Can The FA Cup Relight My Fire?
It's ten past two on a Saturday afternoon, and I'm walking across a field towards a turnstile. There's one thing, though. This isn't a metal gate at which I'm greeted by an old man wearing a v-necked jumper and a striped tie offering a ticket in return for my hard earned cash. This is a wooden turnstile, of the type traditionally used to allow people to pass from field while keeping sheep or other livestock penned in rather than the type that most football supporters are familiar with. We cross it and walk along a pathway covered in brambles that looks familiar from many, many episodes of Crimewatch UK. "This," I think to myself, "is exactly the sort of place where dog-walkers – and it's always dog-walkers – come across hastily constructed shallow graves, and I could do without that sort of bother this afternoon, thank you very much."
The decision of the venue for my first match of the season had been greeted, on my part at least, with a furrowed brow and the distinctive sound of air being sucked in between my front teeth. Eastbourne Borough's Priory Lane ground rather feels as if it sits on the very edge of the world. A lengthy journey from Eastbourne town centre, it's surrounded by fields and bungalows, it feels a long way from anywhere. For someone who grew up believing that concrete is a naturally occurring substance, it's a curiously disquieting environment. Still, though, we cross a stream turned bright green with algae (I presume, I have no intention of inspecting it too closely, lest I contrive to find a way to fall in) and suddenly here we are, standing near the entrance to the Langney Sports Club, which, with its indoor bowls and membership policies, is a timely reminder of Eastbourne Borough's history as Langney Sports FC, a county league side which was – and in some respects still is – part of a broader sporting organisation.
All's not necesarily well in the state of Eastbourne at the moment, though. After a solid enough start to the season, the team has lost its last three consecutive matches in the Conference South and has slipped to ninth place in the table. This afternoon, though, should – in theory, at least – provide a little respite from their recent travails in the league. This afternoon, they face opposition from a rung down the football food chain in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Enfield Town go into this match in sixteenth place in the Ryman League Premier Division and with another season of struggling to avoid relegation back from whence they came three seasons ago quite possibly ahead of them. Veteran
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