Who said romance is dead? It's alive and well in the FA Cup as City face Somerset minnows

The FA Cup gods were clearly feeling romantic today as City were drawn against non-league Paulton Rovers in the first round proper.

The Somerset village club, who play in the Zameretto League Division One South and West, are the lowest ranked team left in the competition.

And the visit of the Canaries, who were in the Premier League only four years ago, will be the biggest day in Rovers’ history and their FA Cup first round debut.

The game looks destined to be chosen for TV coverage and it will take place on either Saturday 7th or Sunday 8th November.

The destination of the tie against the eighth tier side is yet to be confirmed – their Winterfield Road home is basic. And that’s being kind.

Paulton’s average gate is around the 150 mark but they did manager to pull in 931 punters for yesterday’s 3-0 4th qualifying round win over neighbours Chippenham Town.

According to the club secretary, the capacity is between 2,500 and 3,000 but they will meet with the FA this week to decide whether they can stage such an event.

The next step would be to hold the tie at a nearby stadium and both Bristol clubs would be a logical choice – although Rovers are due to face Southampton in a first round tie on the same day.

For City though, it really is the mother of all banana skins. And Canary chief Paul Lambert certainly won’t be taking anything for granted.

“It’s a first for me as a manager, I didn’t play non-league sides when I was at Wycombe or Colchester, so it’s a challenge I will be looking forward to as well, as I’m sure all the players will be,” he told the club’s official website.

“We don’t know very much about Paulton Rovers so we’ll be doing our homework and preparing for the cup tie as we would any game in the league or the cup.

“If you take people for granted in this competition you tend to get punished for it, so we will make sure we go into the game properly prepared.

“The FA Cup is a wonderful and prestigious competition and like I’ve said before if you’re in a competition then you might as well go and try to win it.

“Maybe the big guns aren’t in it yet but you have to win your way through to earn the chance to play against them and that’s the reality of where we are.

“We want to do well in the FA Cup if we can, that’s for sure.”

Tom Haylett

Remember, don’t go too far away as we’ll have Chrissy Martin on yesterday’s winner and more FA Cup reaction for you on MFW tomorrow.