SPAOTP's Road to Wembley: FA Cup 4th Round Proper

What an exciting Road to Wembley we've had so far! Already we're in Round 4, and now we find ourselves following Havant and Waterlooville as they travel to Anfield to hopefully beat the mighty Liverpool.

But what a journey it's been since the First Qualifying Round of this season's FA Cup (sponsored by E.On). We started off with Burnham Ramblers as they went into battle against Chelmsford City and since then we've been (in spirit) to Hemel Hempstead, Hayes and Yeading, Maidenhead, Horsham, Swansea and now to our first Premier League venue, Liverpool.

The strange thing is when we were supporting Swansea City in the last round, we were expecting them to make the trip up north to play the former European champions, but we were wrong. Havant and Waterlooville drew the first match 1-1 in Swansea, but the replay back at their own ground ignited some real fireworks as the Conference South side won 4-2.

So in somewhat of a state of shock, we bid farewell to The Swans and put a welcoming arm around our latest team on the Road to Wembley, Havant and Waterlooville. Apart from that recent shock win over Swansea and their big game today against Rafa's Liverpool team, what do we know about them?

Havant & Waterlooville are currently 12th in the Conference South table and have lost only one of their last seven home games, that being against Hampton and Richmond Borough last November. Sadly their away form is letting them down at present - in fact they've won only one of their ten away games so far this season, and that was the first one they played back in August.

So with work to be done on their consistency, whose job is it to crack the whip and pull the boys into shape? The answer: Shaun Gale. He's a former player with Barnet, Exeter City and Havant & Waterlooville who turned manager with The Hawks in October when Ian Baird left for Eastleigh.

And who can we look out for as a source of goals during today's match? Well among the scorers against Swansea were Rocky Baptiste, Jamie Collins and Tom Jordan, all of whom have scored league goals earlier this season, but you may also want to keep an eye on Craig Watkins and Richard Pacquette as they have a keen eye for goal too.

Much more than that, all we can say is good luck Havant & Waterlooville. They've got a tough task playing the likes of Carragher, Gerrard and Torres, but even if they do meet their fate today, they'll have already achieved greatness in this season's FA Cup. Let's wish them well and who knows - something amazing might just happen if you wish hard enough. Swansea City fans can testify to that...

SPAOTP's Road to Wembley: FA Cup 3rd Round Proper

Today we arrived in Round Three of the 2007/08 FA Cup (sponsored by E.On) and in case you haven't been with us on our Road to Wembley so far, we're following Swansea City as they faced Havant and Waterlooville.

Round Two certainly proved to be an eventful one for us as our adopted team at the time were Horsham FC. They played Swansea City at home and earned a commendable 1-1 draw. Unfortunately the replay at Swansea's Liberty Stadium proved too difficult for them as The Swans thrashed the The Hornets 6-2, so once again we wave our old team goodbye and welcome aboard a new one and our first on the Road to Wembley from the Football League.

Swansea City are currently flying high in League 1 and are currently occupying top spot in the table thanks to an impressive recent run of form. Their last defeat came on November 16th at home to Huddersfield Town and since then they've notched up seven wins and two draws, so it's no surprise manager Roberto Martinez won the Coca-Cola League 1 Manager of the Month award.

He must have been feeling pretty confident when the draw for the FA Cup 3rd Round pitted them against Conference South side Havant and Waterlooville. That said, Swansea City have come a cropper in the past when playing supposedly weaker opposition in the Cup. Nuneaton Borough knocked them out in 1967 and 1994, Margate did it in 1973, Minehead did it in 1977 and Bognor Regis Town beat them in 1985, so would there be another upset today?

It was a distinct possibility. Swansea have had trouble replicating their league form in the FA Cup this season as the replayed match against Horsham proved. Even the previous round wasn't straight-forward for Martinez's band of men as they left it to the last half an hour to come back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 against Billericay Town.

So who could he rely on to score a goal or two today? Well his top scorer in all competitions so far in 2007/08 has been Trinidad and Tobago striker Jason Scotland (or is that Scotland striker Jason... oh never mind...) He's put the ball in the net thirteen times so far this season, plenty more than fellow team members Paul Anderson (8) and Andy Robinson (6) but goals have been going in from all over the place of late so there didn't seem to be much cause for concern.

What was a concern was The Swans knack for conceding goals. For every two they've scored in the league, they've let one in so today's game was always going to be tricky. Just how did they get on, then?

Well Swansea started off the brighter of the two teams as shots from Darren Pratley, Jason Scotland and Leon Britton all hit the crossbar, but a hard-fought match failed to produce any goals until the 74th minute when Andy Robinson scored from a 30-yard free kick.

You'd have put your house on Swansea to wrap the game up, especially when Havant's Brett Poate was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Andrea Orlandi five minutes later, but it caused tempers to be raised between both sides and Swansea's Alan Tate also saw red shortly after. The game had lost its flow but Havant and Waterlooville turned it to their advantage as Rocky Baptiste seized on a defensive mistake to equalise with three minutes left.

The game finished a 1-1 draw and the two teams will now meet again for the replay at Westleigh Park on Wednesday 16 January. Swansea will be pleased not to have been knocked out by lesser opposition, but they'll feel they should have won after dominating so much of the match. Can they finish off the job in eleven days time? Watch this space to find out...