Football – England – FA Cup 1st Round
Saturday 8th November 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Conference South outfit Basingstoke Town have made it into the first round proper of the FA Cup for the seventh time in their history, and they welcome Conference Premier strugglers to the Camrose Ground on Saturday afternoon for a place in the second round.
Basingstoke booked their place in the first round thanks to a 4-1 replay win over Harrow Borough following a 1-1 draw at the Camrose, but they needed extra time to get the job done. This might have been the effect that caused their weekend 1-2 home defeat to Chelmsford City in the Conference South, but they’d previously won four on the trot prior to last Saturday.
Basingstoke currently sit top of the Conference South and they’ve won four of their six home matches to date. Anytime goalscorers could be Macklin, Enver-Marum or Williams.
Visitors AFC Telford United will no doubt welcome a break from their disappointing Conference Premier campaign which currently sees them sitting rock-bottom of the non-league top flight.
But it’s not only been in the Conference Premier where The Bucks have struggled as their passage into the first round proper of the FA Cup was anything but straightforward. They had to go to a replay with Non League Division One side Spennymoor United who are three divisions below Telford (Spennymoor held Telford to a 2-2 draw) before the Conference Premier side beat them 3-0 at the New Bucks head ground.
Telford have won just once away from home in the Conference and that was a rather surprising 3-1 win away at Woking, but it’s been just one away win from their last twelve on the road. The last away win prior to the Woking result was a 1-0 victory away at Colwyn Bay back in April.
Basingstoke hold a pretty good record at the Camrose and given AFC Telford’s away form and the fact that these two sides have never played each other before, I’ll back the hosts with the round ball at a pretty good price. Basingstoke might nick this perhaps 1-0.
Pick: Basingstoke Town AH0 @ 1.70 bet365
