After a 1-1 stalemate at The Loop Meadow Stadium on Saturday a replay will be needed to determine who will progress through to the Second Round Qualifying where the winner will face Gosport Borough at Privett Park.

The Dolphins took the lead in the 10th minute with an IK Hill strike into the bottom corner of the net but Tyger Hall equalised for Didcot in the 14^th minute and we are unable to breakdown their solid defence to secure our passage through to the next round.

Joe & Pat reflected afterwards that perhaps we should have been more clinical at times and although attacker IK Hill was our best player he was not able to cut through the 11-man defensive wall a second time. New signing Henry Curtis made his Dolphins debut being preferred to Corey Jordan who started the match on the bench. He impressed the management duo and the travelling fans with his added strength to our defence.

So, that brings us back to Tatnam under the lights on Tuesday evening for the replay ko 7.45pm.

There will be 21 replays from Friday and Saturday’s 109 ties. We lost just one of our local sides, Weymouth, who were beaten 4-2 in the televised match at Tadley Calleva. Dorchester beat Slimbridge 1-0 and Wimborne, perhaps had the best result of the day with the 5-2 win at Bishops Cleeve. There were not too many shocks but perhaps one of the most entertaining ties must have been the 4-3 away win for Taunton Town against league rivals Tiverton Town.

There will be no room for complacency but with home advantage and an improved playing surface, The Dolphins will very much be hoping to take their place in Monday’s draw.

It has been a while sine we enjoyed a cup run, so perhaps this might just be our season. We remember back to 2019, yes it was that long ago, when we narrowly missed the opportunity to take a place in the first round proper when we lost at home to Hayes & Yeading in the 4Q replay after a thrilling 2-2 away draw the previous Saturday. The match was interrupted by floodlight failure which was later traced back to a problem outside of our control locally.

A look back at our recent FA Cup history.

2024  2Q Taunton lost at home 3-2

2023  3Q Bracknell lost away 3-1

2022  1Q Salisbury lost home 2-0

2021  2Q Chippenham lost replay away 1-0 after 1-1 draw at home

2020  2Q Chippenham lost 4-3 on penalties after 2-2 draw

2019  4Q Hayes & Yeading lost replay at home 3-2 after 2-2 draw away

Let’s give the lads our full backing on Tuesday evening and make the home advantage count.

Enjoy the game,

Neil Wellington.