The first home game of the season normally generates quite a bit of excitement, and for those of us at the daggers, this was to be extra special this year, with our promotion to League 1. However, two days before we were due to play, it was postponed due to the sad passing of Exeter City striker Adam Stansfield. The Grecians were to have been our opponents for the game, but given the circumstances, the request to call off the game was a natural reaction, and this was readily agreed to by both Dagenham & Redbridge, as well as the Football League.

Football at a time like this, particularly for the family of the person involved seems totally unimportant, and the desire not to play at a time like this is totally understandable. Internet forums for both clubs were full of people discussing the merits of both playing and postponing the game, but in the end, the decision not to play was taken. Hopefully, a fitting tribute can be paid to Adam at Exeter’s next game, which is at home to Bristol Rovers on August 21st. For what it’s worth, even though either the minute’s silence or applause would have been impeccably observed at Victoria Road, it seems only right that they play their first game after this sad news at their own stadium.

Of course, when a postponement happens, then a free Saturday afternoon opens up. You can either participate in that great British tradition of queuing at one of the many shopping centres around the country, sit back and watch Soccer Saturday and see the wonder that is Phil Thompson slowly losing it as Liverpool try their best to bugger their game up, or you can take in another game.
With this weekend being the first (or to use it’s proper title, the Extra Preliminary) round of the FA Cup, we (that being me and Dagenham Dan) took ourselves off to the heart of Essex, to enjoy the delights of Witham Town v. Wembley.

FA Cup, Extra Preliminary Round, Witham Town 3 Wembley 0
On my one and only previous visit to Spa Road (or the Spicer McColl stadium, to use it’s official title), the referee failed to turn up, and so they had to drag some local referee away from his horlicks to officiate. In the way that only county leagues can, he was ably assisted on that occasion by a linesman who was possibly one of the more “fuller-figured” officials you will ever see. Ah, the glamour of the Essex Senior League.

But I digress. Today is the first game on the long road to the FA Cup Final. The “march to the arch” or “the magic of the cup”©, starts today.

Despite the gathering rain clouds overhead, the rain does hold off for the first 40 minutes or so, which is longer than the Wembley defence manages to, going one down in just 71 seconds. It may not be the first goal of the competition this season, but it must be one of the quickest. Wembley’s defence is clearly trying to emulate the referee from my last visit by not showing up, as only the lino’s flag saves them from a second goal just a few minutes later.

With half an hour played, the lead has been doubled, and if they had any dreams of playing at the national stadium just up the road from home, they have now been well and truly buried. Witham and Wembley may occupy the same rung in the football ladder (Witham in the Essex Senior League, Wembley in the Combined Counties League, both are step 5 of the non-league pyramid), but they look miles apart in terms of their overall play. For the first half, it is the home side that have looked like the team to progress, while Wembley can see the cup disappearing from their grasp already, and it’s not even the middle of August.

At half time, we change our vantage point, so that we can hear ourselves think above the row being created by the vocal home support. Well, the five who stand behind the goal and are banging the corrugated iron back wall in an attempt to make some noise. One Wembley fan suggests that we should have bought a vuvuzela or two, but it’s a tough call; annoying noise via a plastic trumpet or the thump of someone’s hand against a corrugated iron wall?

Any hopes of a stirring comeback are finished just after the hour, when Witham make it 3. From then on, although they try hard, Wembley just don’t have any kind of quality to make inroads to the deficit. The Robbie Savage look-a-like in midfield for the visitors tries to prompt the team forward, but he ends up going side to side, more like a long haired Ray Wilkins. The home side have a few more chances as the game starts to draw to its conclusion, but are unable to inflict further misery and when the final whistle blows, it’s Witham Town who progress to face Ilford in the next round. For the team that comes from the same town where the final will be staged in May, it’s all over for another year.