Injury time heartbreak for the Bucks!!

An injury time goal from Keiran Agard earned Bristol City and not AFC Telford United a place in the 3rd round of the FA cup.

It is always heartbreaking to go out of this famous competition at any stage, but to be knocked out at this stage, only one step away from a chance of a money spinning home tie with the likes of Manchester United, City, Chelsea , Liverpool or Arsenal up for grabs is a real kick in the teeth.  Even worse is the fact that it happened during injury time.

The Bucks deserve great credit for their endeavours and effort, to take the highest ranked team in the competition at this stage to the 92nd minute of the game at nil-nil is impressive but to have matched their far superior opponents (in league and form terms at least) and to have had chances to win the game themselves on The Robins own patch is testament to the team, the players, the manager, the coaching staff and of course the supporters who travelled to the game and got behind their team from the very first minute to the very last.

Bucks keeper Jonathan Hedge made some important saves.

Everyone involved should be very proud of themselves and the effort they have put in.  Although eventually the result didn't go Telford's way they should take a lot from this tie.

At the moment The Bucks are at the bottom of the conference Premier but if they can take the positives from this game and use the experience of taking a team that lets face it will probably be plying their trade in the Championship next year then who is to say they can't get out of this rut they find themselves in the league and get themselves out of the relegation dog fight.

So now it is with a heavy heart that I have to move on and leave AFC Telford United to their battle for survival in the Conference, but as is the whole point of doing this glory hunt I have to move on to the next one in the hope that they can bring me the FA cup success i crave for.

Bad luck to the Bucks of Telford and good luck for the rest of the season, I truly hope and I truly believe you will be a conference side next season.

The FA cup glory hunt rolls on.

Alan Shearer picked out ball number 63 last night and Bristol City will be away in the next round against Doncaster Rovers.

Come on you Robins!!!

Up the Robins!!!

The Bucks take on The Robins

On Sunday afternoon at 2pm AFC Telford United FC take on League 1 top dogs Bristol City in what has to be their biggest game in many a year.

The two teams come into this game poles apart in their league standings, Bristol City are top of the league 1 table whilst Telford sit rock bottom of the conference premier.  The Robins are on a high at the moment after beating many peoples pre-season league favourites Peterborough 3-0 away from home in their last outing.  In stark contrast The Bucks are coming in on the back of a a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Chester City.

The beauty of the Fa cup is though that on the day anything can happen and although Telford are going to be massive underdogs for this game the cup can always throw up a surprise or two.

Although on paper this tie looks like a forgone conclusion and on most accumulators tomorrow Bristol City will be down as a banker it doesn't mean the bucks don't have a chance.

Telford come into this game with zero pressure or expectations on them, because of the Robins recent fine form all the pressure will be on the home team.  If The Bucks can stay in the game for as long as possible then they will always get a chance, the thing is anything can happen in the cup and there has been bigger upsets.

There is no getting away from it though, this is going to be one hell of a tough test for the Conference outfit.

I watched bits and pieces of Bristol City's last game with Peterborough and I have to say I was impressed with their performance, Posh didn't really get a look in even with their formidable strike force of Aaron Maclean and Craig Mackail -Smith.

Luke Freeman scored twice in this game and the other goal was scored by former Crystal Palace striker Aaron Wilbraham.

Robins striker Luke Freeman doing his impression of Jay out of the Inbetweeners.

The Robins have a wealth of talent at their disposal for Sunday's game and to be fair whichever of their strikers the decide to play it is likely to be a a busy old day for either Fred Hall or Jonathan Hedge in the Bucks goal.  City may decide to go with Kieran Agard or Wes Burns up front such are the options for league 1 leaders.

Former Everton youngster Kieran Agard

In midfield City have a player who think is going to be the biggest thorn in the Bucks side and that is Marlon Pack.  I remember Pack coming on loan to Dagenham and Redbridge when he was a youngster at Portsmouth.  Although he was only on loan for a short period at the Daggers it was obvious to most of the fans, not all, that this 19/20 year old as I think he was at the time was going to grow into a cultured midfield player  And so it was to prove.  Pack had a successful spell with the Robin's of Cheltenham Town before joining the Robins of Bristol City at the start of the 2013 season.  Marlon is central midfielder who is good in the tackle and a very good passer of the ball, he can also hit a ball if given a chance.

One to watch.
 Midfield maestro Marlon Pack.

As I have said previously its going to be a very big ask for The Bucks to get a positive result in this match given the superiority of their opponents,  but if the football gods are feeling favourable on Sunday you never know.

Good luck to Telford on Sunday, hope to see you still in the hat for the draw come Monday night and a chance of meeting up with one of the heavyweights of the English football elite.

Up the Bucks!!