By Albatross
October 27 2003

Hartlepool United have drawn a non-league team in the FA Cup for the first time since 1999/2000. A nice, easy game then? Whitby Town or Bromsgrove Rovers will be our opponents, and they will have other ideas - and our history suggests that Pools shouldn't take either side lightly. We may know a bit about Whitby - and I'll come back to them later - but what about Bromsgrove Rovers?

Bromsgrove Rovers currently play in the Dr. Martens Western Division - two promotions away from the Conference - where they face such opposition as Swindon Supermarine, Gresley Rovers and Team Bath. Based just south of Birmingham, they play at the Victoria Ground, and currently sit in the top half of their division.

It's actually a bit of a comedown for Bromsgrove, as it's not much more than ten years ago that they were runners-up in the Conference to none other than Wycombe. It was their first season at that level, and although they had been some way distant from Wycombe it was still a remarkable achievement. It didn't last however, with relegation coming in 96/7, again in 98/9, and then again in 99/2000 to leave them in the depths of the Midland Alliance - and a spell in Administration did little to help the club either. There has been a turnaround recently, with promotion back to the Dr. Martens league coming in 2001/2, and last season seeing them challenging for promotion once more before finishing third.

They do have a couple of players with pro experience as far as I can tell - Captain Steve Pope had spells at Crewe and Kidderminster, while James Dyson was a trainee at Birmingham. The last time they reached the first round was back in 1997, when they lost to another Non-League side, King's Lynn. If they make it past Whitby in the replay, they will have come through five rounds to face Pools.

Whitby of course will have the added incentive in Wednesday's replay of knowing that a win will earn them a tie against one of their bigger neighbours. Currently they are struggling at the wrong end of the Unibond Premier, but this does make them a promotion closer to Pools - just one step away from the Conference. A good season this year could see them in the new Conference North next year, as the Pyramid changes come into effect.

As you'd expect, they have a few former Pros in their ranks - and some of them would no doubt like nothing more than to put one over on Pools. Sometime loan signing Anthony Ormerod is currently starring at the Turnbull Ground, and former Darlo players Adam Reed and Paul Campbell would no doubt relish the opportunity to face Pools again.

The Seasiders entered the FA Cup in the second qualifying round, and will have won through three rounds if they face Pools - although this is their second replay of the competition. The last time they were in the first round proper was in 2001/2, when Plymouth (who won the Div3 title that year) needed a replay to get past them.

Whichever side we face, Pools will undoubtedly be hot favourites - and our opponents will be determined to try and cause an upset. However, Pools don't have a happy history against Non-League teams in the FA Cup. The last Non-League team we drew was Hereford back in 1999/2000, and the nation (or at least the part of it with Sky) was able to see us defeated on live television; before that, Macclesfield beat us before they were promoted to the League, in 1993/4. We did beat Southport in 1992/3, on our way to the legendary third round tie with Crystal Palace, and also thrashed Runcorn in our promotion year of 1990/1 thanks to a hat-trick from Joe Allon, but on the whole our experiences with non-league teams have often been of the type we experienced in 1985, when Frickley knocked us out in the second round. Admittedly we're a far cry from the doldrums of the 70s and 80s, when most non-league teams would have fancied their chances against us, but even so Pools will need to bo on their guard, whoever we end up playing against.