2 minutes in, former Newcastle striker Nile Ranger headed in the winner, off a corner kick by Luca Miller.
It was the first time that Kettering Town had beaten their local rivals Northampton Town in the FA Cup. So Kettering will play in the FA Cup 2nd Round for the first time since 2009 (15 years ago, when they went all the way to the 4th Round). Kettering Town will host 3rd-tier side Doncaster Rovers on Sunday the 1st of December 2024, at Latimer Park. The match is sold out, of course, and it will be televised on BBC-Two.
-Northampton Town v Kettering Town | Key Moments | First Round | Emirates FA Cup 2024-25 (2:45 video uploaded by The Emirates FA Cup at youtube.com).
-FA Cup – 1st Round: Northampton Town 1 -2 Kettering Town AET (bbc.com/sport/football/live).
Photo credits above -
Kettering Town 2024-25 jersey, from store.hopeandglorysportswear.co.uk. 1st goal (og) and Luca Miller goal from Northampton Town v Kettering Town | Key Moments | First Round | Emirates FA Cup 2024-25 (Video uploaded by The Emirates FA Cup at youtube.com). Nile Ranger goal from bbc.com/sport/football/live. Kettering Town FC’s Latimer Park Stadium, aerial shot by John Fielding at flickr.com/photos/john_fielding. Richard Lavery, Kettering Town manager, photo by Peter Short at northantstelegraph.co.uk/sport.
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Friday 1 Nov 2024: Second-biggest upset in FA Cup 1st Round: Tamworth beat Huddersfield, 1-0.
-A league-placement difference of 2 levels and 57 league-places.
Tamworth is in the south-east part of Staffordshire, within 6 miles of both the West Midlands and north Warwickshire. And Tamworth is located, by road, 14 miles (23 km) NE of Birmingham. Tamworth FC are nicknamed the Lambs. Tamworth have played 9 seasons of 5th division football, and were last relegated out of the National League in 2014. Four years later, in 2018, Tamworth were relegated out of the National League North, down into the 7th tier. It took Tamworth four years to get out of the Southern League Central, and that happened 15 months after Andy Peakes had been hired as Tamworth manager. Then, with Tamworth back in the National League North in ’23-24, Andy Peaks led Tamworth to their second-straight promotion. Tamworth had an impressive 600-per-game attendance increase last season (going from an average of 767 in ’22-23 to 1,418 in ’23-24). The Northampton-born Andy Peaks is the only manager in the fifth tier not in a full-time role. Tamworth are now back in the National League for the first time in eleven years, and are currently in 15th place. Tamworth is one of the few clubs in the 5th division that has a squad comprised of part-time players.
On Friday the 1st of November, at The Lamb Ground, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, there was full house: a crowd of 3,533. The match was being televised live on BBC Two. Tamworth’s opponents, Huddersfield were a Premier League side as recently as 2019.
Tamworth kept Huddersfield off-balance with a solid work-rate, impressive ball-control, and direct balls hurled into the box. Walsall-born Tamworth MF Tom Tonks, known as the non-League Rory Delap, produced the game’s only goal with one of his trademark 35-yard throw-ins. This throw in, at the 44th minute, sailed all the way to the center of the goal-mouth, where a scrum of players rattled Huddersfield goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, who deflected the ball off his gloves and into the net. In the second half, Tamworth efficiently kept Huddersfield at bay. Although the Tamworth keeper, the Birmingham-born Jas Singh, had to make a couple of clutch saves, including close-range leg-block. And so Tamworth has qualified for the FA Cup 2nd Round, for the first time since 2013.
On Sunday the 1st of December 2024, Tamworth will play away vs. League One’s Burton Albion. This is a local derby: Burton, Staffordshire is located, by road, just 17 miles (25 km) north of Tamworth.
-Tamworth v Huddersfield Town | Key Moments | First Round | Emirates FA Cup 2024-25 (2:18 video uploaded by The Emirates FA Cup at youtube.com).
-Tamworth stun Huddersfield in FA Cup upset after Tom Tonks causes chaos (by PA Media via theguardian.com/football).
Photo credits above -
Tamworth 2024-25 jersey, from footballkitarchive.com. The Lamb Ground, photo unattributed at spennymoortownfc.co.uk. Tom Tonks’ goal-scoring throw-in, photo by Bradley Collyer / PA Images / Profimedia via flashscore.co.uk/news. Video uploaded by The Emirates FA Cup at youtube.com, Tamworth v Huddersfield Town | Key Moments | First Round | Emirates FA Cup 2024-25. Andy Peakes, Tamworth manager, photo
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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 and the 4th division).
-nonleaguematters.co.uk (current average attendances for the 5th division, and the 6th, and the 7th levels).
