Willand Rovers vs Brixham AFC
The magic of the Cup continues this weekend as the extra rounds are over for Rovers and finally, the qualifying stages await David Steele’s men. Still, it will be all local for Willand as Brixham makes the journey from the south of the county to Silver Street.
Last week it was yet again another Cornish side that Willand faced as the yellow walls of Bickland Park welcomed the all limes as we debuted our new away kit with a big comeback to seal a point in Falmouth on the bank holiday weekend. Rovers started on the backfoot by being 3 goals down at halftime and down to 10 with Owen Howe shown a red and headed for an early Bath. But Fin Rooke and River Allen would contribute their goal-scoring powers to make sure the lads didn’t leave empty-handed and to keep the unbeaten run alive for another week.
Speaking to Leon Brooke in the post-match interview, David was very proud of the comeback and the second half was one to remember, a benchmark for how the season should be in the way of never giving up even if the going gets tough. New Signing Olly Sully who joins from Taunton on loan also made his debut that afternoon and made a great first impression for Rovers.
Back to the game at hand and it’s another Western League side in the FA Cup with Brixham in the village. Despite only being formed in 2012, the last 12 years for Brixham have been a fantastic rise for the fishing village as they’ve been able to find themselves on the brink of Southern League football in the 9th tier. 2 seasons ago they had a memorable FA Vase run with the Fisherman making it to the final 16 and in the process just losing out on penalties to Corsham Town.
Brixham have already knocked out fellow Southern League side Exmouth Town 2-0 which set up this tie when Rovers beat Mousehole last Wednesday with Ashton Hewitt’s top left strike sending us through. The visitors also have a bit of a thing for 0-0 draws as the previous three of their games in the Western League have ended goalless.
Either way, the reward for a victory on Saturday is a place in the second-round qualifying which means it’ll only take three more wins to go into the ultimate draw with the EFL sides entering the competition. However, it’s still a long way to go until then and Brixham is the next chapter of the story.
